The bento grid came to slides from product launches and web design: one screen, divided into rounded tiles of different sizes, each tile holding one thing — a feature, a number, a picture, a quote. It reads like a summary you can take in at a glance, which is exactly what a crowded “features” slide with six bullet points is not.
The layout looks effortless and is easy to get slightly wrong: uneven gaps, corners of different roundness, tiles that hold too much. This guide covers what to put in a bento, the rules that keep it tidy, and the exact steps in PowerPoint and Google Slides.
When a bento slide works — and when it does not
A bento grid shows things that belong together but are not a sequence. It is the wrong choice for steps, a timeline or an argument that builds; those need a direction the eye can follow.
| Content | Bento? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A product’s main features | Yes | One hero feature, several smaller ones, all at a glance |
| Results of a quarter | Yes | A big headline number, smaller supporting figures |
| A team or a set of services | Yes | Equal items, with a picture or icon each |
| A process in five steps | No | A sequence needs a direction: use a process slide |
| A detailed comparison | No | Rows and columns read better as a table |
| One single message | No | A statement slide says it louder |
The anatomy of a good bento grid
- One hero tile. The largest tile carries the main point — often a picture or the key number — and takes a third to a half of the area.
- Three to six supporting tiles. Fewer looks empty, more turns into a mosaic nobody reads. Five tiles in total is a safe default.
- One idea per tile. A short heading and at most one line, or a number with its label, or an icon with two words. If a tile needs a paragraph, it belongs on its own slide.
- Equal gaps everywhere. The space between tiles is identical horizontally and vertically, and the outer margin is the same or slightly larger.
- Equal corners. Every tile has the same corner radius in absolute terms — the most common flaw in hand-made bento slides (see below).
- A quiet palette. Tiles in one or two tones of the background, with a single accent tile in the brand colour.
A practical grid on a 16:9 slide (13.333 × 7.5 inches in PowerPoint): 0.5 in outer margin, 0.2 in gaps, a title row at the top, then a hero tile 6.1 in wide on the left and a 2 × 2 block of tiles on the right. The numbers matter less than using the same ones on every bento slide of the deck.
What goes into a tile decides whether the grid feels rich or noisy. Mix kinds of content deliberately: a picture in the hero tile, figures in two tiles, short feature statements in the rest. Every tile should be understandable on its own in two seconds — a heading of three to five words, at most one supporting line. Order the tiles the way people read: the hero top left or left, the most important supporting point next to it, the least important bottom right.
Build a bento slide in PowerPoint
From a blank slide to a bento gridWindows and Mac
Switch on guides
Choose View → Guides (on Windows also Alt+F9). Right-click a guide and choose Add Vertical Guide or Add Horizontal Guide; drag guides to your margins and column edges.
View → Guides with margin guides placed Draw the first tile
Choose Insert → Shapes → Rectangle: Rounded Corners and draw the hero tile between the guides. Set its exact size under Shape Format → Size (height and width).
Shape Format → Size with exact height and width Duplicate the smaller tiles
Draw one small tile, then press Ctrl+D (Mac: Cmd+D) for copies. Hold Shift while dragging to keep a copy in line with the original.
Align and distribute
Select a row of tiles and choose Shape Format → Align → Align Top, then Distribute Horizontally for equal gaps. Do the same for columns with Align Left and Distribute Vertically.
Shape Format → Align → Distribute Horizontally Make the corners equal
PowerPoint’s corner radius is a share of a tile’s shorter side, so a large and a small tile with the same yellow-handle position get different corners. Drag the yellow handle of each tile until the corners look identical at 100% zoom, starting with the smallest tile.
Fill and fill in
Give the tiles a fill with Shape Format → Shape Fill (a light tint of the background, one tile in the accent colour) and Shape Outline → No Outline. Add the content: an icon from Insert → Icons, a large number, a two-word label.
Microsoft 365 subscribers can also try Home → Designer: after you put several pictures or items on a slide, Designer sometimes proposes grid layouts. It is worth a look, but the suggestions vary and you cannot ask for a specific bento arrangement.
Put a photo into a tile
The hero tile often holds a picture, and it should have exactly the tile’s size and corners. Two ways get there without distortion:
A picture with the tile’s shapeWindows and Mac
Fill the tile with the picture
Select the rounded rectangle and choose Shape Format → Shape Fill → Picture…, then From a File (Windows) or browse to it (Mac). The picture fills the tile, but stretched to its proportions.
Shape Format → Shape Fill → Picture… Undo the stretch
With the tile still selected, open Picture Format → Crop (the arrow under it) and choose Fill. The picture keeps its proportions and covers the tile; drag it inside the crop frame to choose the part that shows, then click outside.
Picture Format → Crop → Fill Or crop a picture to the shape
Starting from an inserted picture instead: Picture Format → Crop → Aspect Ratio to the tile’s proportions, then Crop → Crop to Shape → Rectangle: Rounded Corners, and set the size under Picture Format → Size.
Pictures in a bento grid work best when they share a treatment: all in colour or all in greyscale (Picture Format → Color → Saturation: 0%), all photos or all illustrations. A dark gradient over the lower part of a photo tile gives white text on it a calm ground.
Build a bento slide in Google Slides
The same grid in Google SlidesGoogle Slides
Show guides
Choose View → Guides → Show guides, then View → Guides → Add vertical guide or Add horizontal guide and drag them into place.
View → Guides → Add vertical guide Draw rounded rectangles
Choose Insert → Shape → Shapes → Rounded rectangle and draw the tiles. Exact sizes are under Format options → Size & Rotation.
Align and space them
Select the tiles and use Arrange → Align and Arrange → Distribute → Horizontally or Vertically.
Match the corners
As in PowerPoint, the corner’s adjustment handle scales with the shape, so adjust each tile’s corner by eye.
Mask a photo to a tile
Select a picture, open the arrow beside the Crop image button in the toolbar (Mask image) and choose Shapes → Rounded rectangle. Then crop it to the tile’s proportions with the crop handles.
Google Slides: Mask image → Shapes → Rounded rectangle
Four bento layouts to start from
- Hero left, four right. A tall picture or headline number on the left half, a 2 × 2 block of features on the right. The classic product slide.
- Hero top, three below. A wide tile with the main statement across the top, three equal tiles underneath with supporting points.
- Numbers board. One large figure (“+38% revenue”) and four smaller ones; no pictures, just type and one accent colour.
- Mixed media. Two picture tiles, one quote tile, two feature tiles — for a case study or an event recap.
Mistakes that make a bento slide look accidental
- Gaps by eye. A 2-pixel difference is visible in a grid. Always distribute with the Align tools.
- Different corners. Large and small tiles with the same handle position — fix each one, as described above.
- Too much text. A tile is not a text box. If it holds more than about twelve words, cut or move the content.
- Every tile a different colour. Use one tint for all tiles and one accent; colour should point to the hero, not compete.
- Icons of mixed styles. Outline icons next to filled ones look careless. Pick one icon style for the whole grid.
- No hierarchy. If all tiles are the same size, it is just a grid. Bento needs one tile that is clearly first.
Designs for this kind of deck
Every design brings its own colours, fonts and layouts to the whole deck.
Bento and grid layouts in ExpertSlides
The ExpertSlides library has a bento layout — one large feature card beside two smaller ones — and grid layouts of four, six or nine tiles: features, key takeaways, key figures, case-study results, team members. The AI picks such a layout where the content is a set of parallel points and writes each tile to fit it, so tiles do not overflow. In the editor, Add slide from layout… puts one in by hand, and a sentence in the prompt such as “a new slide about our four product features as cards” asks for one.
The grid is part of the design, not drawn tile by tile: the gaps and corners are the design’s, and the tiles take the deck’s colours, so changing a colour or a design keeps every bento slide consistent. Magic Fix tidies a slide you changed by hand — at its lightest level it moves and aligns elements and sets readable sizes, without rewriting anything. The Glass Bento design is built around this look.
More on the building blocks: arrows, check marks and shapes in PowerPoint, and free templates and backgrounds for the look around the grid. All designs are in Design Templates; the Solutions page shows real slides of the library in use.
Questions, answered
What is a bento slide?
A slide divided into a grid of rounded tiles of different sizes, each holding one item: a feature, a number, a picture or a quote. The name comes from the compartments of a Japanese bento lunch box.
How many tiles should a bento slide have?
Four to seven in total, with one clearly larger hero tile. Five is a safe default; more turns into a mosaic that is hard to read.
How do I make equal gaps between tiles in PowerPoint?
Select the tiles in a row and choose Shape Format, Align, Distribute Horizontally; for a column, Distribute Vertically. Align the edges first with Align Top or Align Left.
Why do my rounded corners look different on each tile?
PowerPoint sets the corner radius as a share of each shape’s shorter side, so tiles of different sizes get different corners. Adjust the yellow handle of each tile until the corners match.
Can I make a bento slide in Google Slides?
Yes. Use View, Guides to set up the grid, Insert, Shape, Rounded rectangle for the tiles, and Arrange, Align and Distribute for equal spacing.
Does ExpertSlides have bento layouts?
Yes. The library has a bento layout and grid layouts of four, six or nine tiles, filled by the AI so each tile fits, in the deck’s design and colours.
