What should Jamel use to ensure consistent formatting of placeholders in her slide presentation?

Using themes or designs is essential for ensuring consistent formatting of placeholders across a slide presentation. Themes define a cohesive visual style, including color schemes, fonts, and effects that apply uniformly throughout the slides. This consistency helps to establish a professional appearance and enhances the overall readability of the content.

When a theme is applied, the placeholders for titles, text, images, and other elements will maintain the same style, which can be particularly beneficial in creating a unified look, especially in presentations with multiple slides.

In contrast, templates offer a wider framework that may include specific layouts and graphics but do not inherently ensure the same level of consistency in formatting as a theme does. Custom formatting, while allowing individual adjustments, can lead to discrepancies if not applied uniformly across all slides. Slide background options primarily affect only the backdrop of the slides rather than the formatting of the placeholders themselves. Themes or designs effectively streamline the presentation process by automatically applying the chosen stylistic elements across all slides, thereby enhancing visual cohesion.