I see pros and cons; which ends up winning out depends on your skill mix.

First - designing a good layout takes effort and expertise. Graphics designers study many years to get good at it. Just because tools are provided to make it easy doesn't mean everyone is suddenly a graphical designer. The right blend of colors, fonts, space etc is not an easy thing to achieve. 99% of "I can do better" layouts look horrid.

Having said that, I have at times come across layouts that made me go "wow". This is where the layout really supported the flow of the presentation, and while I was not getting distracted by the details, I came away more impressed. This was mostly because the presentation itself was very good - the contents were impressive, the speaker was very clear, and the layout of the presentation supported the spoken words.

In those cases, the personal layout was the icing on the cake - not a substitute for good work. There is a lot you can do to improve your presentation without spending any time on the layout. Fiddling with layouts (like fiddling with LaTex) can become an easy distraction from the real issues with your presentation. I urge you to consider whether your interest in the "look" is coming at the right time: in other words, is every other aspect of your presentation skills (content, pacing, connecting with the audience) so good that layout is the only thing left to play with?

If the answer is "yes", then my answer to your question is "yes". Otherwise, I think it's a bit early to work on creating your brand through a custom layout. Many people in the scientific community - especially at the PhD level - could do with honing their presentation skills. They could learn not to confuse slides with notes. They could learn to connect with their audience. They could learn to speak at an appropriate pace, and project their voice. They could learn to focus on the essentials and not bombard the audience with details. They could learn to use slides as visual aids - not "the main course" of the presentation. 

While I don't know you or your skills, I would say that I have statistics (based on 25+ years of empirical evidence) on my side when I answer "probably not" to your original title question.

Is there added value in having your own presentation layout and using it consistently?
If seen it written that many chazzanim use "Adoshem" when singing (if not in the davening) as it has the same number of syllables as what they would be saying, namely Ado-noi, but that this is disrespectful, and they should just say "Hashem" instead.

Why is it disrespectful?  Does everyone agree with this?  What about using "Amonai" ("my Ammonites"?), as is done in the movie Ushpizin?  I understand why it was done there (had to sound close to the real thing), but I've since heard a choir use it too.
