our-claude-skills/custom-skills/05-ourdigital-document/shared/references/slide_layouts.md

Slide Layouts Guide

Overview

Layout patterns and best practices for different slide types.

Layout Principles

Visual Hierarchy

1. Primary: Title/headline (largest, boldest)
2. Secondary: Key points (medium, clear)
3. Tertiary: Supporting details (smaller, lighter)
4. Quaternary: Metadata (smallest, subtle)

Balance & Alignment

• Rule of thirds: Divide slide into 9 sections
• White space: 30-40% minimum
• Alignment grid: Consistent margins and gutters
• Visual weight: Balance text, images, and data

Core Slide Types

1. Title Slide

┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│                                 │
│                                 │
│         [Company Logo]          │
│                                 │
│        PRESENTATION TITLE       │
│          Subtitle Text          │
│                                 │
│          Date | Author          │
│                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────┘

Elements:

• Title: 44-48pt, bold, centered
• Subtitle: 24-28pt, regular, centered
• Metadata: 14-16pt, light, centered
• Background: Gradient or image with overlay

2. Section Divider

┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│                                 │
│                                 │
│                                 │
│        SECTION TITLE            │
│         Brief Context           │
│                                 │
│                                 │
│                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────┘

Elements:

• Section title: 36-40pt, bold
• Context: 20-24pt, regular
• Background: Brand color or pattern
• Number indicator (optional): Large, subtle

3. Content Slide - Text Only

┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│ SLIDE TITLE                     │
├─────────────────────────────────┤
│                                 │
│ • Key point one with detail     │
│   Supporting information        │
│                                 │
│ • Key point two with detail     │
│   Supporting information        │
│                                 │
│ • Key point three with detail   │
│   Supporting information        │
│                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────┘

Elements:

• Title: 32pt, bold, left-aligned
• Bullets: 18-20pt, regular
• Sub-bullets: 16-18pt, light
• Line spacing: 1.5x

4. Content Slide - Text + Image

┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│ SLIDE TITLE                     │
├────────────────┬────────────────┤
│                │                │
│ • Point one    │                │
│                │    [IMAGE/     │
│ • Point two    │     CHART]     │
│                │                │
│ • Point three  │                │
│                │                │
└────────────────┴────────────────┘

Proportions:

• Text: 50-60% width
• Visual: 40-50% width
• Padding: 0.5" between columns

5. Data Visualization

┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│ DATA INSIGHT TITLE              │
├─────────────────────────────────┤
│         ┌──────────┐            │
│         │          │            │
│         │  CHART/  │            │
│         │  GRAPH   │            │
│         │          │            │
│         └──────────┘            │
│                                 │
│ Key Insight: [Callout text]     │
└─────────────────────────────────┘

Elements:

• Chart: 60-70% of slide area
• Title: Descriptive, not just "Sales Data"
• Callout: Highlight key finding
• Legend: Only if necessary

6. Comparison Slide

┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│ COMPARISON TITLE                │
├────────────────┬────────────────┤
│    Option A    │    Option B    │
├────────────────┼────────────────┤
│                │                │
│ ✓ Advantage 1  │ ✓ Advantage 1  │
│ ✓ Advantage 2  │ ✓ Advantage 2  │
│ ✗ Drawback 1   │ ✗ Drawback 1   │
│                │                │
│ Metric: 85%    │ Metric: 72%    │
│                │                │
└────────────────┴────────────────┘

Layout:

• Equal column widths
• Consistent formatting
• Visual indicators (✓/✗, +/-)
• Highlight winner (if applicable)

7. Process/Timeline

┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│ PROCESS TITLE                   │
├─────────────────────────────────┤
│                                 │
│  [1]────►[2]────►[3]────►[4]   │
│  Start   Step    Step    End    │
│          One     Two            │
│                                 │
│ Description of the process      │
│                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────┘

Variations:

• Horizontal timeline
• Vertical timeline
• Circular process
• Chevron diagram

8. Quote/Testimonial

┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│                                 │
│                                 │
│        "Impactful quote         │
│         that supports           │
│         your message"           │
│                                 │
│         - Attribution           │
│           Title/Company         │
│                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────┘

Styling:

• Quote: 24-28pt, italic or serif
• Attribution: 16-18pt, regular
• Quotation marks: Large, subtle
• Background: Minimal, maybe texture

9. Image-Focused

┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│                                 │
│                                 │
│        [FULL BLEED IMAGE]       │
│                                 │
│                                 │
├─────────────────────────────────┤
│ Caption or Context Text         │
└─────────────────────────────────┘

Best Practices:

• High-resolution images only
• Text overlay needs contrast
• Consider semi-transparent overlay
• Keep text minimal

10. Call-to-Action

┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│                                 │
│                                 │
│       CLEAR ACTION ITEM         │
│                                 │
│     [  BUTTON/ACTION  ]         │
│                                 │
│     Supporting context          │
│                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────┘

Elements:

• Action: 32-36pt, bold
• Button: Contrasting color
• Context: 18-20pt, regular
• Contact info (if applicable)

Responsive Layouts

Mobile-First Considerations

• Larger text (minimum 14pt)
• Single column layouts
• Touch-friendly spacing
• Simplified graphics

Aspect Ratios

• 16:9 (Standard): 1920×1080px
• 4:3 (Traditional): 1024×768px
• 16:10 (Modern): 1920×1200px
• 1:1 (Social): 1080×1080px

Color Usage

Background Options

1. White: Maximum readability
2. Light gray: Reduces glare
3. Dark: For high contrast
4. Gradient: Adds depth
5. Pattern: Subtle texture

Text Colors

• Primary text: High contrast (90%+)
• Secondary text: Medium contrast (70%+)
• Accent text: Brand color
• Disabled text: Low contrast (40%)

Typography Guidelines

Font Pairing

Heading Font + Body Font
- Poppins + Lora
- Arial + Georgia
- Helvetica + Times
- Roboto + Merriweather

Size Hierarchy

Title:        44-48pt
Subtitle:     32-36pt
Heading:      28-32pt
Subheading:   20-24pt
Body:         16-20pt
Caption:      12-14pt

Line Spacing

• Titles: 1.0-1.2x
• Body text: 1.5-1.6x
• Bullets: 1.4-1.5x
• Captions: 1.2-1.3x

Animation & Transitions

Entrance Animations

• Fade in: Universal, professional
• Slide in: Directional emphasis
• Grow: Importance emphasis
• Appear: Simple, no distraction

Transition Timing

• Fast: 0.3s (between related slides)
• Medium: 0.5s (section transitions)
• Slow: 1.0s (major transitions)

Build Sequences

1. Title appears
2. Main content fades in
3. Supporting elements slide in
4. Call-to-action grows

Accessibility Considerations

Color Contrast

• WCAG AA: 4.5:1 for normal text
• WCAG AA: 3:1 for large text
• WCAG AAA: 7:1 for normal text

Font Sizes

• Minimum: 14pt for body text
• Minimum: 18pt for important text
• Maximum: 54pt for titles

Alt Text

• Describe all images
• Explain all charts
• Summarize complex diagrams

Quality Checklist

Before Finalizing

• Consistent alignment across slides
• Proper contrast ratios
• No orphaned bullets
• Images are high resolution
• Data is clearly labeled
• Slide numbers present
• Brand elements applied
• Spell check completed
• Animations tested
• Export quality verified