Summary deck from our monthly JSI design-storm (design + brainstorm), highlighting the amazing templates and design features from Nancy Duarte's Slidedocs. The highlights features here only hit on a small section of her overall approach - check out the complete package at http://www.duarte.com/slidedocs

1. Design-storm | July
Slidedocs
Amanda Makulec
John Snow Inc.

2. sharing information
“Internet and mobile
communications have
reconditioned people to
prefer consuming
information in small chunks.
Today, content not boiled down to its essence
is a time-waster. Long, detailed, multipage
documents of prose take too long to read
between emails and meetings. As a result,
shorter, tighter, visual communication is the
go-to method for getting everybody on the
same page quickly. People learn concepts
better when they see pictures combined with
prose. Therefore, visual media like
presentations are used more readily.”
—Nancy Duarte

4. SlideDocs
© Duarte, Inc.

5. SlideDocs
A slidedoc is a reporting format
formalized by Nancy Duarte. On the
website you can download templates and
primers on building great slidedocs,
making them simple to create. Plus, the
Diagrammer tool is a delight for anyone
who’s tried to hack together a graphic in
SmartArt in the past!
Slidedoc (n.) a visual
document, developed in
presentation software, that
is intended to be read and
referenced instead of
projected
SlideDoc graphics & summary notes are from Nancy Duarte’s SlideDocs available at duarte.com/slidedocs
All images and graphics are © Duarte, Inc.

6. © Duarte, Inc.

7. © Duarte, Inc.

8. © Duarte, Inc.

9. © Duarte, Inc.

10. SlideDoc templates
Duarte, Inc. created two templates for you to download. You can use them as-is or as inspiration for
your own slidedoc template. Visit www.slidedocs.com to receive free slidedoc templates.
© Duarte, Inc.

11. SlideDoc grid layout
​”Because slidedocs have dense content,
grids serve a more important function
for them than they do with slides. Grids
provide structure from which to organize
your images and text and keeps your
layouts tidy.
Grids help you determine the placement
of images by giving them a spine to
which they can align. Aligning images to
a grid makes it feel like they have a
sense of place, as if they have a space
they “belong” in.
​Laying out the type within a grid
determines the width of your text. In
slidedocs, long text blocks should be
arranged in columns. The grid
determines how wide you make the
columns.”
More on grids at: http://www.duarte.com/presentation-grid-layout/

12. SlideDoc Diagrammer

13. making Slidedocs distinct
© Duarte, Inc.

14. storytelling
Telling a story to
communicate a message
about data is the smartest
way to make an impact and
be memorable.
When you’re building visualizations, find the
story in your data first, and then build the
pictures. That way, the visualizations
reinforce your message while also giving you
the content to drive your message. TED talks
are great examples of storytelling, complete
with an ah-ha moment for the audience to
walk away with: watch a few, and see how
strategically they use images to emphasize
key points and ideas.

15. ideas & suggestions
TIP: Use the powerpoint “comment”
feature during the editing process if
you’re working on a SlideDoc with a
team.
TIP: Once it’s final, save and share
your SlideDoc as a PDF, to keep
others from editing your content.
You can use SlideDocs for a myriad of
different deliverables. Consider a slide
doc format for:
• Meeting summaries
• Leave-behind decks for presentations
• Replacing long-form reports
• Training manuals
• Resource guides
one Ideate two Create three Refine
© Duarte, Inc.

16. Connect!
Datavizhub.co dataviz@jsi.com