The four template classes
Every slide in the program is one of four classes. Facilitators do not invent new classes. If a lesson needs something a class cannot deliver, it belongs in the workbook, not on the deck. The four classes carry the visual system across weeks so the cohort learns to read the deck before it learns the content.
Class A - Title slide
One large slide sentence. One kicker line above. One session number below. No other elements. Used as chapter breaks.
Class B - Lesson slide
One heading, one paragraph of teaching, one bulleted list of at most four items. Reserved for the actual delivery of an idea.
Class C - Assessment slide
One question, three or four response options, and a gold left border. Used only when the cohort will vote or answer live.
Class D - Activity slide
One instruction, one timer, one deliverable. Muted-gold left border. Used only when the cohort will write during the slide.
Rendered examples, one of each class
The type scale and layout rules
Slides in this system use one type family (Neue Machina for display, Manrope for body). The type scale is six sizes and no more. Every slide has a 60-pixel margin on all sides and a maximum of four separate visual elements. The visual system is defended more strictly than the content because a facilitator who has to redesign a slide is a facilitator who cannot teach the lesson under it.
Rules the deck defends by construction
- One heading per slide. Never two.
- No more than four bullets on a Class B slide. If the lesson needs more, split into two slides.
- Class C and Class D slides have colored left borders. That border is the only cue the cohort needs to know what to do next.
- No slide contains a footer, page number, logo, or presenter bio. Every element on the slide is content.
- No mid-slide transitions. No builds. No animation.
- The workbook holds all reference material. Slides do not repeat what the workbook covers.
What belongs on a slide and what does not
A slide holds one idea and the exact language for delivering it. If the facilitator needs to say more than the slide shows, the extra language goes in the facilitator note under the slide, not on the slide. If the cohort needs to write, the slide sends them to the workbook. If the cohort needs to remember, the slide gives them the sentence and the workbook records it.
This split is the reason the template system works. The deck is where the lesson happens live. The workbook is where the lesson persists. Nothing on the deck exists in two places.
Facilitator notes, briefly
Every deck ships with a facilitator note document. Each note follows the same three-part structure: what to say at the top, the timing on the slide, and the one question you should ask if the cohort goes quiet. Facilitators new to the material are asked to read the notes twice before session one and to keep the timer on the desk during delivery. The template system is designed to let a first-time facilitator run the program at cohort strength inside their first two weeks.
How the template system was built
The four classes were not designed in a room. They were extracted from six years of running the program with earlier, sloppier decks. The original decks had eleven slide layouts. Facilitators asked which layout to use for a given lesson, and the answer was always the same: whichever layout carries the least visual noise for the shortest amount of language. When we counted, ninety-two percent of every deck sat inside four layouts. The other seven layouts were used a handful of times and produced worse comprehension in the post-session assessments. The four remaining classes are the ones the cohort could read fastest.
The rule that closed the loop was the one that says nothing on the deck exists in two places. Before that rule, facilitators repeated on-slide language in their spoken teach, which produced a subtle competition between the slide and the person delivering the lesson. Post-session comprehension improved by eleven points the cohort we introduced the rule.
Common misuses, and how the template resists them
Two headings on one slide
The template's max width for a heading is the full slide, and the class definition includes a hard rule of one heading. A facilitator who wants two headings has to either split the slide or promote one heading to body copy.
Adding a logo, page number, or footer
The class definitions have no space for any of the three. A facilitator who wants a footer is asked to explain, out loud, what the footer is doing for the cohort. The answer is almost always nothing.
Using a lesson slide as an activity slide
A lesson slide has no timer and no colored border. Cohorts read this correctly. Facilitators who try to sneak an activity into a lesson slide report that the cohort does not write, because nothing on the slide signals writing.
Mid-slide transitions or builds
The template does not include a build mechanism. If a lesson needs sequential reveal, the template asks the facilitator to split the reveal across sequential slides. That constraint keeps the deck legible on any surface the cohort views it on.
Adapting the system for a different subject
The four-class system is subject-agnostic. Adapting it for a different program takes about a day. The type scale is the same. The colored-border logic is the same. What changes is the specific rubric fields that appear on the Class D activity slides and the specific question format that appears on the Class C assessment slides. A facilitator adapting the system for a design fundamentals course would change one variable per module and leave the rest of the system intact. The design ground truth of the template is not the aesthetic. It is the constraint on how much language and how many elements the facilitator can put on any single slide.
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