Data Guidelines on the BCG format Color with care! 3x3 Guidelines on color usage Title and subtitles (Alt-Q macro to format) Title in sentence case, 24 pt, bold Subtitle in 16 pt, nonbold Maximum of two lines Two line main title OR one line main title + one line subtitle ALL text in slides should be sentence case Even bullet points Title page is the only place that uses title case ‘Text Column’ or ‘Number Column’ functions to format text Top level of hierarchy is bold Green bullet point, text is nonbold Green dash, text is nonbold Columns Header font is 2 pts larger than body text, bold Boxes are not filled and have no lines around them Body text follows the same hierarchy as a text slide Chart design Five tick marks maximum on the Y axis Axes (1-2 pt larger than axis labels or same size) Y-axis label above axis, left aligned text, black X-axis label below axis, right aligned text, black Axes lines are gray No border gray lines separate segments No graph titles (optional for 1 graph per page) Timelines Bars in green or gray Light gray fill on the left hand side Green line separates month/week label from chart Chart and date sections separated by thin gray lines Separator gridlines are available in white – send green bars to the back Tables 2, 3 or 4 groups per page, columns, boxes or tables 5 or more groups use columns or MS Tables Use light gray stripes to separate rows (if needed) Takeaway boxes color, size and position of takeaway can not be changed. Only use 16 pt font Margins Stay away from the "Margins" Keep your data and text out of the margins Turn the margins on/off in BCG Home > Insert group Three color rules to live by 1. Don’t use any color! Don’t fill every box. Black text on a white slide is clear and uncluttered. Kill the fill! 2. gray is a beautiful color! First color used should be light gray without a visible border 3. Respect the brand! Don’t change objects that are brand green (takeaways, headers, etc.) Only EVER use color to Three different color palettes Distinguish between group and concept 2. Show hierarchies, relationships between groups 3. Highlight key data/main points Fills Stick to grays, blues, browns and greens Light colors: large objects Dark = smaller objects Dark Dark BCG green for macro elements (use sparingly) Other dark shades (rarely) Highlight Highlight key data Small patches of intense color Lose the line! The 90/10 rule Mostly (90%) No visible lines around objects line color = fill color Rare cases (10%) dotted line Solid line matches Calls attention to call-out Line is the same color as the fill, but darker shade White line for overlap Important buttons and useful info Switch between A4 and Letter. Switch between standard and WWOM format Format slide title/sub-title Format text box Automatically formats text boxes, including bold/ unbold of bullet points Automatically formats the title (font size and bold) Five principles of graphical excellence Data Less > More Stay away from the margins Keep your charts, words, tables, line, etc where they are supposed to be Ink 1. Data/ink ratio 2. Less is more 3. Information hierarchy 4. Fit with BCG brand 5. Selective use of color Version 9 October 2012 Send feedback and bugs: Service.Center@bcg.com