Building a Patterson deck

Every rule below carries its source. Where Patterson has not published something, it is written [TBD] rather than filled in.

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Caution

Do not invent layout names, slide sizes or master names.

1. Before you build

1. Get the official template from SharePoint (see ../REFERENCES.md). It is the governed artifact; this document is only the ruleset behind it.
2. Confirm the business unit — Dental, Veterinary, Animal Health International or corporate. It changes the logo family [BG25 p.19], the emphasis color on full-frame slides [BG25 p.52], the voice layer (see voice-and-tone) and the sales-role terminology (see copy-style-guide).
3. Confirm the audience — internal or customer-facing. Internal work follows the same standards [BG25 p.43].

2. Slide roles, and what each one is allowed to do

Note

These are derived from documented Brand Guide rules, not from a published Patterson layout inventory.

Title slide

• Deck title in Arial Bold, sentence case [BG25 p.59].
• Ground: white, or navy #003767 as a full-frame emphasis ground [BG25 p.52].
• Logo lower right or upper left, with clear space of half the “P” height [BG25 p.14–15].
• The brand promise may appear here as a sign-off — once per deck [BG25 p.6]. Designed form: Trusted Expertise. Unrivaled Support.®

Section divider

• Navy ground with white reverse type is the documented emphasis treatment [BG25 p.52], [BG25 p.14].
• Short, sentence-case section name. If you want a small label above it, that is the eyebrow pattern: teal #00817D, sentence case, short [DS20 p.16] — not sky blue and not uppercase.

Content slide

• White ground [BG25 p.24]; headline in navy, body in #58585B.
• One idea per slide; one thought per sentence [BG25 p.10].
• Bullets in Arial Regular, sentence case.
• Ampersands are permitted in titles and bullets to save space, if used consistently [COPY22].

Data / infographic slide

• Use the tertiary palette, which [BG25 p.24] designates for exactly this.

• A five-series ramp matching the shipped theme:

  #003767 · #00A8E1 · #7BC24D · #00817D · #522E91

• Tints (75/50/25) shade a series without leaving the palette [BG25 p.24].

• Accent colors must never carry body copy or legal disclaimers [DS20 p.8].

• Never introduce an off-palette color to distinguish a series. If you run out, use tints.

Closing / CTA slide

• One CTA. Never more than three [BG25 p.10]. Acceptable forms: a phone number, a URL, Contact your rep, Contact customer service.
• Phone numbers use periods: 800.873.7683 [COPY22].
• URLs lowercase, no http:// [COPY22].
• CTA text is sentence case and is never a question [DS20 p.10].

3. Type

Element	Face	Case
Slide title	Arial Bold	Sentence case [BG25 p.59]
Subhead	Arial Bold	Sentence case
Body, bullets	Arial Regular	Sentence case
Running footer / deck title in the footer	Arial Bold	May be all caps [BG25 p.27]

Arial is the sanctioned OfficeSuite face [BG25 p.25]. Arial Nova Light is available as an extra weight where installed.

Caution

Do not use Proxima Nova in a deck and do not embed a font file.

Note

Where a print/design layout spec is needed, the underlying brand values are: tracking −10, leading 75% of size for headings and 125–150% for body, flush left [BG25 p.27]. PowerPoint expresses these differently, so treat them as intent rather than as literal settings.

4. Imagery in decks

• Photography must be authentic, well exposed, naturally lit, shallow depth of field, and its tone must map to at least one Patterson value [BG25 p.33].
• Product shots for screen sit on a white sweep; equipment may use white or gray [BG25 p.34, p.37].
• Production animals must be clean — no mud, no flies [BG25 p.36].
• Icons: linear style, 80 × 80px, supporting cue only, never the main visual, never off-palette [BG25 p.41–42], [IMG20 p.2].
• Never place the logo over an image [BG25 p.20].

Caution

Dental operatory imagery must meet the PPE requirements — mask over nose, mouth and chin; eye protection; fitted gloves; no skin on chest, arms or wrists; patient bib and eye protection [BG25 p.38].

Documented image sizes that decks commonly reuse:

Surface	Size	Format	Source
Video canvas / full-bleed still	1920 × 1080 @ 72dpi	png, ai, layered psd	[BG25 p.52]
Internal email banner	1300px wide	jpg or png	[BG25 p.44]
Patterson Priorities newsletter image	1920 × 1004	jpg or png	[BG25 p.44]
Inside/Patterson banner	1920 × 1080, crops to 1920 × 250	jpg or png	[BG25 p.45]
Social landscape / square (if the deck feeds social)	1200 × 628 / 1080 × 1080	png for graphics, jpg for photos	[BG25 p.48]

[TBD: no slide-size or aspect-ratio standard (16:9 vs 4:3) is published in any extracted Patterson source. Take it from the official template.]

5. Video inside a deck [BG25 p.52–53]

Canvas 1920 × 1080 at 72dpi. Preferred formats png, ai, layered psd; deliver graphics with layers or an alpha channel. Generic graphic opens run 2–3 seconds with a half-second transition.

Full-frame grounds by unit:

Unit	Ground
Dental	sky #00A8E1
Veterinary	navy #003767
Corporate and AHI	white #FFFFFF

The logo occupies the middle third of the frame.

6. Governance

[DS20 p.40]: “Every time you override a global component in one area of a product, you erode the consistency of your design system.”

The same applies to a deck — compose from the template’s existing layouts instead of building bespoke slides.

Important

Graphical treatment of the Purpose/Vision/Values requires Corporate Marketing and Communications; there is no single PVV logo [BG25 p.5]. If a deck needs a designed PVV slide, route it rather than composing one.

7. Review checklist

• Built from the official SharePoint template, or the deviation is stated
• Arial throughout; no Proxima Nova, no embedded font file
• Every title, headline, subhead, bullet and caption is sentence case
• Any all-caps is a footer/title treatment only
• Every color is in the Patterson palette; charts use the tertiary/infographic ramp
• Body copy is #58585B; headlines navy
• Eyebrow-style labels are teal and sentence case
• Logo colorway, placement and clear space correct; not over an image
• Co-branding: Patterson left and dominant
• Brand promise appears at most once, in the right form for its context
• One CTA (max three); phone numbers with periods; no CTA phrased as a question
• No Inc. or Co.
• Ampersand usage consistent across the deck
• Imagery meets category and PPE rules
• Icons 80 × 80, supporting only, on-palette

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Source of truth: plugins/patterson-brand/skills/presentation-templates/references/deck-construction.md in the patterson-corp repository.