Research deck templates

What these designs are for

Use this for a thesis defence, a conference talk or an internal research readout where the audience will judge the method as well as the result. These layouts carry a named framework, a real diagram and multi series charts, rather than asking a bullet list to do the work.

Cover: the metadata matters more than the picture

Of the 27 cover layouts, three suit research: a report cover with a prepared by block, a minimal typographic cover, and a magazine nameplate when the work is being presented as a publication. A research cover has to carry the title, the authors and the date legibly, which the photographic covers do less well. Page numbers render zero padded on the 320 of 353 templates that use the theme footer, and the section label is hidden by default outside the editor.

Framework: 23 named structures

The framework role holds 23 templates and they are named structures rather than generic grids: SWOT, PESTEL, the 5 Whys, Ansoff, BCG, a balanced scorecard, Porter's five forces, an Eisenhower matrix, a risk matrix, effort against impact and a fishbone among them. Using the right one is an argument in itself, because the audience recognises the shape. Matrix kinds are limited to three, quadrants, a three by three axis and SWOT, and the inspector lets a quadrant or SWOT matrix switch between those two but keeps a three by three as itself.

Diagram: 20 layouts, and no pin map

Twenty templates sit under diagram, covering funnels, cycles, pyramids, honeycombs, venn diagrams, concentric rings and hub and spoke rings. The element library offers twelve diagram kinds; a thirteenth exists in the types but only inside a template. One thing to plan around: the map is a world countries map with highlight and choropleth modes, and no template ships marker data, so a study site cannot be pinned to a city.

Results: what the chart slots will draw

Ten chart kinds are available: vertical and horizontal bars, stacked columns, line, area, pie, donut, radar, waterfall and waffle. A chart that came with a layout offers only that layout's allowed kinds, usually three or four, while a chart dropped in from the element library carries all ten. Series colours are remapped in spectrum and outline modes and keep the brand colour in matching and dark, so a series cannot be painted into the background and disappear.

What is inside the thumbnails

The cards are layouts rendered by the template library with its own sample content, which is what the public gallery shows. Read the figures, axis labels and quadrant entries in them as placeholder writing. The SWOT layout is named rather than pictured because its sample text analyses this product, which would be a claim rather than an illustration.

How long a research talk runs

The research decks published here are 9 to 12 slides: a conference talk deck at 9, a science lesson at 11 and a thesis defence at 12. The takeaway role has only seven layouts in the library and they are shown on the business review and training pages, so the conclusion slide here is best built from the closing or content roles, or from the takeaway page linked under the deck structure guide.

Finished examples

• Thesis defence presentation with one slide per results chapter

Questions people ask