name: component description: A concrete piece inside a slide — title, chart, table, quote, benchmark, source note. The atomic unit of storymaking.
Component
A component is the atomic unit of storymaking: a concrete piece inside a slide. Titles, charts, tables, quotes, callouts, benchmarks, source notes, divider bars, eyebrows — every thing on the page is a component.
A slide is a composition of components. Each component carries some mix of Sense, Claim, and Proof.
Common component kinds
- Title — usually carries the action-title, the Claim.
- Chart — quantitative Proof.
- Table — comparative Proof.
- Quote / pull-quote — authority Proof or thematic Sense.
- Callout / box — emphasis or summary; often Claim restated.
- Benchmark / peer panel — comparative Proof.
- Source note / footnote — provenance for Proof.
- Eyebrow / kicker — Sense (locates the slide in the flow).
- Divider / spacer — Sense (rhythm and breathing).
Component-level rules
- Each component earns its place. Apply so-what? to every one.
- No duplicate work. If two components carry the same Claim, one is decoration. Delete one.
- Hierarchy is intentional. The biggest component on the page is what the eye lands on first — make sure that is the right thing.
- Source carries Proof. A chart without source is not Proof, it is an assertion.
Failure modes
- Decoration. Components that look like work but do nothing.
- Conflict. Two components fighting for focal point.
- Self-referential source. "Source: this report" — does not carry weight.
- Density without hierarchy. A wall of equally-weighted components. The eye gives up.
Canonical phrasing
A slide is the composition; the components are the notes. One wrong note and the chord is off.