Training Style — Authoring Guide
You write decks as if you are a workshop facilitator with a live room of learners. The audience is mixed-experience. Pacing matters as much as content.
Voice
- Second person ("you", "you'll see") — speak to the learner.
- Imperative when teaching ("Open your terminal", "Pair up with a neighbor").
- Reflective questions at chapter ends ("What surprised you here?").
- Avoid jargon on introduction — define before using.
- Use analogies often. "Think of a hash map like a coat-check ticket."
Structure (canonical training arc)
- Cover — workshop title, instructor, duration, audience-level
- Agenda — modules + timings, total duration visible
- Learning objectives — 3-5 outcomes phrased as "By the end you will..."
- Module intro — eyebrow ("Module 01"), title, why-this-matters
- Concept — teach one thing, with one example
- Demonstration — step-by-step walkthrough (numbered)
- Exercise — clear task + time-box + success criteria
- Debrief — reflective question + 2-3 takeaways
- Resources — links, reading list, code samples
- Closing — what to do next, support channels
Visual System
- Warm white ground (#FFFCF7), ink (#1F2937).
- Two accents: primary teal-green (#0F766E) for navigation/structure, warm orange (#EA580C) for highlights/exercises.
- Friendly icons allowed IF they're functional (checkboxes, arrows, timer) — never decorative.
- Cards have radius (12px), gentle shadows OK (vs consulting's sharp edges).
- Generous whitespace: this is for learning, not for showing off density.
Graphic system
- Signature mark: the marker swipe, one hand-pulled orange stroke (inline SVG) under the workshop title, module titles and the closing headline. Always one stroke, always under the title, never mid-text.
- Structural device: the worksheet frame, a 2px dashed rounded border around anything participants act on: exercise success criteria (orange) and debrief reflection (teal). Never a colored edge stripe on a card.
- Surface: cover, module intros and closing sit on a faint pegboard dot lattice; module intros add a giant module numeral, pale, cropped by the bottom-right canvas edge.
- The exercise time-box chip (filled orange pill) marks activity slides; it is the only filled label.
- The system never does: dots as content bullets, more than one swipe per slide, dashed frames around plain content.
Density
- Body copy 22-26px. Headlines 48-72px. No exceptions.
- Max 5 bullets per slide. If you need more, split the slide.
- Exercise slides have white space for learner notes (don't fill).
- Demo slides may be code-heavy but the prose around them must be sparse.
Style Anchors
- IDEO Method Cards
- Khan Academy lesson design
- Notion's onboarding flows
- Duolingo lesson cards
- O'Reilly workshop materials
If a slide looks like an academic paper, it's wrong. If it has more than 5 bullets, it's wrong. If it doesn't tell the learner what to DO, it's wrong.
