What actually happens between the notes a client sends us and the slide they present? Here is one illustrative traction slide, in three versions.
Version 1: what arrives (the raw input)
A slide titled “Traction & Growth Update” with seven bullets:
- Revenue has grown consistently over the last four quarters
- Q1 $180K, Q2 $240K, Q3 $310K, Q4 $520K
- Churn improved from 4.1% to 2.3% monthly
- Added 2 enterprise logos in Q4 plus 14 mid-market accounts
- Sales team grew from 2 to 5 reps during the year
- CAC payback currently sits at around 11 months
- We believe this shows strong momentum going into next year
Everything is true. Nothing is prioritised. The investor has to do the work of deciding what matters.
Version 2: the argument (the step most people skip)
Claim: growth accelerated, and it was not bought.
- Evidence 1: Q4 revenue jumped 68% over Q3, the steepest quarter of the year.
- Evidence 2: churn nearly halved over the same period.
- Cut: headcount and CAC payback. True, but they belong on a later slide.
Before we open a design file, the slide has to make one point and prove it. This is where a deck gets fixed.
Version 3: what they present (the finished slide)
The headline reads “Q4 revenue grew 68% while churn fell by half”. Underneath is a single bar chart of the four quarters ($180K, $240K, $310K, $520K), with only the Q4 bar highlighted. Same data. One headline that states the conclusion, one chart that proves it, one bar doing the talking.
The three decisions that changed it
- The headline states the conclusion. “Traction & Growth Update” is a label. A sentence tells the reader what to think.
- Four numbers left the slide. Not because they are weak, but because two arguments on one slide means neither lands.
- One bar is highlighted. Colour is a pointer. If everything is emphasised, nothing is.
None of this is decoration. It is editing.
The point
Design did not fix the slide. The argument did. Most decks do not fail because they look bad. They fail because the audience cannot tell what matters. (More on this idea in Your Deck Doesn’t Need More Design. It Needs an Argument.)
The figures above are illustrative.
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