Components
The furniture around charts: titles, sources, KPI cards, status chips, callouts. Same role contract, same determinism, composable into recipes.
INSIGHT CALLOUT
A short so-what box beside a visual: lead line in ink, supporting lines in body, primary-colored bar on the left edge.
- first line is the lead (ink, weight 600); the rest support it
- a callout states a consequence or an ask, never repeats the chart title
- one callout per visual maximum
EXCEPTION ROW
One exception, one line: status bar + dot, bold claim, owner and due date right. Stacked into exception lists on one-pagers.
- one exception per row; the claim carries a number
- owner and due in caps, right-aligned: every exception is owned
- status colors the bar and dot only, never the whole row
KPI CARD
One number that matters, with its label and week-over-week delta. Used in strips of 5 maximum.
- value in tabular figures; delta always signed and always named against its reference
- tone (positive/negative/neutral) is semantic, set by the data, not by the sign
- maximum 5 cards per strip; more means the page has no message
BIG NUMBER
The one number a page exists for: caps label, display-size value, one context line. One per page maximum.
- one big number per page; two big numbers mean no message
- the context line names the reference, always
- value in the display font, primary role
LEADER-LINE ANNOTATION
The standalone annotation: dot on the fact, elbow leader, italic note. The house style for pointing at evidence.
- the dot sits ON the fact; the leader never crosses other marks
- italic body role: annotations comment, they do not shout
- anchor start or end, chosen so text grows away from the chart
STATUS CHIP
A status marker that survives color-blindness and bad projectors: outlined chip, status-colored dot, the status word in ink.
- the word is mandatory; the dot and border alone are never a status
- text in ink on the page background, so contrast never depends on the status color
- width is set by the caller (deterministic), not measured from text
OUTLINED STAMP
Blueprint-register stamp: double-outlined CAPS word for document-grade statuses (ISSUED, HOLD, SUPERSEDED).
- tone is semantic (positive, negative, neutral), set by the data
- letter-spaced caps, centered; the double outline is the signature
- never rotated: legibility beats theater
HEADER BAND
Full-width page header: title left, meta (date, page, reference) right, ruled base.
- meta in caps, right-aligned, letter-spaced
- the primary rule anchors the band to the page
- title in the display font
DRAWING TITLE BLOCK
Engineering-register block: labeled rows (project, document, revision, date) in a framed grid, bottom-right of technical pages.
- labels caps 8px, values below; the frame is ink, rows hairline
- revision rows name the revision letter AND its status
- bottom-right placement on technical pages
ACTION TITLE
The page's governing thought: a full sentence with a number, plus the DL's chrome (kicker and eyebrow) when the language asks for it.
- the title is a full sentence stating the finding with a number; no verb or no number means rewrite
- eyebrow and kicker render only when the DL chrome asks; the component never invents them
- one action title per page
SOURCE LINE
The data provenance line, bottom-left of every page that shows data. Non-negotiable across all languages.
- always bottom-left, always present when the page shows data
- states source name and as-of date
- missing data is declared here, never silently omitted