Pitch deck cover slide: the first impression in one frame

A pitch deck cover slide should say the product name and what it does, in one 16:9 frame, and then stop. Build it at 1920 × 1080 on the same ground as your site hero, and leave metrics, the team and the story for later pages.

Northroom, and the line under it, are an illustration, not a real company. The cover and the hero share those words so the deck and the site look like one brand.

What a pitch deck cover slide should say

Four pieces, and only four. The name people say. One line a stranger can repeat. A small line for the round, the meeting or the date, and your name if the room needs it. Metrics, the market, the team and the vision are later slides.

Say the line the way you would across a table. Here the name is Northroom, the line is "Payroll for small studios.", the context is "Seed meeting" and the speaker is Ada Shah, founder. A speech about reimagining the back office will not hold on this frame.

If you need a second sentence to explain the line, the line is not done.

"Seed meeting" or a month and year tells a reader which file this is, once you have more than one deck. Set it at the same small size as your name. Confidential, if a lawyer requires it, goes in the footer, never as the headline.

A spoken deck and an emailed deck follow the same cover rule. Later slides in an email deck need more words, because you are not there to talk: see slide design tips. Name the file with the company and the round, such as Northroom-seed.pdf.

Cover size: 16:9 at 1920 × 1080

1920 × 1080 is 16:9, which matches current laptops, projectors and video calls. Google Slides page setup offers Standard (4:3), Widescreen (16:9), Widescreen (16:10) or a custom size for every slide. PowerPoint Widescreen is 13.333 by 7.5 inches, and On-screen Show (16:9) is 10 by 5.625 inches. Both fit this cover. Use 16:10 only for a 16:10 screen.

4:3 at 1600 × 1200 is taller and sits between bars on a widescreen display, so use it only when the room is 4:3. Aspect ratios is why you lock the shape first. Keep type at least 80 to 100 pixels in from every edge, so a crop does not clip the name.

Type, contrast and the edges

On a 1920 × 1080 slide, a title reads from across a room at about 88 to 112 pixels, and body text wants about 48 pixels or more. Start the name in the title range, keep the one line above body size, and let context be smaller. Presentation fonts has the quarter-size check: if the name fails at a quarter of full size, the back row cannot read it. If the name is already the logo, skip a second symbol.

A projector spends some of your contrast. WCAG contrast guidance asks for 4.5:1 on ordinary text and 3:1 on large text, and 3:1 is only the floor for a title. Check ground against type with colour contrast, on a calm area of the ground. Auto ink picks light or dark type from that palette, with no box, blur or shadow.

Use the same ground as the site hero

The website hero is also 1920 × 1080. Shared ground and a shared line make the cover and the hero one brand. Two palettes make them two projects. Hero section design covers the words and the button on the site. Website hero backgrounds covers the ground. Brand consistency is the habit of repeating both everywhere else.

The hero may add one button. The cover should not copy that button, a logo row or a screenshot. Matching means the ground, the name and the line. The site offers a next step. The cover opens the meeting.

If the hero is built in CSS, copy the same recipe. It stays sharp at any screen size. Keep the name over the darker end, in a warm off-white.

.hero {
  min-height: 100svh;
  display: grid;
  align-items: end;
  padding: 8vw;
  background: linear-gradient(118deg, #14110e 0%, #3a2a22 46%, #c47a45 100%);
  color: #f4efe8;
}

.hero h1 {
  margin: 0;
  font-size: clamp(3rem, 8vw, 7rem);
  line-height: 0.95;
  max-width: 12ch;
}

.hero p {
  margin: 0.6rem 0 0;
  font-size: clamp(1.25rem, 2vw, 1.75rem);
  max-width: 28ch;
}

In Gradiently that shared ground is a Mark. The cover is one page at 1920 × 1080 wearing it, and the hero can wear it too. Preview your own name on a deck title at Try on your brand. Anyone can design with a Mark that is still unclaimed.

Build the cover, then the rest of the deck

1. 1

   Lock the frame

   Make the page 1920 × 1080 before any type. That is 16:9. Use 1600 × 1200 only when the screen is 4:3.

2. 2

   Use the site's ground

   Use the same colours, or the same Mark, as the website hero. If the site is still blank, design this frame first and reuse it there.

3. 3

   Write the name and one line

   Stop when a stranger can say what you do. Here, that is Northroom and Payroll for small studios.

4. 4

   Add context, small

   Add the round, the meeting or the date, and your name. Keep it at least 80 pixels from the edge.

5. 5

   Check it from far away

   Set the name near 88 to 112 pixels, then view the slide at a quarter size. Fix anything you have to squint at.

6. 6

   Export the file you will send

   Export a screen PDF named with the company and the round. Record a voice-over only for a narrated file, and review the clip first.

When the cover holds up small, add later slides as pages in the same Gradiently design so they keep the ground. Slide types are in pitch deck design. Charts need a quieter field, as in presentation backgrounds. Export a screen PDF, which is a Pro export. A print PDF with bleed is for a printer: see exporting a print PDF. A voice-over is optional, also on Pro, and only for a narrated file you review before adding. In the room, you are the voice.