NCAR LaTeX Beamer Template

This work provides a sample LaTeX/Beamer presentation template intended to be compliant with the NCAR/UCAR Brand Standards.

Quick Start

The following bash shell commands should suffice to get started:

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/benkirk/NCAR_beamer_template.git && \
   cd NCAR_beamer_template
# If we have a 'module' command, attempt to load a texlive package
# (In NCAR's environment, this will 'do the right thing' on Casper.)
type module >/dev/null 2>&1 && \
   module try-load texlive || \
   echo "no module command"
# Build the template presentation
make
ls -l template.pdf

Fonts & XeTeX vs. pdfLaTeX

The UCAR/NCAR branding prefers specific fonts:

• Poppins OTF is to be used for all header and body text download.
• Cormorant TTF is to be used for fine print and asterisk notations download.

It is unlikely these fonts are ncluded on your system by default, but they can be downloaded from the links above. On Mac OSX, these fonts can then be installed using the Font Book application for general use. In this case it is necessary to use XeTeX to typeset the slides. Since this requires some effort to set up properly, it is not the default behavior of the package, but rather controlled from the optional parameter brandedfonts:

% speciy the optional parameter to prefer NCAR/UCAR Brand Standard fonts (requires XeTeX),
% otherwise 'Helvetica' will be used.
\usepackage[brandedfonts]{ncar_branding}

If you are on a system without XeTeX, or prefer pdfLaTeX, the package falls back to the 'helvet' package, (see ncar_branding.sty, even this package can be removed if not included on your system).

External Resources

Branding

• https://news.ucar.edu/brand
• https://news.ucar.edu/sites/default/files/documents/related-links/2020-03/NCAR-UCAR_BrandStandards_031020-Spreads.pdf
• https://internal.ucar.edu/communications

Imagery

• https://www.instagram.com/ncar_ucar
• https://photolib.noaa.gov/
• https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images
• https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/news/photosmultimedia.htm

Consider the environments NCARtitleframe and NCARprettyframe, which are very similar. (The former includes logos and a standard footer.) Both accept an optional argument, an image to be used for the background. The links above provide a few ideas for imagery related to Earth Science. Be creative!

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\begin{NCARprettyframe}[common/images/wallpaper/mesa_lab.jpg]
  \begin{exampleblock}{}
      \centering
      \relsize{+4}
      \textbf{Backup}
  \end{exampleblock}{}
\end{NCARprettyframe}