UCL Quarto presentation template

Quarto formats for HTML (reveal.js) and PDF (LaTeX beamer) slides that follow the official UCL-PowerPoint-Template-UCL-Sans-2.3.pptx (layout, colours, type sizes, logos, UCL Sans).

Installation

Quarto has no global extension folder. It looks for _extensions/ next to the document or in its project. Keep this folder (or a git repo of it) as the master copy and bring it into each project in one of these ways. Below, /path/to/ucl-arc-template can also be a GitHub <org>/<repo>.

New talk from the template (copies the extension and a starter .qmd):

mkdir my-talk && cd my-talk
quarto use template /path/to/ucl-arc-template

Add to an existing project (copies only _extensions/ucl/; re-run to update):

quarto add /path/to/ucl-arc-template

Share one copy via a symlink (updates apply everywhere, but only on this machine):

mkdir -p _extensions
ln -s /path/to/ucl-arc-template/_extensions/ucl _extensions/ucl

Use

In your document's YAML:

format:
  ucl-revealjs: default   # HTML slides
  ucl-beamer: default     # PDF slides (needs a TeX distribution with XeLaTeX)

To render the presentation:

quarto render talk.qmd                  # both formats
quarto render talk.qmd --to ucl-revealjs  # HTML only
quarto render talk.qmd --to ucl-beamer    # PDF only
quarto preview talk.qmd                 # live preview while editing

template.qmd shows every layout. A document in a subfolder finds the extension if the folder above has a _quarto.yml (a Quarto project).

Slide types

The same markdown works in both formats.

Markdown	PowerPoint layout
YAML title block	Simple_Title: dark purple, bright band, large logo
# Heading	Divider: dark purple with two bright-purple stripes
## Heading	Simple_Content: off-white, dark purple title
## Heading {.dark}	Simple_Content dark_mode: mid purple title, off-white text
## Heading {.stripe}	Content with narrow bright-purple band on the left
## Heading {.divider}	Divider layout for a level-2 slide
{.no-logo}	Hide the logo on a slide (e.g. full-bleed images)

Full-page image slides (HTML only): ## {background-image="photo.jpg" .no-logo}.

Utility classes: .subheading (30pt), .accent, .small (both formats); .callout-box (HTML only).

Set footer text with footer: in the YAML (both formats).

LaTeX beamer without Quarto

_extensions/ucl/beamer/ is a self-contained beamer theme (ucl2025) with the fonts and logos. Compile with XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX; see example.tex.

\documentclass[aspectratio=169]{beamer}
\usetheme[path=ucl-beamer/]{ucl2025}     % path to the folder, if not alongside
\renewcommand{\uclfooter}{Footer text}

\begin{frame}[dark]{...}      % also: stripe, divider, nologo

To use \usetheme{ucl2025} from any .tex file without path=, install it once into your personal texmf tree (macOS path shown; see kpsewhich -var-value TEXMFHOME):

mkdir -p ~/Library/texmf/tex/latex/ucl2025 ~/Library/texmf/fonts/truetype/ucl2025
cd /path/to/ucl-arc-template/_extensions/ucl/beamer
cp beamerthemeucl2025.sty ucl-logo-*.png ~/Library/texmf/tex/latex/ucl2025/
cp UCLSans-*.ttf OFL.txt ~/Library/texmf/fonts/truetype/ucl2025/

The theme is named ucl2025 so it doesn't clash with the older banner-style UCL beamer theme (ucl).

Data visualisation colours

Use in this order (dark/light alternate so neighbours contrast). They're also available as CSS variables --ucl-viz-1 … --ucl-viz-8 and LaTeX colours uclviz1 … uclviz8.

#361A54 dark purple   #1AAB40 light green   #12239E dark blue   #E66C37 light orange
#10433F dark green    #118DFF light blue    #751441 dark red    #E645AB light pink

UCL Sans font

You don't need to install UCL Sans to use this template. The weights it uses are bundled: WOFF2 in _extensions/ucl/fonts for HTML (Regular, SemiBold, Bold and italics), and TTF in _extensions/ucl/beamer for PDF (Regular, SemiBold and italics). Install it only if you want it in other applications (PowerPoint, Word, figures made in R or Python), or want weights the template doesn't bundle (ExtraLight, Light, Medium).

Source: the full family (OTF and TTF) is on the UCL Image Store, which needs a UCL sign-in: https://imagestore.ucl.ac.uk/imagestore/start/ucl-new-templates/UCL/UCL%20Fonts

Licence: UCL Sans is by Colophon Foundry and is based on DM Sans (Copyright 2014 The DM Sans Project Authors). It is licensed under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, which allows the fonts to be used, bundled and redistributed with other software (as here), but not sold on their own. The licence text is in _extensions/ucl/fonts/OFL.txt and must stay with any copy of the font files.

Installing (unzip the download first; use either the OTF or the TTF files, not both):

• macOS: double-click each file and click Install in Font Book, or cp UCLSans-*.otf ~/Library/Fonts/
• Windows: select the files, right-click and choose Install (or Install for all users, which needs admin rights).
• Linux: mkdir -p ~/.local/share/fonts && cp UCLSans-*.otf ~/.local/share/fonts/ && fc-cache -f

Restart any open applications so they see the new font.

Notes

• Font: see UCL Sans font. The bundled copies work offline and on machines without UCL Sans installed.
• Logos: taken from the PowerPoint template (_extensions/ucl/assets). The UCL logos are trademarks of UCL and are not covered by the MIT licence; use them in line with UCL's brand guidelines.
• The beamer theme uses the TTF fonts and logo PNGs in _extensions/ucl/beamer.
• For HTML, fonts and logos are inlined into ucl-assets.scss. If you change any of them, run python3 _extensions/ucl/make-assets.py.