Pegasystems CD ILT | Style Guide

Instructor-Led Training

Style Guide

Introduction

Welcome to the Style Guide of the ILT Curriculum Development Team. Here, you’ll find the standards and best practices that keep our work cohesive, professional, and learner-centered. Whether you’re developing new, editing existing, or collaborating on instructor-led content, this guide is your central resource for ensuring clarity, consistency, and quality across all our learning materials.

To deliver the best experience for our learners, keep these foundational principles in mind when creating:

1

Principle 01

Clarity over cleverness

Say it plainly. Make understanding easy.

Make the main point easy to spot
Write instructions to prevent misreads
Keep visuals aligned with the text
Help learners move forward without guessing

2

Principle 02

Consistency across content

Use consistent conventions. Keep patterns predictable.

Use consistent formatting and structure
Apply consistent patterns across the content
Keep labels and terminology consistent
Apply consistent visual styling across deliverables

SharePoint

Our team maintains the following SharePoints:

Team SharePoint

Internal workspace and repository.

Instructor SharePoint

Published curriculum for instructors.

Student SharePoint

Published curriculum for learners.

ATP SharePoint

Published curriculum for Authorized Training Partners.

UAP SharePoint

Published curriculum for the University Academic Program.

Deliverables

Find guidance by deliverable Beta

Select a deliverable to show only the most relevant guidelines.

Naming conventions

General rules

Use sentence case, letters, numbers, and spaces as default; avoid special characters: / \ : * ? " < > |

Use a single, consistent separator style; space-hyphen-space (-) is preferred.

Use a leading zero for numbered items (01–99). expand_more

Naming course folders

Course (top-level) folder

Name the parent folder using: [Course abbrev] [Course version] expand_more

Level 1 (required) folders

Each course parent folder should contain the following three folders:

00 Course information

01 Facilitation resources

02 Learner resources

Level 2 (module) folders

Use a two-digit sequence number plus module name: [##] [Module title] expand_more

Naming files

Use a four-digit number followed by a space and a descriptive title: [####] [Topic title] expand_more

Example course folder and file structure


SSA 25
  │ 
  ├─ 00 Course information
  │  ├─ Course outline.xlsx
  │  └─ Delivery guide.pptx
  │
  ├─ 01 Facilitation resources
  │  │ 
  │  ├─  01 Foundations of Pega Platform
  │  │  ├─ 0101 Introduction to Center-out architecture.pptx
  │  │  └─ 0102 Low-code development and AI-powered design.pptx
  │  │  
  │  └─  02 Case design
  │      ├─ 0201 Case Lifecycle design in Pega Platform.pptx
  │      └─ 0202 Data Model design in Pega Platform.pptx
  │     
  └─ 02 Learner resources
      ├─ Learners guide.pdf                 
      └─ Solution guide.pdf

Resources

Authoring

verified

Pega Brand Guide

Corporate guidelines.

menu_book

Pega Technical Documentation Guidebook

Pega Community COE guidelines.

sort_by_alpha

A–Z words and terms

Words, terms, and names.

spellcheck

Microsoft Style Guide

Primary reference for writing guidelines.

school

Pega Academy Guide

Guidelines for Pega Academy content.

screenshot_region

Using Snagit

Guidelines and tutorials for using Snagit.

movie

Using Camtasia

Guidelines and tutorials for using Camtasia.

Design

palette

Pega Brand Hub

Corporate information and assets.

inventory_2

Internal team assets

Collection of Pega approved icons and graphics.

Alternatives

draw

badge

brush

Responsible use

Use only approved internal AI tools and resources.

Never enter sensitive, confidential, proprietary, or unreleased information.

check_circle

When to use AI

check Drafting slides, notes, or outlines
check Rewording for clarity or tone
check Summarizing source material or updates
check Creating exercises or examples
check Improving structure and flow

cancel

When not to use AI

close Finalizing content without review
close Confirming technical accuracy
close Using confidential or unreleased information
close Replacing SME or developer judgment
close Working outside approved sources

Accuracy

Confirm facts, product details, and statistics against official sources.

Test all lab steps in the current product version.

Prompt guidance

Be specific about audience, purpose, tone, and format.

Use prompts to guide drafts and refinements, not final decisions.

Review AI output

Treat AI output as a starting point, not final content.

Revise for accuracy, clarity, voice, and formatting standards.

Check for generic phrasing, unsupported claims, and source overlap.

Fonts

Styles and usages

Lora

Use Slide titles

Size 22pt

Download Lora

Open Sans

Use Body text

Size 12pt

Color Dark gray (#63666F)

Download Open Sans

Chakra Petch

Use Eyebrow, quotes

Style Uppercase

Download Chakra Petch

Colors

Palettes

Click any color swatch to copy its hex code.

Visual design

Whitespace info

Prefer spacing over lines or borders for separation.

Use whitespace to separate distinct ideas and group related items. expand_more

Alignment info

Align text boxes, images, and objects to consistent grid points on every slide.

cancel

Misaligned elements result in a disorganized, hard-to-follow design.

Example of misaligned elements – text and images are not aligned, creating a messy layout.

check_circle

Consistent alignment of text and images creates an organized, easy-to-read layout.

Example of properly aligned elements – text and images are aligned to a consistent grid.

Visual hierarchy info

Use size, weight, and placement for emphasis before color.

Limit emphasis styles; avoid combining bold, underline, and color on the same element.

Make the main takeaway the most prominent element, such as text or an image.

cancel

Disrupted element order breaks the natural reading flow, causing confusion.

check_circle

Elements follow a logical flow, directing focus naturally from text to image.

Image quality info

Use original source images whenever possible; avoid “screenshots of screenshots.”

Ensure any text inside images is readable from the back of the room.

Crop to enlarge key detail rather than shrinking the whole image to fit.

Keep image styles consistent; don’t mix crisp vectors with heavily compressed screenshots on the same slide.

Use high-resolution images; avoid using low-resolution or upscaled images that appear blurry at presentation size.

cancel

Blurry visuals reduce clarity, making details hard to read and understand.

check_circle

Clear visuals enhance learner understanding by making details easy to read.

Image scale info

Maintain aspect ratio; resize from corner handles.

Size visuals by importance; primary visuals should be easy to interpret quickly.

If space is tight, crop instead of shrinking below readability.

Keep image styles consistent; don’t mix crisp vectors with heavily compressed screenshots on the same slide.

Keep similar visuals (especially UI screenshots) at a consistent scale across the deck.

cancel

Stretched or compressed images cause distortion, reducing professionalism.

check_circle

Properly scaled images maintain clarity and proportion, avoiding distortion.

Presentations

Templates and themes

Use the most up-to-date template appropriate for the content you're creating.

When bringing content in from another deck or source, paste using "Keep Text Only," then apply the correct template layout.

Use the preset theme included in the template.

If you make any additions or edits to a template, notify the team so the change can be applied to any current work.

Slide layouts

Layout name	Purpose

Content density

Favor more slides with concise content over fewer slides packed with information; split complex topics across multiple slides to prevent cognitive overload.

Aim for no more than six bullets per slide and six words per bullet.

Use sentence fragments on slides and move full explanations into speaker notes. expand_more

Speaker notes

Include speaker notes on every instructional slide.

Do not repeat what is already on the slide; notes should expand, contextualize, or explain the content.

Use speaker notes to explain why the slide content matters, not just what it is.

Do not write speaker notes as a script; write flexible talking points.

Write speaker notes with both instructors and learners in mind. Notes should be useful whether someone is teaching or self-reviewing.

Screenshots

Callouts

Use a rectangle callout with a solid outline in Orange (#F76923), no fill, square corners, no shadow, and a stroke weight of 3–4 points depending on image size. expand_more

Focus and cropping info

Focus on the relevant area. Remove browser UI, taskbars, and extra whitespace, but keep enough surrounding interface so learners can find the field or button.

cancel

Extra browser UI and whitespace distract from the area learners need to focus on.

check_circle

Tight cropping keeps attention on the relevant area while preserving enough context to orient learners.

Sensitive data

Protect sensitive information. Redact or use mock data for any personally identifiable information (PII) or confidential business data.

cancel

Sensitive information is visible, which creates privacy and compliance risks.

check_circle

Mock data or redaction protects sensitive information while keeping the screenshot instructionally useful.

Simplified user interface (SUI)

Use Snagit's Simplify tool to remove unnecessary labels, icons, and buttons from screenshots, leaving only the elements the learner needs to complete the task. expand_more

Procedures and instructions

Writing steps

Use numbered steps for sequential tasks and bullet points for non-sequential information.

Capitalize the first word in each step and end the step with the appropriate end punctuation.

Bold interface elements; avoid using all uppercase unless there is an explicit reason. expand_more

When instructing the learner to enter text, provide exactly how the text must be entered, including punctuation. expand_more

Use a monospace font for learner-entered text. expand_more

Write steps in parallel structure (use the same verb form and the same level of detail) expand_more

Orient the learner first, then state the action to take. expand_more

State the expected result when it helps confirm that the step was completed correctly. expand_more

Use the right angle bracket (>) to show navigation paths in the UI. expand_more

Grammar and usage

Acronyms and abbreviations

Spell out acronyms on the first reference, followed by the shortened version in parentheses. expand_more

When expressing plural acronyms, use a lowercase "s" without an apostrophe. expand_more

Use your best judgment to determine if the acronym or abbreviation is common enough to warrant not defining it. expand_more

Capitalization

Use sentence case by default; capitalize only proper nouns, Pega-specific terms, and mission titles. expand_more

Do not use camel case for UI items or Rule names. expand_more

Use sentence case for placeholder text and field labels in the UI. expand_more

Dates and times

Use the 12-hour format, followed by a capitalized AM or PM. expand_more

Write full month names and use four-digit years to avoid date confusion. If a date must be expressed numerically, use the format YYYY-MM-DD. expand_more

Numbers

Spell out numbers from zero through nine; use numerals for numbers 10 and greater. expand_more

Spell out ordinal numbers in text. expand_more

Trademarks

Use the full approved Pega trademark name with the correct ™ or ® symbol on first reference in each content asset; omit thereafter.

Use trademarked names exactly as listed in the Pega Trademarks Reference (spelling, capitalization, spacing, and hyphenation). expand_more

Punctuation

Ampersands

Avoid using ampersands (&), except with proper nouns, Pega-specific terms, or UI text. expand_more

Commas

Use an Oxford comma for a series of three or more items. expand_more

Hyphens

Use an em dash (—) to set off an aside or create an abrupt break in a sentence — use sparingly. expand_more

Use an en dash (–) with spaces to indicate a range of values; think of it like the word through. expand_more

Use a hyphen (-) to represent negative numbers, or to create a compound word; also, use to separate phone, serial, and social security numbers. expand_more

Slashes

Avoid "either/or" and "and/or;" use full phrases instead. expand_more

Style and voice

Voice and tone

Write as you would speak to a knowledgeable colleague; clear and direct, but not informal.

Prefer strong verbs over noun-heavy phrasing. expand_more

Write in the present tense.

Use active voice. In active voice, the subject performs the action. expand_more

Person and perspective

Use second person ("you") when addressing the learner.

Use imperative mood for procedural steps. expand_more

Inclusive language

Use gender-neutral language to keep examples applicable to all learners.

Avoid assumptions about culture, ability, or English fluency.

Plain language

Use familiar words and short, direct sentences. expand_more

Avoid filler words, such as simply, basically, just, very, and really. expand_more

Avoid jargon, idioms, and informal phrases unless they are defined. expand_more

Use contractions in explanatory body text for a natural tone, but avoid them in step instructions or formal titles.

Use consistent terminology for the same concept. expand_more

Modal verbs

Use modal verbs precisely and consistently. Each word carries a different level of obligation.

Use must for requirements; the learner has no choice. expand_more

Use should for recommendations; the learner is strongly advised but has some discretion. expand_more

Use can to describe what the system or learner is capable of doing; it states possibility, not instruction. expand_more

Use may sparingly and only to describe permission; not possibility. Prefer "can" for capability. expand_more

Use consistent terminology for the same concept. expand_more

Avoid mixing these words interchangeably. Using "should" where "must" is meant implies the step is optional. Using "must" where "can" is meant implies there is no choice when there is.

Terms that take headline case

Terms to avoid

Avoid	Use

Interacting with UI elements

UI Element	Preposition	Verb

Icons reference

Icon	Name / Meaning
add	Add, Create
calendar_month	Calendar
delete	Delete, Remove
edit	Edit
drag_indicator	Drag^*
filter_list	Filter
settings	Gear (was Properties)
help	Help
menu	Menu (was More)
more_vert	More (also Action, depending on the app)
more_horiz	More (iOS)
auto_awesome	Polaris
tune	Settings
linear_scale	Slider^**
toggle_on	Switch^***
gps_fixed	Target (was Open)

* Although not technically an icon, the Drag handle can be found in multiple places in Pega software. Avoid naming it directly; use alternate phrasing like "Drag the list items..." instead.

** Slider elements can be horizontal or vertical. Refer to the Slider by its name first. For example, "Click the Temperature Slider..."

*** Switches are toggled. For example, "Toggle the Source switch on."

Examples library

search

Quality checklist