wildcat

Modern, customizable beamer and Stata/Python/R themes.

Overview

This Beamer theme uses branding guidelines (colors, fonts, and logos) from Northwestern University. The design mimics Northwestern’s facets Zoom backgrounds, and the style files build on the amazing Stack Exchange answer by Claudio Fiandrino. This is not an official Northwestern-approved Beamer template.

In addition to the Beamer presentation theme, this repository also includes paired Stata, R, and Python graph schemes/themes (located in scheme/) that match the default Northwestern coloring and R ggplot2 theme_minimal() styling, providing synchronized data visualization aesthetics across platforms.

Quick Start

The easiest way to get started is to download presentation.zip and unzip it. It contains all the .sty files and a main.tex starter file ready to compile with XeLaTeX.

Alternatively, place all .sty files in the same directory as your .tex file and add to your preamble:

\usetheme{wildcat}

Requires XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX — PDFLaTeX will fail due to fontspec.

See source/wildcat-demo.pdf for a full reference of all features, or open the Overleaf template to get started immediately.

Theme Options

All options can be combined in a single line:

\usetheme[
  pattern=triangle,
  color=nudarkblue,
  font=poppins,
  numbering=progressbar,
  sectionpage=on,
  agendastyle=pattern,
  breadcrumb=on
]{wildcat}

Background Patterns (`pattern=`)

12 built-in patterns ship with the theme:

Option	Description
`facet` (default)	NU facet design
`facetrand`	NU facets (alternate arrangement)
`triangle`	Triangle mosaic
`triangleiso`	Isometric triangles
`trianglemesh`	Wireframe mesh
`squares`	Square grid
`circles`	Circles
`hexraise`	Raised hex clusters
`hexrand`	Random hex shading
`network`	Network/graph grid
`quilt`	Quilt rings
`plain`	Solid color fill

See source/wildcat-gallery.pdf for a visual preview of all patterns.

Agenda Style (`agendastyle=`)

Agenda and section divider pages use a 60% white content panel by default:

\usetheme[agendastyle=plain]{wildcat}    % default
\usetheme[agendastyle=pattern]{wildcat}  % show the active pattern on the right 40%

Section Pages (`sectionpage=`)

Section divider pages are inserted automatically before each section:

\usetheme[sectionpage=on]{wildcat}    % default
\usetheme[sectionpage=none]{wildcat}  % disable section divider pages

Slide Numbering (`numbering=`)

Slide numbers exclude the title page and are hidden on title, plain, section, standout, and appendix slides:

\usetheme[numbering=fraction]{wildcat}     % default: n/N
\usetheme[numbering=number]{wildcat}       % slide number only
\usetheme[numbering=progressbar]{wildcat}  % bottom progress bar
\usetheme[numbering=none]{wildcat}         % no numbering

Breadcrumbs (`breadcrumb=`)

Frame-title breadcrumbs show the current section and subsection above normal slide titles:

\usetheme[breadcrumb=none]{wildcat}  % default
\usetheme[breadcrumb=on]{wildcat}

Colors (`color=`)

Pass any named color to change the primary theme color. All lighter and darker shades are generated automatically:

\usetheme[color=nudarkblue]{wildcat}

All nu* palette colors (nupurple, nudarkblue, nubrightgreen, etc.) are available. Standard xcolor names (red, blue, etc.) also work. For precise per-shade control, redefine individual wcprimary10–wcprimary40 and wcprimary110–wcprimary140 colors after \usetheme.

Fonts (`font=`)

Option	Fonts	Files needed
(default)	Fira Sans	None — works on Overleaf, MiKTeX, TeX Live
`noto`	Noto Sans	None — works on Overleaf and TeX Live
`poppins`	Poppins + IBM Plex Sans	TTF files in `fonts/` (free from Google Fonts)
`nu`	Campton + Akkurat Pro	OTF files in `fonts/` (Northwestern brand fonts)
`installed`	Campton + Akkurat Pro	Must be installed as system fonts

The default (Fira Sans) requires no setup — it is pre-installed on Overleaf and auto-installs on MiKTeX. For TeX Live, run tlmgr install fira if not found. The font=poppins option expects the downloaded font files in fonts/Poppins/ and fonts/IBM_Plex_Sans/.

Graph Themes (Stata, R, Python)

The scheme/ directory provides synchronized, publication-ready graph themes across Stata, R (ggplot2), and Python (matplotlib). These themes bring the default Northwestern color palette (nupurple, nudarkorange, nubrightblue, etc.) and the clean aesthetic of R’s ggplot2 theme_minimal() to your data visualizations across all three environments.

Overview of Included Themes

Stata (scheme-wildcat.scheme): Full Stata scheme complete with custom color definitions (color-*.style), marker styles, and .sthlp documentation. Installs directly from SSC via ssc install wildcat (or via net install for development updates).
R (r/theme_wildcat.R): Native ggplot2 theme with theme_wildcat(), scale_color_wildcat(), and scale_fill_wildcat().
Python (py/theme_wildcat.py & py/wildcat.mplstyle): Matplotlib theme configuration, standalone stylesheet, and helper utilities (set_theme(), labs(), legend_top()).

Quick Start by Language

Stata

Install directly from SSC (recommended):

ssc install wildcat, replace
set scheme wildcat, permanently

Alternatively, to install the latest development updates directly from GitHub:

net from "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aarondwolf/wildcat/main/scheme"
net describe wildcat
net install wildcat, replace
set scheme wildcat, permanently

R (`ggplot2`)

Source the theme script or copy theme_wildcat.R into your project:

source("scheme/r/theme_wildcat.R")

ggplot(df, aes(x = x, y = y, color = group)) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_wildcat() +
  theme_wildcat()

Python (`matplotlib`)

Import the Python module or apply the .mplstyle sheet:

from scheme.py.theme_wildcat import set_theme, labs
set_theme()

or use standard Matplotlib stylesheets:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.style.use("scheme/py/wildcat.mplstyle")

Full Documentation & Agent Guide

For complete details, palette documentation, and visual examples across plot types, see scheme/README.md.
Instructions for AI Agents: scheme/FOR_AGENTS.md contains detailed instructions for AI agents looking to download the files, configure themes in automated environments, or programmatically customize palettes and rebuild theme files across Stata, R, and Python.

Custom Background Patterns

You can load a custom background pattern from a .tex file in your preamble after \usetheme:

\usetheme{wildcat}
\input{bg-gallery/bg-template}   % use \input, not \include

The source/bg-gallery/ folder contains:

bg-template.tex — a contribution template with full instructions
bg-voronoi.tex — a Voronoi diagram pattern (15 seeds)

Want to contribute a pattern? Copy bg-template.tex, add your TikZ drawing commands, and open a pull request at github.com/aarondwolf/wildcat. Community patterns are welcome!

Overleaf

Users on Overleaf can use the Overleaf template to get started quickly.

The default font (Fira Sans) and Noto fonts (font=noto) work on Overleaf out of the box
The font=poppins option works if the TTF files are uploaded to the project
The Northwestern logo is not included in the Overleaf template; download it here or replace it with your own logo

Issues

There are no known issues at the moment. Please create an issue if something isn’t working.