# Stat bands

## Use a stat band

<!-- rule: a-band-not-a-card -->

**Rule:** Put key figures in a stat band, not in a card of parts.

**Why:** A shared layout puts every figure's value, change and basis in the same place.

**Do:** One card per figure: the figure largest, an arrow, a signed change, one caption above the row.

**Don't:** Heading-sized figures, a capitalised 10px status chip, no comparison basis.

## Colour by meaning

<!-- rule: tone-not-direction -->

**Rule:** Colour a change by whether it is good news, not by whether it rises or falls.

**Why:** Direction alone does not show whether a change is beneficial.

**Except:** Omitted tone and explicit “neutral” keep the arrow and comparison without colour: unscored volume, reader-dependent meaning, net cashflow that income less cost already explains.

**Do:** Four verdicts: rising Income and Cost take opposite colours; falling Unclassified is green; undeclared Net cashflow stays grey.

**Don't:** Four figures coloured by sign: three rises green, cost growth praised, the year’s cleanup red.

## State the comparison basis

<!-- rule: say-the-basis -->

**Rule:** State in reachable text what each change is measured against.

**Why:** Percentages need a basis that readers can find.

**Except:** A comparison basis may be screen-reader-only when the visible control names the period. Use this exception for the Finance dashboard pattern.

**Do:** The basis once, in a caption each change references or beside one exception; the caption before and outside every figure.

**Don't:** A title attribute, the note below the tiles or inside the first figure, no basis, nested captions.