Compensation reports are more nuanced than salary reports. Base, bonus, equity, and benefits all roll into a total compensation figure, and that total is what readers care about. The problem is that the total only makes sense when the components are visible. A 280k total compensation figure for a staff engineer reads very differently if it is 220k base plus a 60k bonus versus 160k base plus 120k equity. Readers who only see the total figure on a card draw the wrong conclusion.

SleekPixel ties the card to the compensation record. The report post type holds the base, bonus, equity, and benefits fields, along with the region, the role band, and the sample size. The template encodes the brand layout with slots for the total figure and a compact component breakdown. Every edition renders with the components visible, so the card travels honestly into Slack, recruiter outreach, and hiring threads.

The methodology badge sits beside the chip with a link to the breakdown page, so readers who want the full receipts reach them in one click. The card becomes a portable summary, not a misleading top-line.

Compensation data is among the highest-stakes data a publication can ship. Readers use it to negotiate, recruiters use it to anchor offers, founders use it to set bands. A misread compensation figure causes real harm.

Someone walks into a salary negotiation citing a total compensation number they thought was base, and the conversation collapses. Someone declines an offer because they thought the equity portion was worth less than it is. The publication that ships the report carries the responsibility for clarity, and clarity starts on the card because the card is the artifact most readers encounter.

A card with the total figure alone invites misreading. A card with the total figure plus a compact component breakdown invites accurate reading. The difference is whether the publication is being honest about the structure of the data or hiding behind a top-line headline.

SleekPixel encodes the structure into the template once, so every edition ships with the components visible. The reputation of the program rests on this one design choice repeated across every wave.