Bento Grids — Advanced & Customization
Getting the most from Bento Grids across different audiences and use cases
Choosing the Right Aspect Ratio
The aspect ratio shapes how the grid looks and where it can be used most effectively.
| Ratio | Best for |
|---|---|
| 16:9 | Slides — fits standard presentation dimensions; works in PowerPoint and Google Slides |
| 4:3 | Documents and reports — fits older presentation formats and printed pages |
| 1:1 | Social media — square format for LinkedIn, Twitter, or internal wikis |
For most situations where the grid will be shared in a presentation or stakeholder meeting, 16:9 is the right choice.
Single Image vs Presentation Mode
This setting controls whether the export contains one image or multiple slides.
Single image is better when:
- You want a quick visual summary to drop into a Slack message, email, or document
- The audience will see everything at once without narration
Presentation mode is better when:
- You'll be walking through the release in a meeting
- Each feature deserves its own moment — one slide per cell lets you pace the conversation
- You want to add speaker notes or context to individual items in PowerPoint or Google Slides
Getting Better AI Grouping
The AI groups your release content into cells by identifying distinct topics and themes. The quality of the grouping depends on how the source content is structured.
If you're generating from Release Notes, write your notes with distinct headings or feature blocks. Notes that run together as a single paragraph are harder to parse into meaningful cells.
If you're uploading a file, use a structured format — markdown with clear headings works best. Avoid content that mixes multiple features in one paragraph.
The review step exists precisely because the AI isn't always right. Use it to:
- Split a cell that has too many ideas
- Merge cells that cover the same topic
- Reorder cells to tell a better story
Using Bento Grids for Different Audiences
Customer-facing teams (Sales, CS, Marketing)
Use a light theme, enable icons, and choose Presentation mode. Walk through what shipped and what it means for customers. The visual format is more digestible than a text-based release note and easier to reference in a customer conversation.
Leadership and executives
Use Single Image mode. One concise slide that shows the release at a glance — no scrolling or narration required. Ideal for a weekly or monthly status summary.
Internal retrospectives
Use Presentation mode in dark theme. Work through each cell in your retrospective meeting, using each slide as a conversation starter.
Integrating Bento Grids with Your Release Workflow
The most effective pattern is to build Bento Grids as the last step of your release process:
- Complete the Release in Lodestone
- Generate Release Notes (internal audience first)
- Create a Bento Grid from those Release Notes
- Export and share with the relevant audience
This makes the Bento Grid a natural by-product of your existing workflow rather than a separate effort.
Using Google Slides for Collaborative Editing
The Google Slides export is useful when you want to edit the grid after export — for example, to add customer logos, callout notes, or additional slides.
Upload the grid to Google Slides and then edit it directly in Google. This works best when the Bento Grid is your starting point, and you want to add context or customization on top.
Next: Troubleshooting & FAQs — common questions, edge cases, and what to do when things don't behave as expected.