Editorial Guide

Overview

The cause for style

Writing is the act of putting words down on paper. Writing style is how we transport those words and make them relevant and accessible to the audience.

On the surface level, the way we write reveals how we articulate and communicate concepts; on a deeper level, it’s how we analyze, synthesize, and perceive. Having a unified writing style establishes credibility in the value that we hold ourselves and our work to, and simultaneously ladders up to the “Clarity” messaging of our brand essence.

Our language reflects that we don’t just speak to an audience, but that we understand their needs and dreams, and, effectively, are confident in our abilities to deliver on them.

Punctuation

Commas

Use a serial comma (also called an Oxford comma)before the final conjunction (and, or, nor) in a series of three or more terms. The serial comma ensures sentence clarity and prevents potential confusion for readers.

Example

Red, white, and blue (not “red, white and blue”).

In this particular example, the terms in the series are only one word, so the meaning of the sentence is pretty comprehensive with or without the serial comma. However, in more complex sentences, such as those that include the word“and” within the terms themselves, the serial comma helps to clear up any ambiguity.

Comma Vs. Semicolon

Commas and semicolons both work to separate ideas in a sentence, but function differently depending on sentence structure and format.

In running copy: An independent clause is a clause that can stand alone as its own sentence (in the following examples, “Bean Bar was closed” and “I headed over to Copa Vida” are both independent clauses). If you’re combining two independent clauses together with a coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, or, yet, so), separate them by a comma. If no coordinating conjunction is used, separate them by a semicolon.

Examples

• Bean Bar was closed, so I headed over to Copa Vida.
• Bean Bar was closed; I headed over to Copa Vida.

In a series/list: If there are commas within the terms in a series, then use semicolons instead of commas to separate the terms for clarity.

Example

• I appreciate my team members Jack, Jill, and Jane; our CEO, Reid; and everyone else I get to work with at Red Door.

Dashes & hyphens

Em dash: An em dash is the longest dash length, so named because it takes up the width of the letter “M.” It is used to emphasize a certain idea by separating it from the rest of the sentence, signaling the reader’s attention in a way that is more emphatic than using a comma, colon, or parentheses. An em dash can be placed at the end of a sentence, or two em dashes can bookend an idea in the middle of a sentence.

Examples

• Without further ado, he announced the good news—the SOW was finally signed.
• Once the SOW was signed—after weeks of hard work— they all went out to celebrate.

En dash: An en dash is shorter than an em dash (but longer than a hyphen), so named because it takes up the width of the letter “N.” It is primarily used to signify a range of numbers, dates, or times.

Examples

• About 80–100 employees will be at the Holiday Party.
• Q1 is January–March.
• Speaker Series is at 8:30 a.m.–11:00 a.m.

Hyphen: A hyphen is shorter than an en dash, and is used to make compound terms, such as “free-for-all” or “eye-opener.” Hyphens also form compound adjectives, in which the describing words (also called “modifiers”) in a phrase are hyphenated to avoid confusion with the noun that is being described. For example, in the sentence, “We garnered real-time content for the LA Marathon,” the words “real” and “time” are the modifiers, and “content” is the noun. The hyphen is placed between “real” and “time” to avoid the possibility of reading the phrase as “real time content.” Exception: If a modifier ends in “-ly,” then no hyphen is needed.

Examples

• This high-priority email needs to be addressed today.
• This easy-to-use design tool is groundbreaking.
• The highly anticipated Super Bowl ad will play at halftime.
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Quotation Marks

Periods and commas are always placed within quotation marks, while other forms of punctuation (colons, exclamation points, question marks) are placed outside, unless they’re part of the quoted material.

Examples

Our Speaker Series, “Top Trends 2016,” will be held in January. Join us at our January Speaker Series, “Top Trends 2016”!

Parentheses

For a parenthetical phrase at the end of a sentence that is not a sentence in itself, place the ending punctuation outside of the closing parenthesis (like this example). For a parenthetical phrase that can stand alone as its own sentence, place the ending punctuation within the closing parenthesis. (This sentence is an example of such a use case.)

Colons

Similar to an em dash, a colon draws emphasis to an idea, but is more formal and less dramatic than an em dash. Colons are also commonly used to introduce a list of items. When using a colon in a sentence, be sure to capitalize the first word after the colon if the phrase can be a complete sentence, or if it is a proper noun. Otherwise, leave it lowercase.

Examples

• We got started right away: The pitch was slated for next week.
• She only had two plans for the weekend: eating and sleeping.
• Red Door has five core values: Inspire, Share, Evolve, Exceed, and 100% Jerk Free.

Spacing

Only include one space after a period/ending punctuation mark. While double-spacing is usually inconsequential in running paragraph copy, when used in charts or emails with narrow columns it tends to affect formatting and the overall visual.

Ampersands

An ampersand (“&”) is only appropriate if necessary for headlines/titles or product names that require it. In running copy, always spell out “and.”

Grammar

Numbers

Spell out numbers one to nine and use digits for numbers 10 and over, unless it is the first word of a sentence. Exceptions include numbers referring to time, measurement, currency, and age.

Examples

• The Carrs founded Red Door 23 years ago.
• Twenty three years ago, the Carrs founded Red Door.

When numbers are in the millions or billions, use the digit followed by the spelled-out word. It is also acceptable to abbreviate a capital “K” for “thousand” and capital “M” for million:

Examples

• The video has over 2 million views (not “2,000,000 views”).
• The video has over 2M views.

Dates

Do not use ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th) when writing dates.

Example

• January 1 (not January 1st)

Try to spell out the full month name if space allows, but if space does not allow, only abbreviate the following: Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec. Notice that May, June, and July are never abbreviated.

Decimals

Place a zero in front of the decimal point for numbers less than 1, and try to maintain the same number of places to the right of the decimal when comparing more than one figure, even if that means placing a zero at the end.

Examples

• 0.5% (not .5%)
• The value increased by 12.75% in March and 15.50% in April.

Time

Always use “a.m.” and “p.m.”—lowercase letters, with periods in between, and a space between the hour and period of day. If a time is an even number (like 3:00 p.m.), you can write it as “3 p.m.,” but make sure you maintain internal consistency.

Examples

• 3 p.m.–5 p.m. or 3:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.
• 3:00 p.m.–5:30 p.m. (not 3 p.m.–5:30 p.m.)

Publication Titles

Italicize the titles of books, newspapers, magazines, movies, and websites. Use quotation marks around titles of articles, poems, and songs.

Examples

• The San Diego Union-Tribune, Search Engine Land
• “Email Marketing in the Era of 8-Second Attention Spans”
  

Style

Active v. passive voice

A sentence written in active voice means that the subject is carrying out the action taking place. A sentence written in passive voice means that the subject is the thing being acted upon. Use active voice as much as possible, as this construction is more direct and creates a greater sense of confidence and authority.

Examples

• Active: We reduce the cost of customer acquisition.
• Passive: Customer acquisition cost is reduced.

Consistency

Maintain internal consistency with the terms and formats that you use. Title case vs. sentence case: A headline that uses title case means that the first letter of every word is capitalized (except for articles, coordinating conjunctions, and most prepositions). Sentence case means that only the first letter of the first word is capitalized, and a period comes at the end of the headline. Sentence case is recommended for aesthetic purposes, but both ways are acceptable—just be consistent with whichever format you use within a document or article.

Examples

• This is an Example of Title Case
• This is an example of sentence case.

21 Bulleted/numbered lists: An itemized list can be helpful to make your message more scannable and digestible, allowing the reader to focus on key points that might otherwise be lost in a body paragraph. However, when using a list, make sure you remain consistent with:

• Punctuation usage: If any bullet point is a complete sentence and therefore includes an ending punctuation, then all bullets in the same list should do the same, even if they are not complete sentences themselves. Consistency in punctuation helps improve reading fluidity.

• Parallel structure: Formulate all bullet points to follow the same sentence structure. If you start your first bullet point with a verb, then start all your points with a verb; if you start your first bullet point with a term followed by a definition, then do the same for all points; etc. Consistency in sentence structure helps the reader absorb information quickly and easily.

Example

• Optimize titles and meta descriptions.
• Add keyword-rich content to each page.

Not

• Optimize titles and meta descriptions.
• Each page has keyword-rich content.

Succinct Communication

Language should be direct and brief, boiling down to the essentials while still layering in the calmness and levity of our personality. Our messaging is detailed but not verbose, informative but not overwhelming, sincere but not overly embellished. Here are some tips to keep in mind as you create Red Door-branded content:

Limit prepositional phrases: A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition (to, for, at, from, under, with, through, etc.) and ends with an “object” of that preposition. For example, in the phrase, “from my coworker,” the word “from” is the preposition, and “coworker” is the object. Prepositional phrases are used in a sentence to add clarification and detail, but their use should be limited to only those instances when a description is necessary to avoid potential confusion.

Example

• She submitted her EXPO slides before the deadline at 5 p.m.
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  “Before the deadline” and “at 5 p.m.” are both prepositional phrases, providing detail on when the action of submitting slides took place. However, both phrases are not completely necessary to the sentence, as both express a similar meaning. One could be removed and the sentence would still maintain its intended sentiment.

Limit use of adverbs: Adverbs typically modify a verb, adjective, or other adverb, answering the questions of how, where, and when. Adverbs are usually identified as words that end in “-ly,” but some exceptions include: often, quite, then, there, here. Their use should be limited to only those instances when the word(s) they modify cannot stand on their own to carry across the intended message. Otherwise, the inclusion of an adverb is redundant. Before using an adverb, first try to find a descriptive verb or adjective that doesn’t need additional “help”—this practice will force you to focus on the substance of your sentences, and to prune whatever isn’t necessary. Take the use of the adverb “happily” in the following example:

Example:

• He laughed happily after hearing her joke.
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  “Happily” isn’t absolutely necessary to the sentence, because we already assume that people are happy when they laugh. You would only need a modifier in this case if the verb is being used in an atypical way: “He laughed resignedly after hearing her joke.”

Keep in mind that the above tips on prepositional phrases and adverbs are recommendations for how to make your writing more succinct, but may not apply to every situation. For instance, content that is more editorial in nature might involve lengthier prose as a style choice. Therefore, when applying these tips, first consider 1) what kind of content you’re writing and 2) the audience that you’re writing to. These two checks will guide how scannable the content needs to be.

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