Imagine creating your first book, one on which hangs the future
of your company-and maybe even the industry you love. Imagine you
have a publishing contract, five editors, a eighty contributing
authors, hundreds of draft pages, a deadline in five weeks and a
growing fear that the book you intended to create is nowhere in
sight!
Such was the plight of Jane Deuber, one of the founders of the
Direct Selling Women's Alliance, in May 2004. She had described
her vision for the book to all the authors and editors, but the
content they were sending her was consistent in only one way: it
didn't measure up!
She gave me a chance to edit one of the submissions. When she
read my version, she gasped, "Why, this is easy to read!" Yes, I
had designed a style that delivered the value of her vision. But
the more impressive trick was yet to come: describing that style
to the other editors in enough detail that they could duplicate
it.
To do this, I wrote a style guide.
Guardian of the Brand Voice
Cruising around the Internet, perhaps you've noticed that
different sites convey different attitudes: Yahoo is
rambunctious, Google is quirky, and Microsoft is all buttoned up.
With hundreds of writers producing tens of thousands of pages
online, how does a corporation ensure that its brand voice
permeates every paragraph?
It writes a style guide.
Do you need a style guide?
I think so.
Before you write any content, you need to design a style that
delivers the value of your vision in a way that helps your
audience achieve its goals as quickly (or as entertainingly) as
possible within its limitations. Even when you are working by
yourself, writing is easier when you design the style first
instead of working it out as you go along.
When you're working with other writers, the style guide is an
indispensable tool for discussing options and achieving consensus
before anyone writes anything-giving everyone the chance to write
it right the first time, which is always the cheapest way.
When you're working with subject matter experts who may or may
not know how to write, a good style guide is your ticket to
delegating the entire cleanup to a contract editor. Describe your
style design in detail, and you'll find the editors at E-Lance in
heartfelt competition for your business because you've clearly
defined what they need to do to be successful.
So What's In a Style Guide?
For every information product, my style guide covers these
topics:
Information Architecture. This lays out the highways and byways
the reader can follow to get to the information she's looking
for. When you're designing a book, it's the table of contents,
index, and cross-references. When you're designing a Web site,
it's the navigation bars, buttons, links, and search function.
When you're designing something really big like an enterprise
product rollout, it's the kinds of documents (quick start guide,
handbook, training workbook, frequently-asked questions) and the
order in which the customer encounters and reads them for the
most productive experience.
Information Design. This determines what the reader experiences
when she finds what she's looking for: how the headings are
formatted, how the paragraphs are structured, how lists and
tables fit in. In the corporate world, the heading and body fonts
are typically decided by marketing department as part of the
brand image. When you're working solo, you can further your own
image by choosing your own fonts.
Editorial Design. This describes the elements that give your
style its attitude: the preferred voice, word choices,
punctuation, and capitalization-potentially an immense domain! So
start by citing authorities you trust, like the Chicago Manual of
Style and the Merriam Webster Collegiate dictionary. Then your
style guide only has to cover where your style varies from these
standards.
Exceptions. No matter how carefully I plan my guides, at least
one corner case always pops up to defy me. Make a list of
exceptions so that all contributors can handle them correctly.
You'll need the reminders yourself if you have to take a break
from the project long enough to cloud your memory.
Getting Started with Style
* If you're a young writer, start looking for these style
elements in the content you read. Notice how they affect your
reading experience.
* If you're an intermediate writer, improve your productivity by
designing an appropriate style before you start writing.
* If you're a senior writer, start discussing these topics with
your clients and coworkers, build some consensus, and document
the results. Then take advantage by using it either as a teaching
tool for young writers or as a job description for contract
editors. Either way, you'll find it easier and more cost-
effective to delegate and share the load.
* If you're a marketer determined to convey the unique qualities
of your brand, endorse the creation of a company style guide and
support the effort needed to enforce it in all communications.
Stop missing all those little chances to convey your brand's
values and to create the unique feelings you want your customer
to have about your brand-they add up to a big opportunity!
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