The Importance of a Style Guide

A style guide is a document that sets out the text creation rules and practices of an organisation, covering aspects such as the style and formatting of the text in addition to the correct use of language. The purpose of the guide is to ensure the formal and stylistic consistency of all texts related to the organisation.

The guide is created separately for each language, as linguistic rules and practices vary from market to market. It should reflect the principles essential for localisation, providing guidance for anyone involved in writing, editing or translating the organisation’s texts.

Why do I need a style guide?

When there are no established rules for text creation, decisions regarding linguistic choices are typically made by the author, translator, editor or collaborating partner responsible for writing or translating the texts.

However, the stylistic preferences and perceptions of brand identity often differ from one person to another and may even be contradictory. If several content creators or translators, each with their own style and terminology preferences, are involved, this often leads to texts with inconsistent language use that may not be accurate or aligned with the organisation’s image.

Target markets

A style guide is especially useful when a company operates in several markets and informational materials are made available in the languages used in these markets. In such cases, the guide should also provide a brief overview of the country-specific practices.

This is particularly crucial for ensuring that members of the communications team residing outside the target country can gain an understanding of which messages and visuals are appropriate to use and vice versa when preparing such materials for different markets and how to correctly address the target audience. The overview of the target market may include, among other things, statistical data on the country, the company’s market share in that market, customer profiles, and descriptions of popular product or service groups within the market.

Style of text

It is important that the guide defines the style and tone of the organisation’s texts. What is common knowledge within the organisation may be unfamiliar to a freelance copywriter or a translator residing in another country. When defining style and tone, it is useful to use a model as a basis. For instance, the model of archetypes is often used, in which organisational communication is based on universal images that people can understand in more or less the same way.

Archetype model

Carol Pearson’s?archetype?model is built upon?Carl Gustav Jung’s concept of archetypes. According to Jung, our common unconscious contains universal archetypes that are manifested in our consciousness as mythical characters, images or motifs.

Based on Jung’s ideas, Pearson defined twelve archetypes representing subjective core beliefs, each associated with specific values, traits and meanings. Through utilising Pearson’s approach, an?archetype model?applicable to the communication styles of brands has been developed.

According to Pearson, archetypes can be categorised into four groups. To define the style and tone of a brand using the model, the selected archetype must be presented in the guide. There can be more than one, as the same brand can be characterised by several archetypes.

In addition to listing the archetypes, the style guide should also briefly describe them so that anyone preparing the organisation’s materials – regardless of their mother tongue or cultural background – understands the style and tone to be used when creating, translating and editing texts.

Tone and voice spectrum

Another way to define the style of an organisation’s informational materials is to use the spectrum of tone and voice. This method involves placing opposing attributes or keywords at ends of a spectrum, with the scale indicating the degree to which the brand leans towards one extreme or the other.

The use of the tone and voice spectrum is a limited but often perfectly sufficient method to express the core identity of a brand. The spectrum should be developed based on the brand’s values, target audience and the desired image.

What else should you consider?

The guide must also include a grammar section, formatting rules, references about the level of formality, rules that are specific to the organisation, etc.

How do you prepare a style guide?

To create a viable style guide, it is important to keep the following principles in mind.

• The shorter, the better

The guide should contain everything relevant to the company’s communication, but avoid unnecessary details. Only the most important information should be included, so that the guide is not overly long or repetitive. The information should be condensed and presented in a format that is easily understandable.?

• The style guide should be regularly updated

A style guide should be an ongoing work, and its content should be reviewed every one to two years and updated as needed. The world, society, people and organisations are continuously evolving. Therefore, what is considered the norm today may not be appropriate in three years’ time.

• Enlist the help of an external partner to create a style guide

Undoubtedly, the organisation’s own employees are the most familiar with its day-to-day operations, communication and the products and services it offers. Nonetheless, an external partner can also point out important issues for users of the style guide who are not fully acquainted with the organisation’s communication standards as yet.

Such users could include new employees, employees from other departments, translation agencies or freelance copywriters who, by reading the style guide, can quickly familiarise themselves with the company’s communication principles and commit themselves to promoting its communication practices from the outset.

If you need help creating your style guide, feel free to contact us!?