Style guide for CSUSIPC

Project Goal: To co-create a digital brand guideline for branding, content, and web on WordPress for internal use

Lead: Deiadora

Collaborators: Melanie, Cibelle

This is a sampling of the style guide written for the CSU Shiley Institute for Palliative Care.

Overview

The California State University Institute for Palliative Care is preparing the current and future palliative care workforce. The Institute offers instructor-led and self-paced online learning to individuals around the world.

Housed within the CSU system, the Institute delivers evidence-based online learning to current and future palliative care professionals working in health systems, hospices, skilled nursing facilities, case management, and physician practices. The Institute helps organizations and professionals prepare to meet the growing needs of chronically or seriously ill people in all care settings.

Audience

Target Personas

  • Health Professionals

  • Physicians

  • Physician Assistants

  • Nurse Practioners

  • Registered Nurses (RN, APRN)

  • Social Workers

  • Chaplains

Secondary Personas

  • Patient Advocates

  • Undergraduate Students

Voice & Tone

Our audience comprises of professionals in need of Continuing Education Credits in various forms to meet the requirements of their licensure. Our Institute meets this need with fully accredited online courses.

In General

We use second-person narrative, referring to the customer as “you” and “your”. Even for copy written to organizations, we speak to the both the leadership/administration and employee.

Our web content, email marketing, social media, advertising and other marketing collateral employs the most up-to-date content writing strategies in user experience (UX writing): conversational interfaces. That is, we speak to the customer as if it’s a face to face conversation.

The content speaks for itself and lets the customer know what they could purchase and receive in the shortest amount of time possible. We drive sales with ease of use and professional storytelling throughout the sales funnel and customer journey.

Standards

As a standard, we’re not pretentious but educate with compassion and the understanding that much of our audience is short on time.

We Are:

  • Educational

  • Authoritative

  • Persuasive yet professional

  • Conversational

  • Clear and concise

  • 7th and 8th grade reading level

We’re Not:

  • Stuffy

  • Arrogant, over-the-top

  • Analytical or complex

  • Overly formal

  • Excessive and wordy

  • High school or college reading level

Terminology

Our Name

Although it’s lengthy, we use the full name of the Institute at the first mention on a new page, and the abbreviation of it or “the Institute” thereafter:

Do:

  • Use CSU Shiley Institute for Palliative Care

  • Or CSUSIPC (with no periods)

  • Or “The Institute...” (with a capital “i”)

Don’t:

  • Leave out “Shiley”

  • Spell out ‘California State University’

  • Abbreviate the Institute on a page, assuming the customer knows what it is

Writing 101

We use the AP Style Guide as a reference for grammar and mechanics. However, the following guidelines are used for marketing copy.

Quick-Start Guide

  • Be consistent

  • Use one space after periods

  • Use the Oxford comma

  • Use contractions, it’s part of our Voice & Tone

  • Use dashes in phone numbers, i.e., 760-750-4006

  • Use title case for headlines and headers

Dates & Times

  • We use a clean, minimalist style

  • Use uppercase and no periods in AM & PM

  • Leave out ordinal indicators (1st, 18th, etc.)

  • No :00 or o’clock

  • Use numbers with no exceptions

  • Spell out 12PM; don’t spell out “noon”

  • Use the whole words for months and days

  • Between dates and times, use an en dash with no spaces

Examples:

  • August 15

  • 3-4PM

  • Mondays at 12PM

Ampersands & Plus Signs

  • For navigation on the website, use an ampersand

  • For all other purposes, spell out “and” (unless completely necessary due to character restrictions or branding style)


Numerals & Ordinals

When it comes to numbers in marketing writing (web content, social media, email marketing, etc.), an actual number jumps out and improves the user's ability to remember it.

Examples:

  • Check out our 2 upcoming courses

  • Get 15% off!

  • 1-hour webinar

  • Only 5 days left to sign up

Exceptions: When there are 2 numbers close together in one sentence, use a numeral then a word. Or if you’re starting a sentence with a number, spell it out: One more day until our new course launches!

If your content is for informational purposes (blog posts, ebooks, brochures, etc.), follow the AP Stylebook’s guidance on numbers: write numbers as words (zero through nine) unless there are two in a single sentence.

Hyphens & Dashes

Hyphens: These need to be used between words where it’s appropriate. A few key phrases that we use often at the Institute are:

En Dash: Between date ranges, times, and phone numbers, an en dash is appropriate with no spaces on either side.

Em Dash: To create emphasis in a sentence and to make it stand out, use an em dash. It’s the length of a lower-case m – plus it’s fun to create by typing two hyphens.

  • Place a space on either side

  • Use sparingly

  • Use in paragraphs especially


Title Case

Use title case for all headers, headlines, banner, and course title text. The Institute follows these rules from the AP Stylebook quite rigorously since titles abound across materials. Ensuring consistency in the styling from the sales funnel to the customer journey builds trust, creating return visitors and referrals.

Examples:

  • What You’ll Learn

  • We’d Love to Hear From You

  • Essentials of Palliative Care Chaplaincy

  • Contact Us

  • Food Is Medicine


Sentence Case

Use sentence case when it’s an H4 header, paragraph, or mid-page CTA (any header size) that acts and reads as a full sentence.

Examples:

  • Have a question about this course?

  • Need more information?

  • We offer special group pricing. Learn more.

Bulleted Lists

  • Punctuation, narrative, and tense needs to be consistent throughout bulleted lists.

  • List sentences do not require punctuation.

  • Complete sentences in a list (such as under “What You’ll Learn” or “Content Authors”) require a period.


Word Bank

There are words at the Institute that are used frequently that are common to the healthcare industry that have various spellings. To ensure the correct and consistent spelling of them, check to see if they’re in the “Word Bank”. If not, go ahead and submit them as an addition.

The thoughtful consistent spelling of these words throughout the digital experience builds customer trust.

  • Caregiving

  • Readmission

  • Well-being