Style Guide in Progress

BK Website Writing Style Guide (Work in Progress)
• Current company voice is too verbose- we should try to be more brief & simple.
• Whenever possible, put three bullet points on top of the article summarizing it.
• One big idea per article- don’t bundle dozens of ideas in one article.
• Put in lots of bold subheads to make skimming easy.
• When you write, think about the target audience (Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced?) Do not zigzag between difficulty levels.
• Our voice should be very frank & transparent. The Ten Awful Truths is a good model for a document that doesn’t pull its punches.
• The group wants to abandon the “Who What Where” format we used on previous author tipsheets.
• We embrace multimedia.

Article Illustration Guidelines
• The new website likes graphics to be 570 pixels wide and 300 pixels high. Other sizes can work, but that will work the best.
• Do not use copyright-protected material.
• If you use Creative Commons material, in most cases you’re supposed to put a small link in the corner of the photo citing/crediting the artist.
• If you don’t have an illustration, please select a short, important, catchy take-away from the article & someone with Photoshop can use it to make a BK-branded quote graphic.
• STOCK IMAGES is a folder in the Shared Directory filled with clipart and various things we have rights to use.