Article
Develop a Style Guide for Your Site
It Supports Design and Marketing Objectives
Given that a style guide prescribes standards for the display of content, it follows then, that for visually-presented information -- magazines, newspapers, or Websites -- a style guide has a significant impact on the way users perceive the site.
While the designer might develop a look and feel, and choose the colours and typography that will be used to convey a particular brand or mood, it's things like consistency, correctness, and the flow of content that make a publication not only easier to read, but also support the overall design objectives.
Content styles can have a strong influence on the:
- presentation a brand
- creation of a persona for the publication or publisher
- appeal that the publication has to a particular user audience
Compare, for example, the content layout of British tabloid The Mirror with the more conservative US broadsheet The New York Times. Obviously these two publications appeal to vastly different audiences, and present considerably different brands.
To take this once step further, compare the print front page of The Mirror with the print front page of The New York Times. These images encapsulate the branding and positioning of each paper offline -- and as we can see, each brand persona is conclusively reflected in their respective online presences. Obviously style guides have a huge role to play in communicating the branding across all formats in which these publications are presented.
It Helps Portray a Professional Approach
The uniform, regular presentation of information can have a considerable impact on your audience's perception of your professionalism. Think of this in design terms -- if you found a company Website on which no two pages used the same colours, layout, typeface, or navigation, you'd probably be more than a little dubious about the professionalism, stability, and capabilities of that company.
You'd probably also have a hard time using the site or comprehending the messages it provided...
It Makes Content More Usable
Regularity in the presentation of information also makes that information more easily used -- scanned, read, and comprehended.
For instance, at SitePoint, we use a four-tiered heading system:
Subheadings Look Like This
Section Headings Look Like This
Sub-section Headings Look Like This
And If we Need a Fourth-Level Heading, it Looks Like This
When users read the information on the site, these standards signal to them the type of information that appears after the heading.
If they see a section heading, they know that the information which follows forms part of the whole that's contained under the last subheading they read. It's not a separate idea of equal weight to that last subheading; it's part of that subheading's message.
So the use of standard formatting also avoids making the user think about what's going on -- they, too, can focus on the message rather than thinking "Man, why do they keep spelling 'Website' all these different ways? Can't they just choose one and stick with it?"
It's Transferable
The best thing about a style guide (which we gleaned when we compared the print and online versions of the two papers) is that it's transferable across all your publications. So the style guide's effect (and your hard work) is multiplied by the number of communications formats to which you apply it:
- Websites
- Newsletters
- Brochures
- Letterhead and business cards
- Advertisements
- Flyers
Don't think of your style guide's impact as being restricted to your Website -- if you develop it carefully, its effects can, and should apply to any communications you produce.