Writing Style Guide

With an audience of 300 million, you better do your homework.

I studied existing guidelines, books, and research material to crystallize common themes and identify what was most relevant for our customers.

With a ton of research and a host of new approaches, I defined the information architecture.

There were several information architecture options for our writing style guide. Due to my non-disclosure agreement, I can’t reveal which one has proven to be the most effective. But have a look at some of the approaches I found.

The actual writing came easily after all that research and structuring. Too easily, it turns out, as the feedback from the steering committee illustrates:

“Thank you for your work! Now cut out 90% so we'll actually read it.”

And they were right. User testing with our editors confirmed that more concise guidelines were a lot easier to understand and remember.

Telekom’s research team tested our guidelines in the UK, Germany, and Poland.

• By asking the right questions, we could deduce how well participants understood the content
• By inquiring about their feelings after reading it, we found out how they reacted emotionally
• A few days after the test, we checked how well they remembered the content

The conclusion: Copy that followed the guidelines was more understandable, easier to remember, and loved by all.

Stakeholder buy-in meetings started during testing – from brand management to product development, communications to sales, different locations and different departments.

I met with people throughout the company to ensure I had covered all the bases, and that they were on board with the guidelines.

Training started early on. That way I had yet another source of feedback to ensure the guidelines were user-friendly. Additionally, the editors felt involved in the process, which helps with overall acceptance.

I make my training sessions hands-on and interactive because the more senses we activate, the easier it is to learn and remember.