A matter of time

I recently wrote about the correct way to write dates. Now it’s time to tackle times. However, times are a little trickier, as there are various acceptable ways to write them.

The key is to be consistent with the style you choose to ensure the professionalism of your business writing. Your preferred style of writing the time should be added to your business’s writing style guide.

The modern, visually clean way to write the time is presented in these examples:

9am
12.30pm

Capitals should be avoided (not 9AM or 12.30PM).
No full stops between ‘am’ and ‘pm’ (not 9a.m. or 12.30p.m.).
No colons (not 12:30pm).
Some people prefer a space after the numbers (9 am, 12.30 pm).

As you can see, I choose not to use two zeros to indicate even hours (e.g. 9.00am), unless in a particular situation it looks odd not include them, or impacts on readability or comprehension.

Time spans

To show a time span use an en dash:

7–11am
11am–3pm

To write times spans in prose:

We are open from 7am to 11am.
Lunch is available between 11am and 3pm.

24 hour time

Four digits are always used for 24 hour time. The first two for the hours, the last two for minutes. For example:

0900 hours (9am)
1230 hours (12.30pm)
2020 hours (8.20pm)

If you need help to hone your business writing, or to develop a writing style guide, contact me.

The right way to write dates

Yes, there is a correct way to write dates. A way that clearly communicates, is logical and visually clean. Writing the date in the correct way will add to the professionalism of your business writing. Be sure to add it to your business’s writing style guide.

The correct format is:

1 August 2017

No punctuation. No ‘st’. No ‘of’. It’s much more appealing than:

August 1, 2017 or

1st August, 2017

If you need to use the name of the day, a comma is used to separate it from the date:

Tuesday, 1 August 2017

The correct way to write dates in figures is:

1.8.2017 or
1.8.17

Using slashes is not technically correct, such as 1/8/2017. Slashes should be used to indicate things like alternatives (yes/no), abbreviations (a/c), fractions (1/3) and per (60km/h). Financial years are often written incorrectly using a slash, e.g. 2016/17. Instead it should be 2016–17, using a en dash.

If you need help to sharpen your business writing, or to develop a writing style guide for your business, get in touch with me.

Is your branding on target?

A brand is a valuable asset. It must be carefully crafted to appropriately represent a business and to resonate with the right people.

At the heart of branding is an identifiable logo, combined with a strong visual identity. The visual elements need to be aligned with business vision and values, brand personality and voice, products and services, and customer experience and expectations.

Authenticity, clarity and consistency across a brand are critical.

Is your business brand consistent? Is your brand correctly aligned? If not, it might be time to invest in reviewing it.

Visual identity for the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme

The Executive Committee of the International Energy Agency Solar Heating and Cooling Programme is aware that brand identity is a valuable asset, and visual consistency is an essential part of good communication strategy. With the Programme’s work achieved through the collaborative efforts of multiple members across multiple countries, this is a challenge.

The IEA SHC Programme recently engaged me to improve their visual identity and its uniform application. I created a visual identity for them based around their existing logo, and encompassing colour palette, design elements and fonts. To help improve consistency, I documented the visual identity in an official style guide, and developed Word and PowerPoint templates for reports, presentations, stationery and promotional materials.

The Programme will roll out their strengthened brand identity as they continue their global promotion of the use of solar thermal energy.

To find out how I can help to energise your brand visit http://mayburyink.com.au

To find out more about the great work of the IEA SHC Programme visit https://www.iea-shc.org/

Quality profile photos enhance your personal brand

I have posted about this before. It’s a bit of a bugbear for me! But in today’s business environment, it’s important to manage how you appear to the world.

Quality profile photos are an important part of your personal brand. Your headshot should reflect your professionalism and personality. A cropped group shot won’t cut it. Nor will a poorly-lit pic with flash-induced red eyes. Likewise you don’t necessarily need high-end glamour shots, unless that’s part of the brand you aim to create.

Your profile pics, like all aspects of your personal brand, should be authentic. Photos need to be current and actually resemble you. On one of your best days of course!

If your profile photo is poor quality, isn’t current, or doesn’t fit with your personal brand, I encourage you to invest in pics from a professional. From someone like me! I offer business portrait packages from $120. Details are on my website.

A writing style guide is an important branding tool

A writing style guide is an important tool in your organisation’s branding kit. Written consistency is just as important as visual consistency when building a strong brand.

A writing style guide outlines the ‘written voice’ of your organisation, as well as detailing preferred editorial choices.

Written voice is how your organisation’s brand personality is expressed in words. It relates to language style, sentence construction, and the types of words and phrases used. It defines how formal or informal, serious or humorous, detached or warm the writing style is. Your organisation’s written voice can help it stand out, and ensure efficient and effective communication with your target audience.

Editorial choices in a writing style guide relate to specifics such as capitalisation, abbreviations and acronyms, how dates and numbers are written, and spelling preferences, to name a few. Editorial consistency adds to the professionalism of your organisation.

A writing style guide is a tool that can be used by all staff, and for writers, editors or other consultants.

Contact me if you want to discuss developing a writing style guide for your organisation.

Don't be slap-dash with dashes

Using dashes correctly and consistently can add to the professionalism of your business writing. Here is a quick lesson on how to use dashes correctly, and how to create dashes using your keyboard and in Word.

I need to say upfront that hyphens (-) are not dashes!

There are two types of dashes: en dashes (–) and em dashes (—).

En dashes are used as a linking device for things like time and distance, for example: pages 125–200. They can also be used as an association between separate words, for example: Asia–Pacific region.

Em dashes are used to indicate an abrupt change, to provide additional or explanatory information, or to isolate statements within a sentence. Em dashes have more emphasis than a comma, are less formal than a colon, and can be used similarly to parenthesis. For example:

Your business headshot should reflect your professionalism—no snapshots or family photos.

Choosing the right colour profile—CMYK, RGB or PMS—is the essential first step in creating a beautiful image.

It is now commonly accepted to use an en dash with spaces either side, instead of an em dash, like so – just make sure you use en or em dashes consistently, according to your business writing style.

How to create dashes using your keyboard

On a PC

To create dashes on a PC the numbers below must be typed on the numeric keypad (not the numbers above the letters).

En dash: press ‘ALT’ + ‘0150’

Em dash: press ‘ALT’ + ‘0151’

On a Mac

En dash: press ‘OPTION’ + ‘-’ (hyphen/minus key)
Em dash: press ‘OPTION’ + ‘SHIFT’ + ‘-’ (hyphen/minus key)

How to create dashes in Word

Word will automatically change two consecutive hyphens between text into an em dash, and a hyphen with a space before and a space after, into an en dash.

You can also find en and em dashes in Special characters. Go to the Insert menu and click Symbol, then More symbols and you will get to the Special characters tab.

Now there is no excuse for being slap-dash with dashes—and please, no hyphens!