Wayne RESA Brand and Style Guide

AP Style Writing Tips

Wayne RESA recommends staff follow the principles of high-quality writing according to the Associated Press Stylebook (AP Style). AP Style is easy to read, concise, and bias free. Most U.S. newspapers, magazines, and public relations firms write in AP Style.

The following is a quick reference for common writing across our work.

Abbreviations and acronyms

• In general, avoid alphabet soup.
• Do not use abbreviations or acronyms that the reader would not quickly recognize, and always first spell out the full word before using its acronym.
• Abbreviations and most acronyms should be avoided in headlines.
• Apostrophes usually show possession and are not needed to make acronyms and numbers plural, except for individual letters in grading (1990s, ABCs, 45, they earned all A's). 

Academic degrees and titles

• Use the abbreviations B.A., M.A., LL.D., and Ph.D. when needed.
• After someone's full name, an academic abbreviation follows a comma (Daveda Colbert, Ph.D.).
• Use an apostrophe in bachelor's degree, a master's, etc.
• There is no possessive in Bachelor of Arts, Master of Science, or Associate Degree.
• Only capitalize formal titles when they appear immediately before a name, this does not apply to a job description or grade year (Superintendent Daveda Colbert, teacher Candice Jackson, sophomore Joe Jones).

Ages

• Always use numbers to write an age (the girl, 8, has a brother, 11).
• If the age is used a substitute for a noun or as an adjective, hyphenate it (A 21-year-old student. The student is 21).
• Don't use apostrophes when describing an age range (20s).

Dates

• Capitalize months.
• When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec. (Aug. 14 is her birthday).
• When listing a month and year, don't use a comma (October 1984 was historic for the Detroit Tigers).
• When writing a month, day, and year, use a comma before the year (Oct. 14, 1984). Numbers.
• Spell out numbers one through nine, for 10 and up, write the number.
• Spell out numbers that start a sentence, except for a calendar year (2021).
• Use a hyphen to connect a number ending in "y" to another word (twenty-one). 

School names

• School names should always be spelled out on first reference (Oak Harbor High School)
• On second reference "our school,""the school," or "we" are acceptable (you may also use Oak Harbor High)

Seasons

• The first letter of a season should be lower case, unless part of a formal name (summer, springtime, Fall Showcase, Winter Olympics).

Titles (books, movies, presentations)

• Capitalize titles of almost all compositions, like books, movies, plays, poems, songs, and presentations, and write them in quotation marks ("Les Miserables,""Lovely Day").
• The exception is newspaper or magazine names (Detroit Free Press, The New York Times).

Time

• Use the abbreviations A.D., B.C., a.m., and p.m.
• Write noon and midnight.

Tricky word examples

• cooperative education (co-op)
• cyberspace
• e-book, e-reader
• email
• fundraising, fundraiser
• hashtag
• hyperlink, hypertext
• login, logon, logoff
• online
• smartphone
• website, webpage 

ADA Compliance Overview

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is one of the most comprehensive civil rights legislation nationwide that prohibits discrimination and guarantees that people with disabilities have equal access to all public facilities and resources (ada.gov(External Website, opens in new window)). Any content shared and created by Wayne RESA online must be formatted for universal accessibility, including using: legible fonts, colors with appropriate contrast to the background, describing any visual content, and applying logical efficient navigation to all content. Wayne RESA has software that can check the accessibility of PDF files through Adobe Acrobat.

Files

Convert Word and other document types to a PDF file before sharing online. A PDF document preserves the formatting and layout of the original document and is widely used for sharing documents that need to be printed or published. All attachments shared online must be accessible directly within the user's browser. Files created in cloud applications, like Google Docs, can also be viewed via browser window and do not need to be converted.

Color

When you choose colors for print or online materials, all content must meet accessibility standards. That includes avoiding dark type on a dark background or light type on a light background. You can check your color combinations for accessibility online at WebAIM (webaim.org(External Website, opens in new window)) or AccessibleWeb (accessibleweb.com(External Website, opens in new window)). Simply input the hex codes of the foreground and background colors you are using. Best practice is to have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for larger text, according to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Images

Do not rely primarily on images to share information. Graphics, like flyers and diagrams, exclude users with vision impairments, as the text on the image cannot be read to them with assistive technology. For every graphic that you share online, you must provide a description.

Alt Text

Alt text is an important element for web accessibility and ADA compliance, as it provides a description of the content of an image for users who cannot see the image. Key aspects include:

• Be Descriptive: Convey the purpose and content of the image.
• Be Specific: Avoid generic descriptions or placeholders.
• Be Accurate: Do not provide misleading or false information.
• Avoid Redundancy: Do not repeat information already present in surrounding text.
• Keep it Short: Ideally no more than 125 characters.

Sizing

Large, high-resolution images should be resized before being added online. In general, keep the largest dimension at or under 1,000 pixels and file size under 1MB whenever possible to save reader data and storage.

Text

Headings

Use headings in hierarchical order to clarify the structure of information. Applying this formatting makes it faster for people of all abilities to find information:

• Heading 1: Title (Only one H1 per document or webpage)
• Heading 2: Titles of subsections
• Heading 3: Titles of subsection segments

Standardize styles throughout your document. Use bold or italics for emphasis rather than relying on color alone, as color-blind readers may not be able to distinguish the difference.

Font Choice

Good typography builds brand identity and increases understanding. Best practices include:

• Avoid overly ornate fonts.
• Use a maximum of two to three fonts per document.
• Use a minimum of 12 pt. font size for documents to ensure readability when printed.

Text should always highly contrast its background (e.g., black text on white paper). Use colored text with restraint.

Serif vs. Sans Serif Font

Sans serif fonts (like Arial) look modern and work well for signs, while serif fonts (like Times New Roman) can be easier to read in long-form reports.

Legibility vs. Readability

Legibility refers to the design of the font itself—how easy it is to tell one letter from another. Readability refers to the arrangement of those words. Align text flush left for the most comfortable reading experience and avoid unnecessary hyphenation.

Spacing

Rely on margins, indents, and paragraph spacing tools rather than hitting "Enter" or "Tab" repeatedly. Screen readers dictate every keystroke; hitting "Enter" multiple times forces a user to hear "Enter" repeated for every blank line.

Links

In digital documents, use descriptive link text ("This can be found on the Wayne RESA website") rather than pasting a raw URL (www.resa.net). For printed documents, include the URL in parentheses so the reader can see the address to type it in later.