Our brand voice is essential in maintaining consistent messaging across all platforms and communications. Like speaking to a good friend, our brand voice is approachable, fun, and inspiring.
We are an academic setting. All correspondence and communication produced on behalf of our school, through social media or otherwise, must maintain a level of professionalism. This entails 100% accuracy in spelling/grammar.
This being said, we’re not writing military briefs. While accuracy
is required, it is encouraged to incorporate a fun, inspiring, and
approachable tone that resonates warmly with our followers.
In conjunction with our school’s priority on education in the fields of art and design, social media posts and interaction should be helpful in educating, engaging, and entertaining our followers within this capacity.
This is the focal point of our college’s mission. When communicating to students, their perspective is always treated with the highest regard. Where correction or clarification need to be made, the proper tone will be one of sincerity.
RMCAD prides itself on its close-knit community and one-on-one interaction in the classroom. This intimacy should be perpetuated in the context of social media. Address and repeatedly use the student/user’s name in instances of direct communication.
Each of our students brings a unique story and style to the table. Engagement responses should be reflective of this diversity.
Most every self-referential post will use the abbreviated RMCAD instead of Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design. The full-length name can be used in instances of higher formality. The ‘+’ sign is to be used in all instances of this use instead of ‘and’ (Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design).
The copywriter always assumes the collective pronoun ‘we’/’us’ in instances of self-reference and direct correspondence. The school is comprised of an entire team, not just the writer.
Exclamation points should be used sparingly; no more than one should be used at the end of a sentence.
When referring to a specific term/semester, capitalization is used.
Always credit our students for featured artwork. When possible, link their social media handles within the post. This also applies for outside artists, companies, and galleries. In addition to preventing potential copyright conflict, it also helps expand our viewership and post reach.
ALL COMMUNICATIONS MUST ADHERE TO CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE RULES.
OXFORD COMMA: One of the more prevalent distinctions of CMS is the presence of the Oxford comma.
i.e. Students, faculty, and staff are invited to the Philip J. Steele Gallery this Friday.
DATES: Do not abbreviate days of the week or months. Use numbers in all cases for the date itself. Comma after day of the week and date.
i.e. The gallery will open mid-October. An artist talk will take place Saturday, May 23, 2015.
NUMBERS: Spell out numbers less than 11 or numbers that begin a sentence.
i.e. one, ten, 11, 18, 57, Fifty students have registered so far.
QUOTATIONS: Periods and commas always go inside quotation marks.
i.e. “A lot of the things we’ve wanted to improve upon in the past needed an increased student enrollment,” Marconi stated.
TIME: Lower case with periods. Drop colon and zeros when available.
i.e. 5 p.m., 10:15 a.m.
*Chicago Manual of Style Rules is used in all cases EXCEPT for RMCAD blogs, press releases and social media copy, which will adhere to Associated Press (AP Style) – the preferred style for journalistic writing.
