This is the style guide for the Mixcloud Blog, detailing how we write. This can be used for new starters to get used to our style and current employees who want to learn how to apply this style to their writing.
This guide explains how and when to use numbers, quotation marks, punctuations, abbreviations, when to use upper and lower case and more. Everyone will have their own written style and will have the freedom to express themselves freely, but this guide will provide parameters for you to stay within to achieve our desired article style.
The first thing to note is that we write in American English. So when drafting an article in a Google/Word document, make sure you change the writing language to American English.The following is a comprehensive guide of the style rules for the blog:
Article structure
Q&A: Questions should be bolded, and the answer portion should begin and end with quotation marks to denote the subject speaking.
Listicle: Each point of list should be summarized in one sentence that will act as a sub-heading for each paragraph. This sentence should be bolded and the answer portion should begin and end with quotation marks.
Long-read: Text broken up into paragraphs of 150-200 words maximum.
Abbreviations
Spell out the first mention in the article text followed by it's acronym in brackets e.g. Musician’s Union (MU) or Universal Music Group (UMG). If you need to mention more than once, after the first mention, always use the acronym.
When using quantities such as money, weight, height or other, use that unit’s shortened metric in lower case e.g. 10 billion pounds is £10bn or 160 megabytes is 160mb.
When describing quantities of people or units, spell out the measurement e.g. 20 million people.
Ampersand (&)
Avoid using unless part of a name e.g. Marketing & Partnerships.
Apostrophes
Avoid using when making a word or acronym plural e.g. USBs not USB’s, 1980s not 1980’s
Use apostrophes when using possessives e.g. ‘The DJ’s set was a mix of House and Techno.’
Don’t use when using plurals of a word or noun e.g. when referring to more than one DJ, the sentence becomes ‘The DJs playing on the night were John Digweed, Emma Warren and Chris Coco.’
Boldening
Bolden subheadings (questions and/or statements).
If you’re working in a Google doc/Word document, bold the title of the article for clarity.
Brand names
Style brand names in the way they do e.g. easyJet, iPhone, TikTok, BRIT Awards, Create. Define. Release., PRS For Music, Jazz re:freshed, PIRATE
Bullet points
Start each point with a capital letter and use a full stop at the end.
Capital letters
Avoid using over-capitalization in body text and headings. Only capitalize the first word of a heading or nouns e.g. Live streaming not Live Streaming, Greg Wilson’s tips not Greg Wilson’s Tips.
For article titles, capitalize the first letter of each word e.g. What Is Mixcloud?
All genres mentioned should be capitalized e.g. House not house.
Colons
Use instead of a dash to introduce a list.
Commas
Use sparingly in sentences. If you find yourself using too many commas, try to use full stops to break up the text.
Don’t use in headings and avoid using in subheadings unless necessary.
When listing items, don’t use a comma before ‘and.’
Use commas to break up first use of quotes e.g. “The relationship between my production and my DJing it’s something that I’m grateful for,” he says. “They empower each other and have their own relationship beyond me. I’m just the brain and both sides sit on my shoulders telling each other what to do!”
Dash
Use when separating a sentence from an explanatory but related point e.g. ‘The DJ’s set - ranging from House to Techno - was the highlight of the event.’
Dates
Use the month’s full name e.g. October.
When using an exact date, use the number followed by the month’s full name e.g. 1st October.
Full stops
When using a quote, place full stop inside quotation marks e.g. “I would say my number one tip would be to be motivated daily.”
Hyphens
Use when forming adjectives that need to be merged together e.g. ‘community-led.’
Italics
Use sparingly, only for titles of books, albums, films and other mediums.
Job titles
Capitalize each new word of a specific job title e.g. Senior Creator Marketing Manager.
Use lowercase when writing more general job titles e.g. press officers, journalists.
Hyperlinks
All text linking to another article or page must be opened in a new tab e.g. Mixcloud.
Names
Use upper case when naming people, places (where appropriate), companies, brands and genres.
Numbers
All numbers less than 10 should be spelt out e.g. one not 1.
All numbers greater than 10 should be numbered e.g. 12 not twelve.
Paragraphs
Paragraphs shouldn’t be overly long. Aim for 150-200 words per paragraph maximum.
Quotation marks
Use quotation marks when the subject of an article is being quoted.
Quotation marks end when quote ends. If you have to break up speech into paragraphs, avoid putting a mark at the end of a paragraph.
While the subject is talking, use a single inverted comma if necessary to denote when they’re quoting something/someone else e.g. “On a Monday morning, I carve out half an hour to say, ‘OK what do we have this week? What needs to happen? What are the things I need to prioritize?’ So just carving out time to actually plan is something I find really useful.”
When highlighting a particular quote for prominence in an article, bolden the quote and place it where appropriate in the article body.
Semi-colon
Only use when replacing connective words like and or but e.g. ‘The DJ played a classic House set; he saved the last 10 minutes for a medley of Marshall Jefferson tracks.’
Sentence spacing
Use single spaces between words.
Timeframes
Use the full word of a time frame e.g. minutes not min or mins.
Titles
Album, book and film titles should be italicized in article text e.g. Emperor Rosko’s DJ Book.
Underlines
Avoid using.
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