Editorial Style

The mechanics of how Visualist writes. These rules apply to all written output: emails, website copy, social captions, press, reports, internal documents intended for external audiences. Where creative assets require flexibility, that is noted.

Writing about Visualist

The name. Visualist is one word, capital V, no exceptions. Do not capitalize every letter. Do not forget to capitalize the V. Correct: Visualist. Incorrect: VISUALIST, visualist, Visual-ist.

Use it as an adjective. Avoid possessives. No article required unless grammatically necessary. Correct: “Visualist employees are here.” Incorrect: “The Visualist employees are here.” / “Visualist’s employees are here.”

Do not add “app.” Do not add the word “app” when referring to the Visualist brand. Acceptable only when referring specifically to the application. Correct: “The new Visualist app includes a magic wand.” Incorrect: “We’re hiring at Visualist app.”

Do not add “the.” No need to precede Visualist with “the.” Correct: “Visualist is exhibiting in Vegas.” Incorrect: “The Visualist is exhibiting in Vegas.”

First person, not third. In brand copy, Visualist speaks as “we,” not “it.” Correct: “We’ll be there.” Incorrect: “Visualist will be there. It has a new feature.”

Do not modify the name. Do not append to, hyphenate, or break up the Visualist name to create sub-brands or product names: Visualist+, VisualistPro, and similar constructions are all wrong. The name stands alone. Exception: standalone products and programs with their own distinct identity are permitted. The List (our directory of personal stylists) and Visualist Academy work because each has an independent identity and purpose that does not depend on the Visualist name being modified. The name Visualist remains intact; the standalone name sits alongside it.

On logo use. When the Visualist name appears in a creative asset, always use the logotype, not the name spelled in plain text.

Writing about Vai

Vai is the customer-facing name for Visualist AI. When writing about the AI experience inside the product, use Vai by name. Do not describe Vai as a chatbot or AI assistant. Vai is an active collaborator.

What Vai is. An active collaborator that holds context across a professional’s work and gets smarter over time. It coordinates, surfaces, and proposes, so the professional can approve and move forward.

What Vai is not. A chatbot. An AI assistant that “automates tasks.” In copy, never use robotic metaphors or imagery. Note: Vai has an approved soft icon in the asset library. The icon is a visual representation of the product, not a robotic metaphor. Its use is governed by the soft icon rules. The prohibition applies to written copy only.

Ground every description in a specific moment. Avoid abstract capability claims. “Vai holds the context of every project you’re working on. Ask it what’s outstanding on a client brief, and it tells you” is correct. “Vai uses advanced AI to streamline your creative workflow” is not.

On taste memory. Vai learns how a professional works and builds a profile of their visual point of view from the text, palettes, and designs in their ongoing work. In About Me, professionals can review and refine the profile with their own style references and brand details. AesthetIQ is Visualist’s proprietary name for Vai’s style-reasoning pipeline. It names the technology, not a separate feature or control.

Spelling and language

American English throughout. Color not colour. Organize not organise. Recognize not recognise. Center not centre. This applies to all written output without exception.

Modern spellings. Drop hyphens and periods when they are redundant to meaning. Email not e-mail. Ebook not e-book.

No jargon. If a simpler word exists, use it. Write for someone reading quickly, not someone who will study the sentence.

Punctuation

No em-dashes. Forbidden in all Visualist brand copy without exception. Use a colon, comma, or parentheses instead. Or start a new sentence. This applies everywhere: emails, social, web, press, reports, product marketing. No edge cases.

En-dashes: ranges only. En-dashes are acceptable for numerical ranges in data visualizations, tables, and tight display contexts: 2019–2024, 9 am–5 pm. Do not use en-dashes as separators in prose. In running text, write “2019 to 2024” and “9 am to 5 pm.”

Oxford comma. Always use the serial comma in lists of three or more. “Peyton, Indigo, and Emery” not “Peyton, Indigo and Emery.”

One space after a period. Always. Not two.

Contractions. Use them. They give writing a confident, natural feel. “We’re” not “we are” in most contexts. Contractions are not informal; they are human.

Quotation marks. Double quotation marks at all times. Single marks only for a quote within a quote. Punctuation goes inside the quotation marks when quoting a full sentence. Outside when the punctuation is part of the surrounding sentence, not the quote.

Parentheses. For additional information, clarification, abbreviations, and cross-references. Also the correct replacement for an em-dash when setting off a parenthetical point.

Hyphens. Use to create compound modifiers before a noun: “AI-powered solution,” “short-term plan.” Exception: adverbs ending in -ly do not take a hyphen (“readily available solution”). Use to separate identical letters or improve readability in compound words: re-enter, re-adjust. Do not hyphenate compound words already accepted in common usage: coordinate, biweekly.

Ampersand. Do not use as a substitute for “and” unless it is part of an official name or title (Cole & Sons, Brand & Partnerships Lead).

Capitalization

Chapter titles use title case. Everything else uses sentence case. The H1 on each chapter page is treated as a proper title and uses title case: “Tone of Voice,” “Editorial Style,” “Writing for Personas.” All section headings, labels, subheads, and body copy headings below the H1 use sentence case: capitalize only the first word, proper nouns, and acronyms. “Capitalization of titles” not “Capitalization of Titles.” This applies to marketing collateral, website content, emails, and all other written output.

Job titles. Capitalize when referring to a specific named person: “Membership and Events Director Peyton Emery.” Lowercase when referring to a role in general: “all criminology professors are interviewed by the university president.” Lowercase when preceded by “the” or “a”: “the chief executive” not “the Chief Executive.”

Product and feature names. Named product areas are capitalized: Hubs, Studio, Concierge. Generic features are lowercase: sticky notes, moodboard, briefs. Vai is capitalized. Visualist is capitalized. The List and Visualist Academy are capitalized as proper names.

Abbreviations. Write abbreviations pronounced as individual letters in all uppercase: BBC, CEO, API, AI, HTML. If an abbreviation is not well known, spell out the full version first, then the acronym: American Society for Interior Designers (ASID). A short list that does not need spelling out: AI, HTML, API, GMT, CEO, US, UK.

Numbers, dates, and time

Numbers. Spell out a number if it begins a sentence. Otherwise, use the numeral. Spell out first, second, third etc. in full in prose. Always use numerals if decimals or fractions are involved. Do not mix numbers and words in the same clause: “6, 12, or 18” not “six, 12 or 18.” Use a comma for four digits or more (not for dates): 2,400 but 2000 BC. Use % in prose, charts, and infographics.

Dates. Always put the month before the date: March 8, not 8 March. When listing a complete date, no comma between month and year: December 1, 2022. Do not use superscripts: 6, 3, 1 not 6th, 3rd, 1st. When contracting a year, use a single quotation mark: ‘90. When referring to a decade: 1990s not 1990’s.

Time. Format: 12

Money. Write US$9,000. Always include the currency. No need to add .00. For millions and above, spell out: US$9 million.

Sentence craft

Active over passive. Always. “We made a mistake” not “mistakes were made.” Passive constructions add distance Visualist does not need.

Incomplete sentences are fine. Visualist uses them with confidence. A fragment after a longer sentence creates rhythm and lands harder than another clause would. “Simple for you. Delightful for clients.” “One place. No chasing.” “Done.” These are not errors. They are choices. Use them when the break does work that a conjunction would not.

Let the body earn the headline. If a headline makes a claim, the body unpacks it. Never restate the headline in the opening sentence. The reader has already read it.

Make the reader picture it. Do not name the pain; show the moment it happens. “Found in a DM. Buried in an email. Confirmed in a voicemail. That’s one client brief.” puts the reader inside the experience. “Managing scattered client communication” describes it from the outside. The inside lands.

Cut adverbs. Replace “-ly” adverbs and “very” with words that show rather than tell. “Sprinted” not “ran quickly.” “Hot” not “very warm.” Cut redundant adverbs entirely: “quickly rushed” is just “rushed.”

Use “-ing” words sparingly. Gerunds and participles add syllables and affect pacing. Too many together dampen the impact of the writing.

Eg, ie, etc. No periods in eg, ie, or etc. Always use a comma after eg and ie. Eg means “for example.” Ie means “that is.” Never use etc at the end of a list that starts with eg or ie. Where possible, rephrase to avoid these abbreviations entirely for cleaner, more modern writing.

CTAs

A CTA tells the reader exactly what they are doing, in plain language, without performing enthusiasm about it.

One CTA per piece of content. If there are two, cut one.

Use the action as the verb. Not “Learn more” but “See how it works.” Not “Get started” but “Try it free.”

No softeners. No “Feel free to,” “Don’t hesitate to,” or “I’d love to.”

No exclamation points on CTAs.

The test. Read the CTA aloud. If it sounds like something a person would actually say, it works. If it sounds like it came from a button generator, rewrite it.