Download VC Communication Style Guide - Village Church

COMMUNICATION STANDARDS GUIDE
Page 1
WHY COMMUNICATION STANDARDS?
Village Church’s mission is To Make Disciples Who Go, Grow, and Overcome. To do this
effectively, we have to be passionate about sending clear and simple messages about key
priorities to our members, attendees, and visitors.
Communications standards are guidelines for consistency and quality in our communication.
They help ensure that we communicate with excellence across all ministry areas.
The Communication Team has developed a series of resources to help your ministry area
communicate effectively while maintaining consistency as a whole organization.
Village Church Visual Guidelines
The second half of this resource outlines the guidelines for visual elements such as the
following:
• Logo usage
• Standard fonts
• Standard colors
• e-mail signature format Page 2
THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS
Event scheduling and communication go hand-in-hand – once you schedule an event, you
want people to know about it. Below are the basic steps for planning both aspects:
1. Check for availability conflicts in Church Community Builder and with the Events
Coordinator
• Submit a request in Church Community Builder for the following:
- Room(s)
- Tables & chairs
- Kitchen and/or Cafe Supplies
- Sound systems or other audio/visual support
2. Request publicity and/or supporting pieces through a Communication Request Form
• Access the form at http://www.vcob.org/vcresources/communicationsrequests or on
our Mobile App under …More > Leaders Resources > Communications Requests.
• Before submitting your requests, review this checklist of commonly-overlooked things:
- Do any other staff members need to be informed about the event?
- Do I need any materials prepared for executing the event (e.g., sign-in sheet,
handout, Powerpoint slides)?
- Do I need to request a table, sign up, or space in the Foyer?
• After you submit any of our Communication Forms, they are immediately sent to the
Communication Team. A person from the communication team will confirm receipt and
next steps.
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- If the request is complex, requires coordination across teams, or requires
strategy & planning, the communication team may schedule a follow-up
conversation.
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THE REQUEST FORMS
For any communication piece (e.g., brochure, graphic, announcement), begin the process by
completing an online Communication Request Form. These forms captures the key
information the Communication Team needs to know to start projects and bring them to a
successful completion with you.
We may request to dialogue about items requested – we want to most effectively strategize
and plan given the time and resources available.
Here’s a list of our Communications Request Forms:
• Ministry Event/Program Form: For promoting your event/program in the Friday
Newsletter, Bulletin, Announcements, etc.
• Design/Print Form: To request a new design, external printing, and other various design
needs.
• Social Media Post Form: To request a Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter post.
• Website/Mobile App Update Form: For changes or additions to the website or Mobile
App.
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THOUGHT STARTER QUESTIONS
The communication team will often use the questions below to help develop the most effective
strategy and plan for communicating about your ministry needs.
If a follow-up meeting is scheduled to discuss your projects and ideas, please think through
these questions in advance. Answers to these questions guide what communication vehicles
will be employed.
• What audience or demographic am I trying to reach?
•
What obstacles exist that may prevent my listeners from responding?
• Do they have any pre-conceived opinions about what I’m communicating?
• What other events, programs, or messages exist that I can work in concert with?
• What is really going to motivate them to respond to what I’m communicating? Page 6
COMMUNICATION VEHICLES
Web/electronic
• Announcement in all-church Friday
Newsletter
• Announcement in ministry specific enewsletter
• Webpage within the ministry’s area of
website
• Listing on website calendar/Mobile
App calendar
• Graphic for website
• Push Notification on Mobile App
• Mobile App weekly Announcement
Section
• Special Mobile App Section
Social Media
• Facebook announcement/reminder
• Twitter announcement/reminder
Print
• Listing in monthly newsletter (print &
web)
• Announcement in weekly paper
bulletin
• Custom brochure, flyer or postcard
• Custom poster
In-person sign-up or promotion
• Visual Announcement Slide in
Sanctuary, Foyer, Cafe, etc. screens
• Kiosk/table in Foyer
Request communication pieces with the Communications Request Forms at http://
www.vcob.org/vcresources/communicationsrequests or on our Mobile App under …More >
Leaders Resources > Communications Requests.
The Communication Team works hard to complete projects as quickly as possible. Many of
our projects are completed by volunteers, so early planning is helpful in accommodating
volunteer schedules.
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Deadlines:
- Announcement (Pulpit, Visual Slide, Physical/Digital Bulletin): seven (7) days prior to
inclusion date. *This deadline increases if design work is also needed. Please see design
turn-around times below.
- Friday Newsletter - seven (7) days prior to inclusion date. *This deadline increases if
design work is also needed. Please see design turn-around times below.
- Social Media Post - Request must be submitted seven (7) days in advance to your
requested post date.
Turn-Around Times:
Here are the general timelines (turn-around times) for common projects once we have the
necessary information from form submission:
- Website/Mobile App addition or change: seven (7) days from when submitted
- Graphic Design/Branding:
- Design only: one (1) - two (2) weeks from when submitted, depending on
complexity
- Design and outsourced printing: Three (3) - Four (3) weeks from when submitted,
depending on complexity
- In house printing only (from already made design) - seven (7) days from when
submitted
- Outsourced printing only (from already made design) - two (2) weeks from when
submitted
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GUIDELINES FOR VERBIAGE,WRITING, & GRAMMAR
We use many terms at Village Church to refer to things unique to this church, including
programs, building rooms, etc. In order to reflect excellence in all we do, we need to be
consistent when referring to these terms in our communications.
Capitalization rules are reflected as they appear unless noted otherwise.
•Acronyms – Acronyms communicate exclusivity in harmful ways, as people newer to the
church don’t know what you are referring to. Therefore do not use acronyms unless
you first use the full name with the acronym in parentheses.
•Village Church – For the first reference, write the entire name. All subsequent references,
you can use “VC”. Use “VC” sparingly and only after an initial reference to “Village
Church” or “Village Church of Bartlett.”
•Commas – Use commas before "and" in a series. E.g., “I like apples, oranges, and pears.”
•Dates – When listing dates, always use numbers only, without st, nd, rd or th (See also
Months).
•Monetary references - $ before figure. No zeros if even amount. E.g., $10 instead of
$10.00.
•Months – Capitalize the names of months in all uses. When a month is used with a
specific date (Aug. 12), abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Apr., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.
Spell out when using alone or with a year alone. When a phrase lists only a month
and a year, do not separate the year with a comma (Ex. July 2007). When a phrase
refers to a month, day and year, set off the year with a comma. (Ex. Aug. 4, 2007).
•Numbers – No apostrophes, e.g., 4s and 5s.
•Phone numbers – Phone numbers must include the area code and a period between the
first three and last four numbers, not a hyphen (Ex. 317.846.2884).
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•Scripture references – To honor copyright laws, cite the translation abbreviation at the
end of the reference, outside the quotation marks.
•Times – Use figures except for noon and midnight. Use a colon to separate hours from
minutes. Use am and pm (Ex. 12:30 pm; 4 am). Not A.M., a.m. or AM. Do not use
zeros at even times, e.g., 3 pm instead of 3:00 pm Avoid redundancies (Ex. 10 a.m.
in the morning).
•Bible
•Bible study
•biblical / godly
•child care – lowercase; two words.
•church – Not capitalized in general uses; capitalize when used in official name (Ex. We
went to church today. We went to Village Church today.)
•e-mail – Lowercase except at the beginning of a sentence; only “E” needs capitalization.
Always include a hyphen between “e” and “mail.”
•Community Group – Both words are capitalized in all uses.
•Gospel
•? the foyer/ cafe / resource area – Lowercase to match our signage. Do not use..…
•?The Greenhouse – Always uppercase to match our signage. The Greenhouse refers to
the entire children’s wing, primarily in the foyer area with the Children’s Welcome
Desk and the……
•ministry / Ministry – Capitalize when used with the name of a specific ministry (Ex.
Children’s Ministry, Women’s Ministry). Lowercase when using in general terms (Ex.
the ministry in which I serve). Never use the plural “ministries/Ministries” unless
referring to more than one ministry.
•Village Kids, Village Students, Village Millennials, Village Women, Village Men,
Village Equip Adult Training - Both words are capitalized when referring to specific
ministry titles.
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•Other specific ministry titles written as follows:
• Village Church Counseling
•Local Outreach
•Global Outreach
•Orphan Care Ministry
•Share the Care Ministry
•nondenominational – One word; lowercase in all uses.
•online – one word, no hyphen
•pastor – Capitalize if used before a name (Ex. Pastor Joe Bartemus); do not capitalize in
general use (Ex. Eric Anderson is the pastor who oversees worship.)
•Scripture – Capitalize when referring to the Bible as a whole. (Ex. The pastor referred to
various portions of Scripture in his sermon.) Lowercase when referring to a verse or
passage, (Ex. scripture verse).
•Sunday school class – school is not capitalized
•website – one word
•Connect Desk – not Welcome Desk or Guest Services. Capitalized in all uses. The
Welcome Desk in The Greenhouse should be referred to as the “Children’s
Connect Desk.” When an issue is not covered by this guide, VC will default to AP Style for grammar
and punctuation consistency. http://www.apstylebook.com/ask_editor.php Page 11
TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE DIGITAL COMMUNICATION
How to write effectively & clearly for digital readers
Less is more
•This is the most important thing about writing for digital readers.
•Web users are scanning and don’t like to read very long paragraphs. The more
concise the content, the easier it is to scan.
•“Chunk”text(breakintobite-sizedpieces) forquickandeasyconsumption.
•Break paragraph points into bulleted lists.
•Use short phrases instead of full sentences to make a point.
•Make one point per paragraph.
Use headlines and headings
•Use headings within a document to make it easy to scan the document's meaning.
Good journalistic headings read like a bullet-point summary of the
document's contents, so a reader can scan down the page, get a quick idea
of what's on the page, and decide whether to read in more detail.
Use active voice
•English grammar uses two 'voices': active and passive. Active voice is when
something does something (actively). Passive voice is when something is
done to something.
•Passive voice uses more words than active, and takes slightly more decoding.
-E.g., "Sign up on the registration page." is better than "Sign-up can be done
on the registration page."
Use a friendly, conversation tone
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-People make impressions about our church by what they read on the website.
Therefore, use a tone is friendly, conversational, and inviting
-Use language welcoming to new attenders or guests, with little to no “church”
language or hard-to-understand terms or acronyms used (unless good
explanations are provided), especially on the visitor-targeted pages
-Refer to the verbiage and grammar guidelines above for tools to ensure
consistency in grammar and punctuation. Give readers all the information they need to learn more or take the next step
-This may sound obvious, but many writers ask people to sign-up but don’t include
a link to register.
-Always include contact information (name, phone, & email) or a link for registration
(if applicable).
-When providing contact information, provide a hyperlink from the person’s name
to their e- mail. “Contact Paul Spilker or call him at 317.875.0282.”
Links to Resources for Writing for the Web
-Helpful comparison of print vs. online content: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/printvs-online- content.html
-Introduction and overview of writing for the Web: http://
webdesignfromscratch.com/writing-for- the-web.php
-Helpful articles on many different aspects of the Web: http://www.useit.com/
alertbox/print-vs- online-content.html
-An online library of links to Web site resources, including how to write for the Web:
http://websitetips.com/webcontent/
Sample well-structured e-mail:
Hi all,
Curious about the plan for our staff lunch tomorrow? Here are the details about our
schedule for tomorrow:
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Staff AM Meeting
• Meet at 9 a.m. in the east room
•Will be a time of staff prayer
Staff Lunch
•Meet at 11 a.m. in the east room
•Eat at 11:15 a.m.
•We’ll eat a tasty meal served by Staff Elders and watch the inauguration ceremony
(11:30) Thanks, Mitch Sample of poorly-structured e-mail: Hi all,
As we usually do for staff meetings and on our Tuesday schedule, we’ll be
doing a couple of things as a staff tomorrow. Hopefully you’ll be able to join us for
what we’ll be doing as a staff. We’ll be in the fellowship hall in the morning for both
of the meetings. At our regular staff meeting we’ll be praying for the needs in our
staff and church family and we’ll be meeting at 9 a.m. We’ll be doing our every
third-Tuesday staff lunch also, when we’ll be meeting to each a meal served by the
Staff Elders and then we’ll be watching a cool video. The meeting time will be 11
am and later we’ll eat at 11:15 a.m. Thanks, Paul Sample well-structured web event: Page 14
JumpStart Prayer Now Starting for Women Due to the great response to the Men's JumpStart Prayer, the Rebound ministry team is
now starting a JumpStart Prayer for women!
This prayer time is for women who are currently unemployed and it is designed to give
them support and encouragement to keep them persevering through the job search
process. Here are the details:
•Starts Thursday, March 26 and continues through Thursday, May 7 (may
continue after May 7 if interest continues).
•Meets 12-1 p.m. at College Park Church in the Prayer Room (across from the
Chapel).
•A light lunch will be provided each week.
•Meetings will be led by staff as well as other College Park members. Please join us for this great time of prayer, encouragement, and practical help! Page 15
VISUAL GUIDELINES & USAGE
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FONTS
This document provides guidelines for designing print and/or web promotional applications
for College Park Church. A consistent stylistic approach will positively impact the efficiency,
consistency, clarity, growth, and overall excellence of our church.
On this page you will find the approved fonts for usage in College Park Church
communications.
approved type styles
the Village Church Font: Nobel
For titles or branding:
The Nobel font is Village Church’s primary type
ALL CAPS REGULAR
ALL CAPS LIGHT
face and should be used across the board in all
printed communications (letters, postcards,
For paragraph or body text:
brochures) to establish a consistent look and feel.
regular - caps or lowercase
These fonts can be found at
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
w:/?
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Qa
light - caps or lowercase
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
COLORS
The Village Church primary colors (as shown below) can be used as accents to any basic
document….
R 67 G 157 B 161
R 67 G 157 B 161
C 73 M 21 Y 37 K 1
C 39 M 0 Y 16 K 0
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LOGOS
color logo
When using the Village Church logo (or
ministry VC logos) in any document and when
printing in color, please use the standard color
logo. Always include the Village Church logo
on every external/public piece.
You can access these files on the website at: w/
b/w logo
white version
When printing on black and white or using a
light or white background, the b/w logo should
be used.
In certain circumstances, in order to have
enough legibility, the logo must appear in white.
Please reserve use of white logo for these
circumstances only.
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LOGOS CONTINUED
Also available for use are these “V”
only logos in color and b/w. These
are for use when…
You can access these files on the
website at: w/
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lNFORMATION TEMPLATE
Village Church information (address, phone, email, website) must be displayed on printed
documents in the following way:
601 W Bartlett Rd.
Bartlett, IL 60103
Office Hours: Tues., Thurs., Fri. 9-4 & Wed. 10-1
Ph: 630.289.8151 | Fax: 630.289.8237
[email protected]
www.vcob.org
601 W Bartlett Rd.
Bartlett, IL 60103
Office Hours: Tues., Thurs., Fri. 9-4 & Wed. 10-1
Ph: 630.289.8151 | Fax: 630.289.8237
[email protected]
www.vcob.org
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EMAIL SIGNATURES
Email is used extensively to communicate internally and externally. Email signatures should be
consistent with all staff.
Effective email signatures should include a person’s name, title, phone number, and link to the
Village Church website. Optionally, you may add the standard logo, your blog address, or a
unique font or signature to personalize your name.
For consistency across staff, do not use stylized, textured background templates when using
your personal church email.
Format:
{Name}
{Title}
{Phone # of church or direct line} | www.vcob.org
{Blog address - optional}
{Mission statement - optional}
{Standard colored horizontal logo - optional}
Example:
John Doe
Pastor of Connections
630.289.8151 | www.vcob.org
Optionally, you may use your ministry logo under your name and other information as long as
you indicate “Village Church” somewhere in your email signature. Make sure the image is
horizontal in nature and not too big to dominate your signature. Contact the communication
team regarding adding a ministry logo to your signature.
Example:
Lauren Soules
Director of Students | Village Church
630.289.8151 | www.vcob.org
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