Writing principles

The way we write helps us communicate effectively with clients, partners, employees, and prospective hires. These interactions underpin everything we do at Skylight. As such, writing clear and consistent content is vital to our mission of making government work in a digital world. At Skylight, good content is:

• Clear. Understand the topic you’re writing about. Use simple words and sentences.
• Useful. Before you start writing, ask yourself: What purpose does this serve? Who is going to read it? What do they need to know?
• Friendly. Write like a human. Don’t be afraid to break a few rules if it makes your writing more relatable. All of our content, from splashy homepage copy to system alerts, should be warm and human.
• Appropriate. Write in a way that suits the situation. Just like you do in face-to-face conversations, adapt your tone depending on who you’re writing to and what you’re writing about.