Copywriting

Rules and glossary to follow when writing about Homebase and its product.

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Brand, product and plans

Homebase is our brand:

• Logo is all lowercase
• The name “Homebase” should be capitalized when written outside of the logo
• The B in Homebase should always be lowercase.

 

Don’t mention features or products as separate brands.

• Don’t: Homebase Hiring helps you save time
• Do: Homebase makes hiring a breeze
• Don’t: Homebase’s Essentials plan
• Do: free Basic plan, Homebase Essentials plan

Capitalization

• We use sentence case in general, including for titles, subtitles, and buttons.
• We capitalize specific product names, like Cash Out, Essentials plan, Homebase Payroll, etc.
• Don’t capitalize when used as a verb: “Do you want to cash out?” “Run payroll,” etc.
• If referring to a specific section of the product in the middle of a sentence, capitalize that.
• Do: You can change your setup in Settings

Punctuation

For anything other than a paragraph of text, general rules are:

• Don’t end in period if it’s just one sentence
• Do end in period if it’s two sentences together

Additionally:

• Titles never end in period
• Subtitles, toasts, push notifications almost never end in period.
• Don’t end in period if it’s just one sentence
• Do end in period if it’s two sentences together

Exclamation points

Use them very sparingly, and when in doubt, not at all.

Under all circumstances avoid:

• 2+ exlamation points in the same paragraph
• 2+ exclamation points in any given title + subtitle combination
• Exclamations points in anything else other than titles or subtitles (e.g. don’t put in buttons, links, pills, etc.)

Contractions

Use contractions wherever possible. Aim for a conversational tone.

Ampersands (&)

Avoid ampersands (&) in general unless extremely short in space (for example, buttons).

 

People names

If an action will apply to a specific person, use their name instead of a more generic term. For example: We’ve sent {{Jeff}} their onboarding documents!

• Use only their first name when the context gives enough clarity of who that person is
• Use first and last name when there’s not enough context or when you’re listing a group of people.
• Average first name: 6 characters long
• Average last name: 6 characters long
• Any container you design should have at least average first and last name visible. For extra long full names, truncate.
• If extremely short on space but lacking in context, show first name and first initial of last name.