Stilguiden

Stilguiden is the set of editorial and visual guidelines used to maintain a consistent voice, tone, and appearance across communications within a media organization, company, or public institution. The term is common in Swedish-language contexts and can refer to both language usage and brand presentation.

A stilguide typically covers language rules such as spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, preferred terms and spellings, punctuation, and grammar. It also defines stylistic decisions related to tone of voice, style choices for headlines and captions, and editorial practices. In addition, many stilguider include design and branding elements, such as typography, color palette, logo usage, imagery style, and layout conventions. Accessibility considerations, metadata standards, and web-compliance guidelines are increasingly part of modern stilguides, especially for digital publishing.

Purpose and use: The primary function is to ensure consistency, clarity, and recognizability across all published materials. It serves as a reference for writers, editors, designers, marketers, translators, and developers, helping to align content with organizational identity and audience expectations.

Structure and maintenance: Stilguiden is usually a living document maintained by a communications, editorial, or brand team. It may be publicly accessible or restricted to internal use, and updated as language conventions evolve and new channels or platforms emerge.

Relation to other concepts: It is closely related to the broader concept of a house style or brand guidelines, and to editorial or corporate identity manuals used in various industries.