Preparing a corporate style guide is thought of as sitting down in front of a blank page and writing rules. In practice the guides that are of most use are not written that way; they form by accumulation.
Preferences are not known in advance
Most organisations notice their own preference of style only when they see a text. Rules written from the outset therefore turn out either too general or impossible to apply.
The first source is feedback
The corrections that arrive on delivered texts are the most direct record of the real preferences. The guide is built by accumulating these corrections.
Decisions are written, not rules
"Use plain language" looks like a rule but cannot be applied. "Sentences carry a single statement" is a measurable decision.
An example is the strongest form of explanation
When correct and incorrect usage are shown side by side, no room is left for interpretation. Every decision should stand with at least one example.
A short guide gets applied
A document of thirty pages does not get read. A guide of a few pages that has examples and can be searched really does get used.
Format decisions are the ones that recur most
The writing of dates, numbers, currencies, abbreviations and forms of address appears in every document. This is the most productive section of the guide.
Prohibited expressions are listed separately
When the expressions that the organisation does not want to use are written down clearly, they become scannable and the review becomes automatic.
It stands apart from the terminology list
The terminology list holds the renderings, whereas the guide holds how to write. When the two are mixed, both become unsearchable.
Counter-view: a guide restricts creativity
It is true that rigid rules can make a text mechanical. But what is sought in corporate documents is not originality but predictability; the guide can be divided into sections so that it is more flexible for promotional texts and more precise for technical texts.
It is divided by document type
A single style does not suit all documents. The contract, the technical text and the promotional text are dealt with in separate sections.
Who approves is written down
The decisions in the guide are the organisation's decisions and require an approval authority. A guide without approval remains a suggestion.
The route for updating is defined
When a new preference emerges, it should be clear where and by whom it will be added. Otherwise the guide freezes as a photograph of the first year.
It is shared with the supplier
A guide that sits inside the organisation does not affect the translation. Sharing it at the start of the job ensures that the preferences enter the text from the outset.
Its applicability is measured
If there are findings that recur in spite of the guide, the problem may lie not in the application but in the guide itself: the decision is unclear or it has no example.
The authors of source texts should read it too
When the guide is used for translation only, the source texts go on being written by their own rules. That the same guide applies to writing inside the organisation as well establishes consistency before translation.
Takeaway
A guide is not a document written from the outset but the record of decisions that accumulate. Building it by starting from feedback, writing every decision with an example, dividing it by document type and defining the route for updating; when these four are in place, the guide becomes a criterion that ends the argument.