Writing rules

We speak as one company

To customers, SimplePark is one entity. We write in the we form and address the reader informally.

• We, not a team or a person behind us. "We have sent your invoice", not "A SimplePark employee has…" and not "The SimplePark team".
• No hiding in the passive. "We couldn't collect your direct debit", not "The direct debit could not be processed".
• Speaking for an organization, we say so. "On behalf of Bakery Jansen, we invite you", not "You have been invited".
• Mails sign off as SimplePark. Regards, SimplePark.

Clear over clever

• Short sentences. One thing per sentence. If a sentence needs a comma to breathe twice, split it.
• Active voice, verbs first on buttons and in steps: Start parking, Add license plate.
• Say the number. Amounts, times and durations as numerals: € 0.29, 17:30, 2 hours, 15 minutes.
• No exclamation marks. Not in headlines, not in mails, not on social.
• No em or en dashes. Use a full stop, a comma or a colon. A hyphen in a compound word is fine.
• No ellipses to build suspense.
• Sentence case for headlines, buttons and menu items: Start parking, not Start Parking.
• Interface labels in bold, paths with ›: Account › License plates.
• Costs are never half the story. A headline may name € 0.29 per parking action alone; the full picture, including € 0.29 per top-up, is always one click away. No headline says or suggests there is nothing else to pay.
• No user numbers or ratings in copy until there is a reliable source behind them. The same goes for counts that date, like a number of cities: say cities across the Netherlands.
• Humor stays away from money and mistakes. Costs, payments, fines, errors and reminders are always plain.

Money, time and places

We write the euro sign with a space before the amount. On screens that space is a no-break space, so a line never ends on € with the amount on the next one.

Languages

• Dutch first. Our customers are in the Netherlands. Customer copy is written in Dutch and then translated, not the other way around.
• English is a full translation, not a summary. Same content, same tone, never more formal.
• Translate the meaning, not the words. A literal translation that sounds odd is wrong, even when every word is right.
• Fixed terms come from the word list.
• This brand site is in English, examples included.