Identity

• Aa

  Alliance No.2

  Every heading and all text, on every GINC site, report and card.

  300400600700800

• Aa

  Geist Mono

  The standard for monospaced text, and for that only: code, a value such as a colour's, and the speech-as-bars panel. Never for headings or running text.

  400500

• • British English spelling: -ise not -ize (organise, realise), -our not -or (colour, favour), -re not -er (centre, metre)
  • Single vs. double letters: travelled, focussed, modelling (double the consonant)
  • -ement vs. -ment: judgement (British), acknowledgement

• Punctuation

  • Serial comma: Generally omit (red, white and blue) unless needed for clarity
  • Quotation marks: Single quotes for primary quotations, double for quotes within quotes
  • Punctuation with quotes: Place outside unless part of the quoted material
  • Hyphens: Use sparingly; compound adjectives before nouns (well-known author) but not after (the author is well known)
  • En dash (–): For ranges (2020–2024), not hyphen
  • Em dash (—): Minimal use; prefer parentheses or commas for asides

• Numbers & Dates

  • Spell out: One to nine; use numerals for 10 onwards
  • Dates: 5 January 2025 (no commas, no ‘st/nd/rd/th’)
  • Time: Use 24-hour clock (14.00) or 12-hour with am/pm (2 pm, not 2PM or 2:00pm)
  • Percentages: per cent (two words), not percent
  • Thousands: Use commas (10,000 not 10000)

• Capitalization

  • Titles: Capitalize main words in titles, lowercase articles/prepositions (The Future of National Capability)
  • Job titles: Lowercase unless directly before a name (the prime minister; Prime Minister Smith)
  • Institutions: Capitalize full names, lowercase when generic (the University; Oxford University)
  • Government: Lowercase (the government, parliament) unless part of formal name

• Abbreviations & Acronyms

  • Full stops: Generally omit in acronyms (UK, US, EU, NATO)
  • Latin abbreviations: Use full stops (e.g., i.e., etc.)
  • First use: Spell out with acronym in parentheses

• Typography

  • Italics: Foreign words not naturalized into English, titles of books/journals, emphasis (sparingly)
  • Bold: Avoid in body text; use for headings only
  • Ellipsis: Three dots with spaces before and after ( … ) or use the ellipsis character (…)

• References & Citations

  • Footnotes preferred over endnotes or parenthetical citations
  • Author-date system: If used, no comma (Smith 2024, not Smith, 2024)
  • Ibid.: Acceptable for immediate repetition of same source

• Common Distinctions

  • Practice (noun) vs. practise (verb) - same for licence/license, advice/advise
  • That vs. which: “That” for restrictive clauses (no comma), “which” for non-restrictive (with comma)
  • Between vs. among: Between for two items, among for three or more
  • Fewer vs. less: Fewer for countable nouns, less for mass nouns

• Style Preferences

  • Prefer active voice over passive
  • Avoid contractions in formal writing (cannot, not can’t)
  • Use parallel structure in lists and series
  • Minimize jargon and define technical terms

Colour is purple #6652FF and light blue #2EC2FF. Click a mark to download the version shown, as an SVG.