The Sunflower Verbal Identity
Our verbal identity defines how the character of our business comes through in our words, both written and spoken. It’s not about what we’re saying, but rather the way we’re saying it, and the impression it makes on everyone in our audience who reads or hears us.
At Sunflower, we want to ensure that all our communication is easily understood and approachable for everyone:
- Empower. We aim to help people understand the Sunflower by using clear language that informs and encourages support for those with non-visible disabilities.
- Respect. We believe in treating everyone with the respect they deserve. Be thoughtful and inclusive, and consider their perspective. We’re here to communicate with people, not market to them.
- Inclusive. Whether you're helping someone use the Sunflower or raising awareness of non-visible disabilities, be supportive and approachable. Provide someone with the information they need and offer them opportunities to learn more.
Please share any content that mentions Hidden Disabilities Sunflower with us before you publish by sending it to the Marketing team for review.
Voice and tone
Voice and tone express a brand’s essence, signalling who we are and what we stand for. They create the feeling: “That sounds like the Sunflower.”
Our tone is direct and to the point but always friendly and approachable. Use everyday language that's easy to understand, keep sentences short and avoid jargon. Focus on how the Sunflower can enable every person and organisation worldwide to participate and positively impact society.
To achieve those goals, we make sure our content is:
- Useful. Before you start writing, ask yourself: What purpose does this serve? Who is going to read it? What do they need to know?
- Straightforward and easy-to-understand.
- Clear over clever. Keep messages short and to the point. Use simple words and sentences. Understand the topic you’re writing about.
- Specific, precise and direct. Avoid writing about anything abstract or with a hidden meaning.
- Friendly. Write like a human. All of our content should be warm and human.
- Appropriate. Write in a way that suits the situation. Adapt your tone depending on who you’re writing to and what you’re writing about.
A few points to consider:
- Choose clear words. Look for complex words and jargon; replace them with easy-to-understand choices.
- Check adjectives. Are they all necessary? Would a more specific noun choice be better?
- Pick strong, clear verbs. Edited vs rewrote, revised, or polished a story.
- Avoid jokes, sarcasm and ambiguous statements.
- Use specific nouns. Is that a house you mention or is it a mansion, an apartment or a studio?
Writing about the Sunflower
We want to ensure our name is easily identifiable and understood by all.
Our company's legal entity name is 'Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Scheme Limited'. Our trade name is 'Hidden Disabilities Sunflower'. Use "Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Scheme Limited" only when writing legal documents or contracts. Otherwise, use "Hidden Disabilities Sunflower". In local markets where the term 'hidden disabilities' is challenging to pronounce or conveys a negative meaning, our company can be called 'HD Sunflower'*.
A few points to note:
- Always capitalise Sunflower, 'Hidden Disabilities Sunflower' or 'the Sunflower'.
- When communicating with customers, partners or stakeholders, always use the full name 'Hidden Disabilities Sunflower' or 'HD Sunflower' in the first instance, followed by 'Sunflower' for subsequent mentions.
- When writing product descriptions, refer to 'Sunflower'.
- Refer to Hidden Disabilities Sunflower as “we,” not “it.”
While our symbol contains a sunflower—we never personify it. That means we don’t write in its voice and never create content from its perspective.
Products and services:
As part of our global strategy, we translate 'Sunflower' into the local language for product information, services, and marketing strategies to adapt them to local cultures*.
How to talk about our products and services:
- Join the global Sunflower network to support individuals with non-visible disabilities
- Wear the Sunflower lanyard
- The Sunflower is here to support you as you plan your days out
- O Girassol está aqui para apoiá-lo enquanto planeja seus dias de folga
- Use o cordão Girassol
- Portez le cordon Tournesol pour les handicaps invisibles
- La formation Tournesol se compose de trois vidéos de huit minutes
- Le Tournesol des handicaps invisibles rend visible l'invisible
Our tagline
Our tagline is 'making the invisible visible'. It embodies how the Sunflower empowers individuals to voluntarily share that they have a non-visible condition and may need additional help, understanding, or simply more time.
We translate the tagline to adapt it to local cultures:
-
Gør det usynlige synligt
-
Maak het onzichtbare zichbaar
-
Tornando o invisível visível
-
Rendre visible l'invisible
Language and grammar
This section gives key tips to keep our writing clear and consistent, supporting our house style.
- Keep it relevant. Make sure all of your content is relevant to the topic at hand. Avoid including unnecessary information that may confuse or distract readers.
- Be concise. Use clear language and short sentences. Avoid using unnecessarily complicated words or phrases.
- Be specific. Avoid vague language
- Keep it consistent. Consistency is key in writing. Use the same tense, tone, and style throughout your content.
A few guidelines
- Remember always to consider your audience and the purpose of your writing when crafting your content. a
- Active voice. Use active voice, where the subject performs the action. Avoid passive voice, where the action is done to the subject. Using active voice makes your writing more engaging and more accessible to follow. It also helps to keep sentences concise and straight to the point.
- Break up your content: Reading large blocks of text can be overwhelming and boring for readers. Use headings, subheadings, bullet points, and images to break up your content and make it more visually appealing.
- Provide sources or references. If you are stating facts or statistics, it's important to provide sources or references for credibility. This also allows readers to explore the topic further if they want more information.
- Capitalisation. We use sentence case.
- In sentence cases, only the first word and any names or specific titles are capitalised, making the text easier to read and maintaining a consistent and professional appearance.
- When writing out an email address or website URL, use all lowercase.
- Exclamation points. Use exclamation points sparingly, and only one at a time. They’re effective when used occasionally, but too many can be overwhelming.
- Pronouns. If your subject’s gender is unknown or irrelevant, use “they,” “them,” and “their” as a singular pronoun. Use “he/him/his” and “she/her/her” pronouns. Don’t use “one” as a pronoun.
- Quotes. Use the present tense when quoting someone in a blog post or publication.
- Slang and jargon. Not everyone will be familiar with industry-specific jargon or slang terms. To reach a wider audience, it's best to stick to commonly understood language.
- Text formatting.
- Don’t use underline formatting; avoid combining italic, bold, caps, or underline.
- Always use left-align text; never centre- or right-align it.
- Leave one space between sentences, not two.
- Hashtags. Use camel case for hashtags. Capitalise the first letter of each word to make the hashtag easier to read - for example, #WearTheSunflower.