The Loomio Way (Brand Guidelines)

A document to help content creators, bloggers and digital marketing outreach people at Loomio.

Key Questions: What type of language does the Loomio brand use? How should I write when I’m writing for Loomio?

Writing as Loomio

Hype vs Grounded It’s simple, effective technology built by good humans for good humans. We hype the stories of users and champions who use the tool to do amazing things.

Kiwi. But not too kiwi. Embrace our kiwi roots and understated culture in the language tone overall, but avoid extreme ‘kiwi-isms’ that undermine clarity like ‘heaps, sweet, choice’ where possible.

Avoid the ‘young-shiny-tech-kids-save-the-world’ vibe. The tool is not everything, the tool is just the tool. It is effective software, not the holy grail. Avoid ‘digital native’ type language and skewing too far towards millennials.

Write for inclusivity of sectors

“Our origin story is primarily about helping wranglers of purposeful groups from all sectors - some from activism, some from business."

“Our founding came from a meeting of activists and businesspeople realising they had similar needs around collaborative decision making.”

Un-official Theory of change: High functioning small groups, being more effective & inclusive, can change organisational dynamics at a global scale. The process works because it’s grounded in powerful social technology - brought online and freed from having to be in the same place at the same time. Loomio breaks the trade-off between long slow participation and sharp, effective action.

Writing as Individuals about Loomio

Loomio is a tool about bringing diverse voices together, so it’s a great thing for individual communication written on behalf of Loomio to have an individual style (i.e. blog posts, public reports, interviews).

There are a few key qualities we might aim for to give our communication a level of consistency and coherence:

Friendly, Straightforward, Accessible, Honest, Authentic, Human, Professional + Casual (not over polished or corporate), Feelings, Brief and clear, Open, Ambitious, Practical, Productive, Connected, Participatory, Effective, Inclusive, Slow+Fast (tradeoff breaker)

Things to pay particular attention to:

• Frame your language as much as possible to be about benefits.
• Use non-gendered language: ‘person’ not ‘guys’.
• Not politically charged. Loomio does have a social philosophy but we let the experience of using the tool speak for itself. It works because it’s baked in inherently.
• Get the details right. Check accuracy. Check spelling. Check grammar. Use proper attributions and check sources.
• Credibility about technology, open source, facilitation, and other specialty areas - make sure you use jargon right. Ask another team member if referring to a topic outside your area of expertise. (examples: free software, platform, open space, liquid democracy).
• Non-violence. Avoid sarcasm, put downs, satire, insults. Look for positive, inclusive ways of making a point.