Auburn Academy/Style guide

This page provides guidance on style when creating content for or about Auburn Academy.

Branding

Colours

The official colours of Auburn Academy are orange and white. Specifically:

•      White
•      #FF6700

As it is phased out, the legacy orange may be seen in older publications. It should no longer be used.

•      #ED7E2E

Typefaces

The official typefaces of Auburn Academy as used in its publications and graphics are boldface Garamond for titles and headings, and Avenir for body text. Avenir is typically used at 10pt.

Mascot

Auburn Academy's mascot is a fox. Thus, in athletic contexts, the teams should be referred to as "The Auburn Academy Foxes" or "The Foxes".

Graphics

Auburn Academy's visual identity revolves around a set of brand graphics.

The primary brand element is the signature. It is used to represent the Academy in most official publications and contexts. When used alongside text or other visual elements, the signature must be placed with a buffer area at least the size of the height of the "A" in "Auburn" around it. It must also be placed in a location in which it is clearly readable (i.e., the background colours must contrast sufficiently). The signature may not be stretched or compressed or have its elements rearranged. It is available in a full-colour version and a white version for use on dark backgrounds.

The simplified shield is also used to represent the Academy as an emblem or icon. When used, it must contrast sufficiently with the background and placed with a buffer of at least the width of the white rectangles on all sides. The shield is available in several variants, including the full-colour version, a white version for dark backgrounds, and a transparent version without the white rectangles.

Used only in the most official of circumstances, including on diplomas, the crest is the ultimate identity element of the Academy. Its use must be authorised by the Office of the President.

Each of the three schools have variants of the signature available for use. Currently, only full-colour versions are available. They follow the same usage requirements as the Academy's general signature.

The Preparatory School houses have shields in their own colours. Their usage is governed by the same guidelines as the Academy's general shield. Only full-colour variants are currently available.

Other Academy entities may create their own signature using the Academy's general signature by adding the name of the entity in Avenir, with all letter capitalised. The entity's name should appear on one line and be in a size that is no larger than 90% the height of the text in the general signature. Similarly, shields may be customised through the addition of an icon to its centre as with the house icons, though the colour may not be altered.

• 

  The general Academy signature

• 

  The general Academy signature for dark backgrounds

• 

  The general Academy shield

• 

  The general Academy shield for dark backgrounds

• 

  The general Academy shield without the white rectangles

• 

  The Academy's crest

• 

  The Preparatory School's signature

• 

  The Intermediate School's signature

• 

  The Primary School's signature

• 

  North House's signature

• 

  North House's shield

Style

Content written for Auburn Academy should follow these style guidelines.

Formatting

As indicated above, headings and titles should be set in boldface Garamond (at least 12pt, but ideally 14pt or higher for headings and 24pt or higher for titles). Body text should be set in roman, 10pt Avenir. Body text should be justified for both margins unless a compelling aesthetic consideration calls for centre-justified text.

Bulleted or enumerated lists should be used tastefully where concision is desired. Long paragraphs are to be avoided in official publications. If large amounts of text are required, images supplied by the Office of Communications or complimentary graphics should be used to provide visual variation for the reader.

Writing style

• Auburn Academy publications should use British spellings.
• Terminal punctuation should fall outside of quotation marks where applicable.
• A serial (Oxford) comma should always be used in lists.
• Items for in-text lists should be prefaced by the enumeration in brackets.
  • The Academy consists of three schools: (1) The Preparatory School, (2) The Intermediate School, and (3) The Primary School
• A single space should follow full stops, commas, semi-colons, colons, etc.
• Latin abbreviations (such as e.g., i.e., c.f.) should be followed by a comma.
  • Every building has a three-letter abbreviation (e.g., "CMH" for Community Hall).
• En dashes should be used when expressing ranges.
  • The 2021–2021 academic year
• Em dashes must be used and cannot be substituted by two hyphen-minuses.
• Numbers from zero to ten should always be spelled out, unless a compelling aesthetic reason dictates otherwise.
• It is recommended that multiples of ten less than one hundred are also spelled out, but this is not required. Numbers from eleven to nineteen, as well as hundreds, thousands, etc. are also recommended to be spelled out.
• A full stop should be used to separate whole numbers from decimal places.
• A comma should be employed every three digits for whole numbers.
  • 12,345.6789
• Times should be expressed preferentially in 24-hour time, with a full stop as the time separator. 12-hour time is acceptable, but not preferred.
  • The event will commence at 14.30.
• Extended ranges of capital letters are to be avoided unless called for by aesthetic considerations. Acronyms and initialisms should be capitalised. Full stops are not required.

Referring to Auburn Academy

When referring to Auburn Academy as a whole, writers should take care to always use its full name ("Auburn Academy") in the first instance in each publication. In larger publications, a reiteration of the full name is advisable at the beginning of each section. In subsequent references in official publications, Auburn Academy may be referred to as "the Academy", with "academy" appearing as a proper noun referring to the full name. This capitalisation requirement does not apply in external publications. The Academy should never be called simply "Auburn", as this creates ambiguity between the Academy and the town of Auburn.

In an athletic context, the Academy and its teams may also be called "The Auburn Academy Foxes" or "The Foxes". This capitalisation is required in all instances.

When writing about the constituent schools of the Academy, the school name should be treated as a proper noun in all instances (e.g., "the Preparatory School", not "the preparatory school"). Buildings and structures should also be treated as proper nouns. Their internal three-letter abbreviation may be used once it is clear to which building it refers. The four Preparatory School houses are proper nouns as well. They may be referred to in brief by their capitalised house name alone (e.g., "North" for North House) if it is clear that it references a house and not a cardinal direction.

Departments, offices, and other academic units are also considered proper nouns in most instances. The full, official name should be in most formal contexts (i.e., "Department of Science" rather than "Science Department"). Certain instances refer to Academy units in a more general sense, in which case they should be treated as common nouns (e.g., The music departments at multiple institutions, including Auburn Academy, are involved in this initiative).

Titles are proper nouns, but are common nouns when used in a general context (i.e., "Missa_Solemnis is the President of the Academy" is used when referring to the specific position, but "Missa_Solemnis serves as the Academy's president" is used in more generally).