GSD Web Style Guide

Writing for the Web

The following guidelines are intended for GSD staff who publish or maintain informational, promotional, or instructional text online.

• In general, use 1/3 the word count that you would use in print (think mobile first!)
• Partition content into clearly labeled sections to support scanning
• Use bulleted lists wherever possible and break up lists containing more than 7-10 items
• Write clear, descriptive page titles and subheadings using the most relevant keywords (clarity over cleverness!)
• Include interdependent information on the same page rather than spread across multiple web pages
• Use active rather than passive voice
• Use available styles for subheadings rather than bold, italics, lines, or hash tags; unless introducing a list, do not follow a subheading with a colon
• Do not use ALL CAPS, underlining, multiple exclamation points!!!, emoticons :-), or color for emphasis
• When writing for a general audience, avoid technical jargon or GSD/Harvard slang
• Avoid business clichés or “marketese” (e.g., audience engagement, positioning, out-of-the-box thinking)
• Verify names, dates, titles, addresses, phone numbers, locations, statistics, and URLs for accuracy before you publish. Check contact information annually to make sure information is up to date

Links

• Use descriptive text for links (e.g., visit the Fabrication Lab); do not use “here” or “click here”
• Do not use URLs as links (e.g., “Read the GSD News” not ”Read the GSD News at: gsd.harvard.edu/news. When you must use a URL (e.g., in print or on YouTube) do not include “http://” or “www “(e.g., gsd.harvard.edu)
• When linking to non-web documents, include the file type after the link. E.g., Download the Spring 2012 catalog (PDF)
• External links (i.e., links outside the GSD domain) must open a new browser window (use the “link options” tool to apply this setting)
• Do not use email addresses as links (e.g., “Please contact Maggie Janik,” not “Please contact Maggie Janik at [email protected]“)
• Check links annually to make sure they are correct and active

Usage

Comma—Serial comma (architecture, planning, and design)

Courses—Projective Representation in Architecture; second-semester core; courses in landscape architecture

Dates—Give full dates (2000–2008, not ’00-‘08) except when referring to class year: Jane Smith (MArch ‘10). Use en-dash rather than hyphens between number spans. Use the 1960s (not the 1960’s, the sixties, the ‘60s). Use March 15 (not March 15th or the 15th of March). Do not add space before or after en dash.

Degrees, General—Do not use periods or capitalize subject areas (MA, PhD, BA in environmental studies)

Degrees, GSD—MArch I, II, MLA I, II, MAUD, MLAUD, MUP, DDes, MDes. Use parentheses when referring to a specific individual’s class: Jane Smith (MAUD ‘08)

Degree Programs—Use initial caps (e.g., Landscape Architecture, Advanced Studies Program)

Email—Use email, not e-mail; lowercase except at beginning of a sentence

Em dash—Use em dash rather than double hyphen. Do not add space before or after em dash.

GSD—Always capitalize. Use “the” when the subject of a phase (the GSD offers an exciting program)

Harvard—Harvard, Harvard University, the University, University-wide

Harvard University Graduate School of Design—also, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Harvard’s Graduate School of Design; not “The Design School.” Use full name in first mention, “GSD “or “the GSD” in subsequent mentions

Homepage—One word; lowercase except at beginning of a sentence

MDes Concentrations—Use initial caps (Sustainability; Art, Design, and the Public Domain)

Online—One word; lowercase except at beginning of a sentence

Numbers—Use digits and symbols when writing for an online audience, even at the beginning of a sentence, bullet point or sub-heading (23, not twenty-three; 30%, not thirty percent). Use a combination of digits and words for large numbers (12 million; $50 thousand).

Phone numbers—Do not use parentheses or periods: 617-495-5453

Podcast—one word; lowercase except at beginning of a sentence

Platforms/Concentrations—Use initial caps (e.g., Practice Platform)

RSVP—not “Please RSVP” or R.S.V.P

School—Capitalize when the subject of a phrase (the School’s commitment to diversity)

Login—not “log in” or “sign in”; lowercase except at the beginning of a sentence

Sign up—no hyphen

Time—Lowercase with periods to indicate time of day (e.g., 7:00 p.m.or 7 p.m., not 7:30pm or 7PM). For time spans, use en dash“2–5 p.m.” rather than hyphen “2-5 p.m.” or text “2 to 5 p.m.”

Titles, Books—When referring to books, exhibitions, or long essays, italicize title (e.g., The New Planning Agenda, Paradise Lost)

Titles, Articles—Chapter titles, short essays, and newspaper or magazine articles are enclosed in quotation marks

Titles, Periodicals—Italicize newspaper and magazine titles (e.g., the New York Times, Dwell magazine); “the” and “magazine” are not italicized

Titles, Professional—Lowercase except at beginning of a sentence or when announcing an appointment (e.g., professor of architecture, lecturer, program coordinator, senior associate, chair, but “appointment of . . . as Assistant Professor of Architecture”)

Web—lowercase except at beginning of a sentence

Website—one word; lowercase except at beginning of a sentence

For questions regarding GSD Web Style or updates to current usage, please contact our Web Content team.

Ken Stewart

Staff Directory

Faculty Directory

Event Planning for Faculty and Staff

The GSD is a lively place, hosting several hundred events and programs every year.

A variety of resources are available to support faculty and staff who wish to organize events. Below is a step-by-step guide to the process. To make sure your needs can be met, please request your reservation as soon as possible. It is strongly recommended that requests are submitted at least one month prior to your desired event date, but all events that require physical space must be submitted two weeks before the desired event date or they cannot be approved. This two-week cutoff is stipulated by the School’s contractual agreement with our custodial workers.

Before submitting a request, please double-check the GSD Public Lecture Series schedule and significant dates on the Academic Calendar. Proposed events cannot conflict with these programs.

To Plan An Event—Five Steps

1. Make sure that you have access to a SERT account
   SERT is the online room scheduling system at the GSD. If you have questions about your status, contact Building Services at [email protected]
2. Submit a request via SERT
   Request Events using the “GSDNow Event Proposal Form.” Your request must include your desired dates (1st and 2nd choices), chosen physical room and/or virtual platform (Zoom, Remo, etc.), format (lecture, panel, symposium, etc.), media services needs, and who the event participants will be (names and brief descriptions).  Please note that some requests may have associated media and custodial charges. To ensure the timely review of your event, you must fully complete the questions posed by the SERT request system. A 6:30 PM start time or later is required for all evening programs. Organizing an online-only event? Select “GSD Virtual Event Space” as your location.
3. Wait for a confirmation email
   The Events Committee, which includes representatives from Communications, Facilities & Campus Operations, and the Office of Student Life, meets once per week, on Thursdays, to review public event proposals from staff, faculty, and students. This is why it is strongly recommended to request space as early as possible—ideally a month in advance. Do not proceed with plans (finalizing your date, booking plane tickets, advertising your event) until you’ve received confirmation via SERT. Conflicts with the GSD Public Lecture Series or significant dates on the Academic Calendar are not allowed. On occasion, even if space appears available, there may be other reasons an event might not be allowed to take place or might need to find a new date or time, and an explanation will be provided to you.  In the event that the Committee is not able to confirm a request, the Committee will work with the requester to find an alternative solution.
4. Receive confirmation or an offer to select an alternate date/time
   An email giving approval or recommending modifications will be sent within 2 weeks of the receipt of your request.
5. Finalize your event OR revise your request and resubmit
   Only after receiving a confirmation should you finalize preparations for the event. To avoid confusion, please do not give your guests final dates and times until you have received the confirmation email. Once you have received confirmation of the date and time, please go back into your SERT reservation to complete any remaining information (which is especially necessary, if you want your event to appear on GSD Now).

Event organizers should secure the staffing required to make their event a success. The Public Programs team provides event planning guidance but its staff are not available to staff your events. 

Need tech support for your event? Email Matt Smith at least 2 weeks in advance with your needs and proposed dates and times. In-house tech support is $100 p/hour including setup and breakdown time. Referrals to external providers are also available.

Questions about GSD Now should be directed to [email protected].

Questions about reserving space should be directed to [email protected].

Event Planning for Students

Student-led events at the GSD must be affiliated with and sponsored by a currently active registered and recognized GSD Student Organization.

Event planners should be aware that not all proposed events can be approved. The GSD Events Committee reviews proposed events, considering policies, scheduling conflicts, and availability of rooms and other resources, in determining whether a proposed event can be approved. Additionally, student organization events must submit budget requests for any funding needed, before they can consider their proposed event confirmed.

Both event proposals and budget requests for student organizations take place through Engage , our student activities platform. As part of the approval process, Student Life,  Communications, or Facilities staff may ask for more information. You may also need to consider shifting your proposed event to another date, time, location, etc. Making your request in Engage well in advance of your proposed event is highly recommended. Events proposed with less than two weeks notice are much less likely to be able to be approved.

The more complex your proposed event, the more lead time you should expect to need to successfully produce your event. This is especially true for events with high-profile proposed speakers, speakers who will need travel support, events needing extensive custodial, security, or media services support, and events hoping to take place in high-demand rooms or at high-demand times. Student organizations should be aware that there is limited capacity to produce major events, such as weekend conferences and symposia, or high-profile lectures.

Once an event has been fully approved and all information necessary for publicity is finalized, approved events are shown in the Engage events list and are also publicized on GSD Now , which aggregates all happenings at the GSD.

Steps for proposing an event

1. Talk to your organization’s Events Liaison and Treasurer. Check the Engage roster if you are unsure who holds these roles.
2. Determine a proposed date and time for your event, avoiding conflicts with other events (see more below). It’s good to have at least one backup date and time in mind.
3. Have your Events Liaison make your event request in Engage.
4. Determine likely costs associated with your event, including any extra costs for custodial, security, or media services support, as well as any desired speaker honoraria or travel support, and anything else that would require funding approval.
5. Have your Treasurer make your budget request in Engage.
6. Respond to any questions or requests for changes from Student Life or other staff. These conversations take place on Engage, on the event request and budget request made for your event.
7. WAIT to confirm any aspects of the event with proposed speakers, and to publicize the event, until you have received official confirmation that the event has been approved. This includes waiting for confirmation on date, time, and location, as well as confirmation of approval of your speakers, your proposed event format, and any budget needed to produce your event.
8. Once your event is approved, you will have a chance to update the event description or other details before your event is officially posted to Engage and GSD Now.

Important things to know

• GSD policy is that whenever possible no two events should take place at the same time.
  • This helps lessen community fatigue as well as reduce conflicts between events.
  • Student organizations considering potential dates and times for events should check GSD Now and the GSD Public Events page for conflicts, though the appearance of availability on those sites does not automatically guarantee that the date and time are available.
• Conflicts with the GSD Public Lecture Series or significant dates on the Academic Calendar are not allowed.
  • Events will not be approved if they conflict with a GSD public program.
• Student organization internal meetings should go through the events approval process in Engage just like any other event.
  • Engage has options for scheduling a regularly recurring meeting.
  • Internal meetings are allowed to conflict with each other and with other events.
  • Avoid internal meetings conflicting with GSD Public Events whenever possible.
• Any event that will be publicized, whether to the internal GSD community or to audiences outside the GSD, requires compliance with the above planning steps, even if it is entirely virtual.
• If the Events Committee believes that hosting a proposed speaker or holding a particular event would not be in alignment with the GSD’s community values, the committee reserves the right to deny or cancel the event.

In-person events

• In-person events must keep attendee numbers within the official capacity of a space and comply with the GSD room usage policy.
• Groups considering serving alcohol should review the GSD’s Student Events Alcohol Policy, and note that a key requirement of that policy is advance approval from Student Life staff.
• Event approval may be contingent on there being sufficient advance notice for administrators to hire extra security, custodial, or media services staff specifically for the event, depending on size and nature of the proposed event.
• Requests for extra custodial support must be made two weeks in advance of the event. This is a matter of university policy and compliance with the union contract guaranteeing custodial staff advance notice of their work hours. Groups should check the full GSD Custodial Policy for Events for more information, including additional costs associated with hiring extra custodial support.
• Keep in mind that hiring of additional security staff, or rental of media equipment or hiring of media services technicians, requires advance notice, and can involve significant additional costs.

Violation of any posted GSD or Harvard policies around public health and safety, or alcohol use, can lead to disciplinary action.

• Violations by student organizations can lead to disciplinary action potentially impacting both organizational leadership and members as individuals, and the organization itself.
• Student organizations violating safety policies may lose all access to funding through Harvard, including Student Forum allocations, for the remainder of the academic year.
• This loss of funding can include denial of reimbursement requests for any expenses for the violating event.

Timing tips

There is no one time that will be great for all possible attendees. We can however offer some guidelines:

• Many classes take place in the 8 am to 6 pm time block, and some may take place up through 7 pm.
• Times during the class day are discouraged for holding events, even virtual ones, though some lunchtime events may be approved.
• 6:30 PM start times or later are required for evening programs.

If you have questions, please contact the Event Liaison of your group or [email protected].

Faculty and staff, including TAs and researchers, please see the event planning instructions for faculty and staff.

Office of Communications

Event Audiovisual Support

Christine O’Brien

Maggie Janik