An Exhibit A-Z Style Guide

Accessibility Data
• Refer to standard set of icons and format.
• Refer to non-accessible portions of trail as “unimproved” trail in map and legend.

Apostrophes
• When typesetting in Illustrator, convert apostrophes (and quotation marks) if font does
not display smart quotes automatically. Select Smart Punctuation… from the Type Menu
(deselect ligature options).
• Omit apostrophes when citing decades in number format. i.e. 1840s, 1920s to 30s

Artifact Label
• Use a graphic key as well as proximity description if an artifact must be displayed
separately from its label.
See Key, Labels

Body text
• 24 point minimum
• Align left or right ragged
• Adjust text to remove orphans and widows.
• Adjust text to avoid awkward hyphenation.
See Right Ragged, Orphan and Widow

Bylines
• List bylines without hyphens, m-dashes or n-dashes.
• Offset by line spacing, alignment, type size and/or style.
• Omit period unless byline forms a complete sentence.
• Omit byline within a caption if possible.
Example:
“A stitch in time may save nine.”
Unknown
See Quotes

Capitalization
• Titles should be capitalized only when used with a name.
• Use lower case for nouns in a title or position.
Examples:
U.S. State surveyor, French delegates, Comanche chiefs
See Proper Names and Scientific Names

Captions
• 18 point minimum
• Align left or right ragged, preferable even if caption is to the left of an image.

Circa
• Abbreviate circa to ca.
Commas in a Series
• Omit optional comma before last item in a series.
Example:
She gathered pineapples, tangelos, breadfruit and mango from her garden.

Credits
• 10 point minimum
• When citing multiple credits, the abbreviation L to R can be substituted for “Left to
Right” if used consistently.
• Write out state names, government agencies and acronyms. i.e. Government Land
Office (GLO)

Ellipses
• Treat an ellipse like a word with appropriate spaces before and/or after.
• Punctuate partial quotations with a period if they form a complete sentence and occur
before a new sentence or end of a paragraph.
• For sentence fragments, use an ellipse at the end of a sentence followed by a period.
Examples:
“After the harvest … nothing tasted better than hot apple dumplings.”
“We found the turnoff. … Dust coated our eyelids, mouth and ears.”
“Essentially, similar in nature …. They hardly noticed the difference.”

Familiarity
• Use full name or name with title when referring to former presidents.

Initial Caps
• Point sizes range from 3-4+ times body text.
• Choose display font or other decorative font for contrast

Jr. and Sr.

• Omit comma when using Jr. and Sr. abbreviations with full name.
Examples:
Martin Luther King Jr., Sam Ealy Johnson Sr.

Justification
• Avoid justifying text unless critical to design or space usage.
• Instead, format text right ragged including labels, captions and quotes.

Key
• A miniature line drawing or silhouette which highlights an artifact’s placement within a
display.
See Artifact Label

Labels
• 18 point minimum
• Omit period if label does not form a complete sentence.
See Artifact Label, Keys

Leading
• A formula to determine leading for display type is to use 5/4 of text point size.
Example:
If using 24 point text, start with 30 point leading.

Maps and Legends

• Substitute “You Are Here” for park location name if space is limited.
• Use park symbols consistent with department graphic standards.
Orphan
• A line cut off from the rest of a paragraph by the end of a column or page break.

Quotes
• When typesetting in Illustrator, convert quotation marks (and apostrophes) if font does
not display smart quotes automatically. Select Smart Punctuation… from the Type Menu
(deselect ligature options).
• In display type, size up quotation marks for added emphasis.
Example:
“All’s well that ends well.”
Proverb
See Bylines

PC Notes (Oct. ’02)

• Use American Indian vs. Native American.
• Use “formerly enslaved” vs. former slave.

Proper Names
• Capitalize proper elements of name only. General descriptor should remain lower case.
Examples:
Black-tailed prairie dog, Bewick’s wren, Blackfoot daisy

Right Ragged
• A term for text aligned left with the right edge unjustified or “ragged”

Scientific Names
• Capitalize first word of scientific name and display in italics.
Examples:
Phrynosoma cornutum, Crotalus atrox, Trichechus manatus

Subtitles
• 48 to 40 point minimum

Titles
• 72 to 60 point minimum

Widow
• A short line or single word left at the end of a paragraph.