Texts for in-app stories

A memo for designers and copywriters: the principles of storytelling and the rules of text design for in-app stories.

To ensure that the stories for the app are created to be clear, coherent and easy to read, we have drawn up a few rules. They help to maintain layout uniformity and overall quality of the texts.

The principles of storytelling

A catchy cover.Grab the user's attention with a descriptive and fascinating cover. For engaging or game mechanics we use questions and create intrigue, and for product announcements or informational stories we go for a straightforward, clear message.

When choosing a heading, please remember that one line can only contain up to 10 characters. Total limit is up to 30 characters, including spaces.

The introduction is on the first slide.The user has two chances to see the stories: through the cover or after viewing the previous stories. To maintain storytelling, we put down a small introduction on the first slide, where we highlight the main idea.

One slide - one idea.We stick to the storytelling principle, but we do not spread one single idea over multiple slides. After each slide, the user should keep in memory one key item, so we introduce it on the heading, and then reveal it in more detail in the following paragraphs.

Clear text.Write accurately, clearly and meaningfully: watch out for punctuation, avoid clericalisms, use lively language and simple wording. If you have too much information to share, spread it into several slides.

Coherent narrative.Ensure the unity of the text: follow the logic and develop the main idea consistently. Selections are collected within a common theme, so we mark it at the beginning and/or end of a series of stories.

Text formatting rules

Here we have collected the situations that most often cause confusion. We have selected a rule from the Dodo Pizza Editorial Policy for each one.

Headings should fit in two lines.
We write the names of products without quotation marks.
If we want to highlight the name or if we see that quotation marks are necessary, we can write the text in bold.
If quotation marks are needed, go for herringbone quotes.
Write in lowercase letters words that refer to a group of products; the name of the product always goes with capital letters. Examples: Pizza Meat, Ice cappuccino, Cheese Starter.
We write in words numerals from zero to nine; those starting from 10 - with digits. But we have a special case, the “Number of the Month” section. We write all the numerals here with digits.
We don't leave dangling lines. Prepositions and conjunctions at the end of a line are carried over to the next line. Long dashes are not carried over.
Do not put a period sign at the end of sentences or slide headings. Question marks and exclamation marks are allowed.
We write in a respectful, friendly and sincere manner. We mind the boundaries between humane communication and familiarity.
We use the middle dash (-) without spaces to indicate numerical ranges (2010-2020).
The long dash (—) with spaces is used to indicate routes (Moscow — Omsk), direct speech ( — This is a wonderful pizza, — said Mr. N), between parts of the sentence (twice two is four).