Textline views design as one of its most powerful tools. High-quality designs and visuals are core to what we do. Our visual elements help us deliver a clear message, create an easy-to-use product, and reinforce our credibility as the market's most secure business texting service.
The Textline logo represents our company, culture, and brand promise. Once you notice our logo has a chat bubble carved into a bold T, you can’t unsee it. Our logo represents our name and the promise of making business conversations easier.
We are proud of our best-in-town logo. Use the guidelines below to ensure it looks refined and is used appropriately.
There are two versions of the Textline logo: primary and secondary.
In most cases, use our primary logo.
Our secondary logo includes our title tag. Use this in situations where it’s beneficial to define what we do. This version should be used when there’s limited brand awareness or the industry context may not be clear.
When space is limited, the mark may stand alone to represent our brand.
The mark has equal width and height, and is comfortably situated within a square frame.
The mark should measure 50 percent of the circle’s diameter.
Ensure there’s adequate clear space surrounding the logo. Use the mark as a measurement reference.
When creating a composition, refer to these general guidelines on how to position our logo. Align the logo within a corner or along the vertical center axis.
Correct use of our logo strengthens brand awareness and ensures legal protection of our identity. Examples of logo misuse are outlined below.
Color is an extension of the Textline brand. The primary colors in the palette exude trust, reliability, and simplicity – all characteristics of our product. The secondary colors add a pop of personality that allow us to be warm, approachable, and creative 🎨
Our primary colors are blue, gray, and white.
Our secondary colors are green, red, aqua, and gold.
Typography makes written words legible, visually appealing, and on-brand. This design element builds personality, creates a visual hierarchy, provides website balance, and ensures readability.
The Textline font family comprises three core typefaces.
Our primary typeface is Neuzeit Grotesk. It’s a geometric sans serif that’s simple, practical, and captures attention.
Our secondary typeface is Freight Sans Pro. It’s clean, poised, and invitingly legible.
Freight Text Pro is another secondary typeface. It’s fresh and professional, but also projects familiarity.
White text on a blue background is used in small doses.
Black text on a white background is our primary and classic color combination.
White text on a black background is used sparingly.
When you mix blue and black ensure it’s balanced and tasteful.
Typographic hierarchy helps guide the reader through a page of text. It ensures the layout is reader-friendly as it’s scannable and visually categorized. It will show the reader which information is the most important and which is supporting text using visual cues.
Textline is a highly visual brand. Illustration and photography are the building blocks of our visual identity and help support our content. This section explains how Textline uses imagery to capture our relatable and signature style.
These design elements are carried across both illustration and photography.
Our illustrations work to compliment the message our content delivers. This section explains how illustration styles and demensions should be applied.ography.
Textline illustrations express our brand through a range of styles and textures.
Our illustrations have the freedom to live in multiple demensions.
The photography we use always supports our content. This section breaks down our photography principles and stylization.
We value consistency in the photos we select to represent our brand.
We make images new by splashing with blue.
Graphic components help readers and customers visually understand the Textline product and website content. We use product visuals to showcase the product, benefits, and functionality. Icons serve as visual aids and space-savers. This section shares the guidelines for using graphic components like product visuals, icons, and more.
Product visuals introduce customers and website visitors to our product’s functionality. It’s essential to display examples to familiarize people with Textline’s features and how the platform works.
Accurate UI are untouched screenshots that display the product exactly the way it appears to customers. We place these screenshots in device mockups to bring product examples to life. This way, customers can see how our product looks when it’s used on a computer, phone, or tablet.
Conceptual UI is a simplified version of our product. We use thoughtful subtraction to communicate a visual message that’s easily digested. We intentionally craft these images to show our product to prospective customers in a way that is true-to-product without any clutter.
Textline icons are visual aids that guide users to where they need to go, help save space, and break up important text. They’re simple, informative, and build on the visual language of the design system.
Textline uses multiple icon styles. They’re used in different places and scenarios.
When it comes to content creation, Textline’s mission is to inform and entertain. We use our content to add value, build relationships with our audience, answer common questions, and describe our product. Our content reinforces our credibility as the most secure and easy-to-use business texting platform on the market.
The key to sounding like Textline is understanding our voice and tone. This section describes the difference between the two and shares rules to ensure you embody Textline when communicating.
While voice and tone are easy to confuse, they are different. Voice communicates a brand’s personality and values. It’s a constant reflection of the brand.
Unlike voice, which remains constant, tone may vary depending on the audience, context, and information communicated. For example, although your personality stays the same, you would likely use a different tone when communicating with your boss vs. your best friend.
These differences hold true at Textline. Our voice is constant, while our tone changes.
Textline, the most secure business texting platform on the market, was built to make communication between customers and businesses simple. The content we create and the way we communicate support this mission.
Our voice is the Textline personality expressed through written and spoken words. Textline’s voice has depth and balances a few key characteristics. Read on to grasp it in full.
Whenever we create content or communicate, we consider our audience and context. We don’t change who we are, we just adjust our tone depending on who we are talking to. Below we share how we slightly tweak our tone depending on the scenario.
Here are 10 tips to help you write and sound like Textline.
In this section, we describe our rules surrounding grammar and mechanics. We use these rules to make our content readable, consistent, and professional in appearance.
If you believe the reader won’t recognize the shorthand acronym or abbreviation, spell it out on the first reference. Use the short version on subsequent references.
See the following examples:
There are some exceptions to this. If your reader would know the abbreviation, such as ASAP or VIP, you can abbreviate on the first reference.
Do not use the ampersand as a shorthand for “and” unless it’s in an official company name.
Bold sparingly; use it only to call attention to a particular stat, word, or sentence.
We love bulleted lists. When using them:
Capitalize all Textline-specific features. This includes Announcements, Automations, Shortcuts, Routes, Whispers, API, and more.
Honor companies’ names for themselves and their products. For example, use lowercase and uppercase capitalization for iPhone and iPad.
See more capitalization rules under job titles and headlines.
When referring to collective nouns, use singular verbs and pronouns like “it” or “its.” Some common words that are collective nouns are:
Capitalize the first letter after a colon when it begins a complete sentence or is included in a headline.
Use the oxford or serial comma.
Use contractions! They’re more concise and help convey an approachable tone.
Guidelines for writing out the date differ between marketing and within the Textline product.
When listing a month and year, spell out the full month.
When listing a month and date, spell out the full month.
When listing a full date, spell out the full month, date, and year.
When listing a day of the week, month, and date, spell it out in full.
If there is a character restraint like in SMS examples, you can abbreviate longer months.
In the Textline product, we use numerals for the date.
We love emojis at Textline! After all, we are a texting company 😉 While emojis are a great way to illustrate the tone and show personality, there are a few guidelines to keep in mind.
Omit punctuation if the emoji is at the end of the sentence.
Keep to one emoji per sentence.
Don’t use emojis in place of words.
Know the meaning of an emoji before you use it.
Stick to the default skin tone as it has the same appearance in light and dark modes.
Understand that sometimes no emoji is better.
Em-dashes are used to set off examples, descriptive phrases, or supplemental information. They can be used in lieu of commas, parentheses, or colons.
We follow AP style; always insert a space before and after the em-dash.
Don’t use en-dashes.
Write all headlines and subheads in sentence case. Don’t use punctuation at the end of a headline or subheading.
Use a hyphen without spaces for compound modifiers or when two connected words precede a noun. Don’t use a hyphen when the modifier follows the noun.
Capitalize job titles when they come before or after a person’s name. Unlike AP Style, this includes when the job title is offset by commas.
When referring to a job title without a person’s name, don’t capitalize the job title.
Always use numerals.
Spell out numbers less than 10. Use numerals for numbers greater than 10. There are two caveats.
One is when a number begins a sentence. In those instances, you’d spell out the number no matter what.
The other is before percent. You’ll always use the numeral, except if the percentage begins a sentence.
Use the % symbol.
Spell out “percent” and use numerals except if it begins a sentence. You may use the symbol in graphics if space is an issue.
For simplicity, we differ from AP style. If a singular or plural noun ends in “s,” add an apostrophe.
Don’t use the en-dash or hyphen to offset ranges. Instead, spell out “to.”
Typically, check the Merriam-Webster dictionary for the preferred spelling of specific terms.
We also always honor companies’ names for themselves and their products. Use the spelling that is on their website.
Below we share a few words we use often and want consistently spelled across our website.
Use the 12-hour clock.
Only include a time zone if necessary and ensure the time zone is capitalized.
Don’t include a space after the last number.
Use am or pm (no periods and lowercase)
Abbreviate verses to vs. and always use a period.