From our website to our season brochures, language is a big part of how people experience the Barbican.
We call this our brand voice. It’s the way we sound, across everything we say and write.
Our voice says a lot about who we are. If we sound stuffy or intimidating, people will see us that way.
But if our voice sounds open and inviting, we’ll:
Where does our voice come from? From our conviction, and our values.
Most people outside of the Barbican will never see these words. But they should feel them — in everything we say and write.
Our conviction is:
We believe in creating spaces and ideas for people to connect
We are:
Brave. Open. Connected. Sustainable.
We’re a big team, doing lots of different things for lots of different people.
But whether it’s writing to an art lover, school teacher or corporate partner, our language needs to:
We call these our voice principles.
Over the next few pages, you’ll learn more about what they mean — with quick tips and examples to bring them into your writing.
The Barbican is open to everyone. So our language needs to be open to everyone too.
If some people can’t understand what we’re saying, they won’t want to spend time with us.
Everyday words mean we can reach more people. That’s important because:
Using everyday words makes our writing more accessible to people who might not think the Barbican is for them.
Remember: nobody likes reading long-winded, complex writing. Not even sophisticated or ‘expert’ readers.
Using the third person (‘the Barbican’, ‘visitors’) makes us sound distant. ‘We’, ‘you’ and ‘our’ make us sound warmer and more open.
The Barbican works with corporate partners => We’ll work with you.
The Barbican library is open from 9am => Our library is open from 9am.
We use contractions all the time when we’re speaking — like ‘it’s’ and ‘you’ll’. Using them in our writing helps it flow naturally.
We will help you take your seat => We’ll help you take your seat.
Talking about art and culture means we sometimes need to use complex language like ‘twelve-tone composition’ or ‘abstract expressionism’.
That’s not a problem — so long as we ask if our reader might need more information (like someone new to classical music).
But we need to watch out for ‘artspeak’ words like ‘interrogate’ or ‘notions’. They make us sound stuffy and academic, which puts some people off visiting.
Try to translate ‘artspeak’ into simpler, more everyday language:
This exhibition interrogates contemporary notions of masculinity => What exactly does ‘masculinity’ mean today?
If you spend all day inside the Barbican, it’s easy to forget that real people are going to read your writing.
So once you’ve finished writing, take a mental trip to Old Street. Show someone your first draft, and ask yourself:
If the answer is ‘yes’ (or even ‘kind of’), you’re probably on the right track.
If the answer is a ‘no’, it’s time to revisit.
You might be writing an exhibition brochure going out to thousands of people. But for the moment, imagine you’re writing to just one person:
Write with that person in mind, then read your draft back from their point of view.
Our readers are busy, and we need to work hard to grab their attention.
Why should they care?
What does it mean to them?
We invest in the artists of tomorrow creating a platform for independent directors and working with a variety of international film festivals and arts partners.
=> Discover tomorrow’s hottest filmmakers. It’s part of our plan to support independent directors — with help from international film festivals and arts partners.
What’s the one thing you really want your reader to know? Make it unmissable by putting it at the start of your writing.
(This is different to the way we’re taught to write in school, where you start building an argument towards a conclusion.)
As one of London’s premier arts and learning centres, the Barbican is the perfect venue for your event.
=> We’re the perfect place for your next event.
Use short sentences and short paragraphs.
Try reading your sentence out loud. If you need to take more than one breath, it’s probably too long:
The Barbican has an ambitious cross-arts programme and we are incredibly grateful to those partners helping the Barbican expand its reach and impact around the world.
=> We’ve got an ambitious cross-arts programme. And we’re grateful to the partners around the world helping us to reach even more people.
Watch out for words like ‘may’, ‘could’ and ‘you can’ — they make us sound hesitant and uncertain.
If you have a question about your booking or require performance information, you can contact our Box Office team.
=> Got a question about your booking? Want to know more about the performance? Get help from our Box Office team.
Our voice isn’t just for advertising headlines or posters.
Even the smallest piece of writing is an opportunity to show people what kind of organisation we are.
Take a look at this heading:
Barbican Venue Hire
It’s accurate. It’s easy-to-read. But it’s not likely to inspire anyone into choosing one of our spaces.
So whether it’s a heading in a brochure or a website cookie message, we need to make sure our writing works as hard as possible.
Start your sentences with imperatives: short, active verbs like ‘find’, ‘explore’, ‘discover’, ‘join’.
They make your sentences sound energetic. And they force us to talk about our readers, not about ourselves.
Business Membership provides a variety of exciting opportunities to entertain your clients.
=> Entertain your clients with Business Membership at the Barbican.
Questions draw the reader in, and make them take notice of what we’re saying.
Questions are also a useful way of breaking down detail or instructions:
We take a look at how musicians have dealt with the subject of masculinity.
=> How have musicians dealt with masculinity?
Long-winded sentences make our writing sound slow and stuffy. Combine short and medium sentences to add pace and energy.
A world-class arts and learning centre, the Barbican pushes the boundaries of all major art forms including dance, film, music, theatre and visual arts.
=> Dance. Film. Music. Theatre. Visual arts. Whatever you’re into, you’ll find it here.
When you’re writing every day, it can be easy to rely on the same tricks and techniques.
If you feel like you’re stuck in a writing rut, try mixing it up:
The best way to understand how our voice works in action is to see examples.
The following pages feature instances where our writing doesn’t share our voice principles. Take a look at them and find out why they don’t work.
Click Next to discover how they can be rewritten in our brand voice, including explanations of what’s changed.
A world-class arts and learning centre, the Barbican pushes the boundaries of all major art forms including dance, film, music, theatre and visual arts.
Event calendar >
Dance. Film. Music. Theatre. Visual arts. Whatever you’re into, you’ll find it here.
Explore >
Source: Barbican website
Life Rewired will interrogate how artists are responding to a time when technology is simultaneously enhancing our lives and challenging our identity by creating machines with human characteristics. It will explore how scientific breakthroughs can affect us at every stage of our life; from expert and first-person perspectives on IVF to the personal and societal impact of lengthening life expectancy.
Get to grips with the tech revolution at Life Rewired. From IVF to AI, discover how technology is making our lives better — and more uncertain – than ever before.
Source: Life Rewired description
In 2020, our Beyond Barbican team is looking to consolidate its production resources into a new role which will work across some of its key festivals and events to support the continued development of this work. We’re looking for someone who is passionate about working collaboratively with a wide range of partners across all disciplines to create unique experiences for programme partners, delivery teams and audiences alike.
We’re looking for a collaborative, passionate Festivals Production Manager to make our Beyond Barbican events even better.
Beyond Barbican celebrates creativity outside of the Barbican with free events like Walthamstow Garden Party.
You’ll oversee production for our festivals and events. And work with programme partners, delivery teams and audiences to take Beyond Barbican to the next level.
Source: LinkedIn job ad
If you arrive late for the start of a performance or after an interval we appreciate that you will want to take your seat as soon as possible. We will do everything possible to assist. To limit disturbance to fellow audience members and artists we may have to ask you to wait until a suitable break in the performance.
We’ll help you take your seat as quickly as possible, but you might need to wait until there’s a break in the performance. That way, we won’t disturb the performers or other audience members.
Source: Box office and ticketing FAQ
Hi [GROUP LEADER],
We are delighted to invite [COMMUNITY GROUP] to Barbican’s latest offer: A Community View of Into the Night on Monday 18 November from 6pm. This landmark exhibition explores the history of cabarets, cafés and clubs in modern art across the world. Discover works of art, many rarely seen in the UK, as well as life-size recreations of avant-garde spaces. Please let us know if you would like to attend and register by emailing community@barbican.org.uk.
Thanks and best, [NAME]
Hi [GROUP LEADER]
We’d love to invite [COMMUNITY GROUP] to our newest exhibition, Into the Night.
What’s Into the Night?
Discover the history of the world’s most iconic cabarets and nightclubs — from Mexico City to Berlin. Explore life-size recreations, and get close to artwork that’s rarely seen in the UK.
When is it?
6pm, Monday 18 November Interested? Email community@barbican.org.uk …
Source: Community View invitation email
The Concrete Utopia collection is a unique collaboration between Apparel & Lovers and the Barbican. Flashes of primary colour, graphic lines and brutalist high-rises feature across the collection – all brought together in a minimalistic style. Every purchase supports the Barbican.
Flashes of colour. Bold graphic lines. Unmistakable minimalism. We’ve teamed up with Helsinki designers Apparel & Lovers to create the Concrete Utopia collection — inspired by the Barbican’s iconic architecture. Shop the collection. Support our work
Source: Shop poster
In the heart of the City of London, with excellent national and international transport links, the Barbican is Europe’s largest combined arts and events centre.
The AIM Gold accredited Barbican has 21 flexible and creative spaces that can be hired for a wide range of events, from conferences, AGMs and product launches to meetings, receptions, and weddings.
Together with state-of-the-art technology and a dedicated team of event managers with years of staging world-class …
Launch a product. Host a conference. Tie the knot. Whatever you’re doing, do it at the Barbican.
Space for everyone
21 flexible, creative spaces across our iconic building — rated AIM Gold by the Meetings Industry Association
Well-connected
Hassle-free, super-fast national and international transport links
Helping hands
State-of-the-art technology and an experienced, hands-on team to bring …
Source: Venue hire information
Many thanks for your feedback concerning your booking experience.
In common with many other arts organisations, we do charge a booking fee. The decision to charge the current fee was not taken lightly and was made in a climate where we are under considerable financial pressure. Together with a variety of other income streams our booking fee helps us to continue to offer a diverse artistic programme and maintain our iconic building.
We do offer a reduced booking fee for online bookings, and as an alternative …
Thanks for your email.
Charging a booking fee helps support our range of different artforms, as well as our iconic building.
In a perfect world, we wouldn’t need booking fees. But right now, funding an organisation as big as the Barbican has never been harder.
We know paying a booking fee on top of the price of a ticket is frustrating. That’s why we offer a reduced fee online, and no charge at all if you pay in person or by post.
Source: Customer complaints response
The Barbican has an ambitious cross-arts programme and we are incredibly grateful to those partners helping the Barbican expand its reach and impact around the world. The Barbican continues to work with an expanding network of embassies and cultural institutes, who last year provided vital support for productions and performances from artist companies in Australia, Belgium, Germany, Ireland and Japan, among others.
We’re excited to bring our cross-arts programme to people around the world.
To make it happen, we rely on the help of our growing network of embassies and cultural institutes. Last year, they helped us put on productions in Australia, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, and Japan.
Source: Annual report excerpt
Over the last six decades, artists have consistently sought to destabilise the narrow definitions of gender that determine our social structures in order to encourage new ways of thinking about identity, gender and sexuality. ‘Disrupting the Archetype’ explores the representation of conventional and at times clichéd masculine subjects such as soldiers, cowboys, athletes, bullfighters, bodybuilders and wrestlers. By reconfiguring the representation of traditional masculinity – loosely defined as an idealised, dominant heterosexual …
Since the 1960s, artists have tried to destabilise society’s narrow definitions of masculinity. Why? To encourage new ways of thinking about identity, gender, and sexuality.
In this room, we explore conventional (and sometimes cliched) masculine subjects like soldiers, cowboys, and bullfighters.
By representing traditional masculinity in different ways, our artists challenge the stereotype of idealised and dominant heterosexual masculinity.
Source: Exhibition wall text
Art-lovers. Art-novices. Colleagues. Kids. Library-users. Wi-Fi-users. Artists. Sponsors. People who have never heard of the Barbican. People who know everything about it.
We talk to lots of different people, in lots of different ways and places.
1. Remember that lots of readers want the same things — like clear, easy-to-read information
2. Think about your reader
3. Read your first draft back from their point of view
As well as sounding more friendly, plain English makes it easier for people to understand your content if they:
This affects more people than you’d think. For example, 10% of the UK population is dyslexic.
Keep words and sentences short. Use contractions, such as “can’t” instead of “cannot”.
This can be particularly hard for people on the Autistic spectrum to understand (estimated to be 700,000 adults and children in the UK).
For example, an Autistic person can take idioms literally so avoid saying things like “over the moon” or “barrel of laughs”.
Headings make content easier to scan. They help people find content they’re looking for and understand where they are on a page.
They’re also useful for people with visual impairments, who may be using a screen reader.
Good use of headings improves our SEO. This means that search engines like Google rank our content as better and therefore display us higher up their results pages.
Rather than using “Click here”, tell users where a link will take them and make it active. Here are some examples for the call to action, you might use on a primary link like a button:
Examples of links you might use within body copy are:
Tip: Changing the wording on links is an easy A/B test that can have a huge impact. Contact Becky Colley if you’d like to chat about setting up an experiment.
It’s good practice for someone else to read content before it’s published, to look for mistakes but also to check comprehension as someone who isn’t familiar with the subject.
Hemingway App is a quick, free tool you can use to help simplify your writing: http://www.hemingwayapp.com/
Alt text describes an image so that users with screen readers know what they are.
Like headings, they also improve our SEO.
Not sure whether your image needs alt text? Use this flowchart from the University of Minnesota.