National Blood Authority
Website style guide

2
Contents
Content principles
3
Homepage guidance
12
Graphics
15
List of preferred terms and spel ings
21

Content principles
Standard criteria for effective web content

Content Design Principles
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Content principles
Adhering to these 7 principles helps create an engaging,
Good content design is an essential element of helping
useable and useful digital information service.
users achieve their goals on your website.
Enabling: Help people to complete their tasks the first time
Findable: Use keywords in headings, link text and URLs,
and write meaningful metadata for search engines
Fit for purpose: Provide only relevant information in a
format that addresses people’s needs
Accessible: Write in plain language that’s easy to read,
and structure text for keyboards and screen readers
Consistent: Be consistent across the website, both in the
information provided and its presentation
Usable: Present information is ways that core user groups
find easy to use
Easy to find and navigate: Create clear, familiar pathways
into and through the information
Desirable: Use content design features that engage users
and help solve their problems effortlessly
Straightforward: Distil complexity
Credible: Provide clear credibility cues and high-quality
Helpful: Give people access to support where they need it
content that people trust for its accuracy and relevancy
Well-aligned: Support an explicitly identified corporate
Useful: Identify users’ needs and address them, solving
strategic priority
their problems in a way they want them to be solved

Content Design Principles
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Clear language and writing
Australian Government Style Manual
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
The Digital Service Standard
The Style Manual is for everyone who
We have a legal requirement to ensure digital
The Digital Service Standard is mandatory
writes, edits or approves Australian
services (including the website) is usable and
for digital websites, mobile apps and other
Government content. Use it to create
accessible to people with disabilities (see the
digital platforms and services.
clear and consistent content that meets
Disability Discrimination Act 1992).
People and businesses need to be at the
the needs of users.
Australian Government agencies are required
centre of government digital service
• Write plain language sentences of
to meet the Web Content Accessibility
delivery. The Digital Service Standard sets
fewer than 15 words
Guidelines (WCAG) Level 2.1.
the requirement for government to create
• Use active voice to help users
and maintain services that meet the needs
WCAG principles:
understand who is doing what
of people and business. This means
• Content is perceivable
services need to be:
• Construct positive, unambiguous
• Content is operable
sentences.
• consistent and secure
• Content is understandable
• Eliminate unnecessary words
• user-friendly
• Content is robust
• Build simple phrases and clauses
• measurable
Learn more:
Learn more:
• inclusive and adaptable
https://www.stylemanual.gov.au/accessible-and-
https://www.stylemanual.gov.au/writing-and-
inclusive-content/apply-accessibility-principles
Learn more:
designing-content/clear-language-and-writing-
https://www.dta.gov.au/DigitalServiceStandard
style

Tone & voice
The NBA uses standard tone in its online communications. Standard tone sits between formal and informal tones. creates little
distance between the content’s persona and the reader, but not too much familiarity. Standard tone can use contractions and
personal pronouns, but doesn’t use metaphors, idioms or slang. This aligns with the approach of our lead Portfolio agency, th e
Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care.

Accessibility and readability
Alt text and captions: Use alt text and captions on all images. See AGSM guidance on how to write alt text and
captions.
Contextual links: Use contextual links throughout the text to help users summarise the content as they scan the
web page. Limit contextual links to one per paragraph. Break up multiple links into bul eted lists.
Readability: Readability is a measure of how easy it is for readers to understand our content. It is particularly
important for readers with low levels of functional literacy. Readability is calculated using the Hemingway app.
Aim for Grade 7 to Grade 8. We aim to write content at Level 2 reading level (Australian Year 7 equivalent).

Website Style Sheet
General style notes
APS classifications Write APS classification level ranges
Dictionary: Macquarie Dictionary (online edition)
with an unspaced en dash, i.e. APS Levels 1–6, Executive
Levels 1–2 and Senior Executive Service Bands 1–3. This
Dialect: Australian English (-ise, -tre, -our, -ed not
fol ows the usage in the APSC Classification Guide. Short
-t, e.g. learned not learnt)
forms are APS 6, EL 2, SES Band 3 (not ‘SES 3’).
Capitalisation: Minimal capitalisation. Capitalise proper
nouns (e.g. the NBA Board) but not generic references to
them (‘the board comprises…’).
Abbreviations: Spel  out on first use with abbreviation in
parentheses, then use the abbreviation thereafter. No ful
Capitalisation – titles and names: Personal titles are
stops with abbreviations/acronyms, e.g. ADF, UK.
capitalised only with a name (e.g. Prime Minister Albanese)
Apostrophes: Use possessive apostrophes for al  proper
but not for generic use (e.g. the prime minister’s plane).
names ending in s, e.g. Jones’s. Use possessive
Regions are capitalised if part of the proper name (e.g.
apostrophe only for singular noun of 2 or more words, the
Northern Ireland, Western Sydney). Capitalise names of
last word being a plural ending in ‘s’, e.g. Australian Bureau
nationalities.
of Statistics’ document. Don’t use an apostrophe for
Capitalisation – security clearances and classifications:
periods of time, e.g. ‘in 4 days time’ not ‘in 4 days’ time’.
Use capitals to refer to security clearance levels (e.g. this
job requires a Negative Vetting Level 1 security clearance/a
Baseline security clearance). For more information read the
Style Manual: Security classifications and protective
markings.

Website Style Sheet
Captions: no ful  stop at end of captions.
●
Phone numbers:
Contact details: The fol owing style decisions apply for all pages
○
Fol ow AGSM advice and write phone numbers in a format
featuring contact details:
appropriate to the location of the users. Only use
international format on pages that might attract an audience
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Days:
of people overseas e,g. Commercial blood supply contracts
○
Use 'Monday to Friday' and 'Saturday and Sunday' rather
and procurement, travel ing with blood products, getting
than 'weekdays'
blood products overseas, contact us. When writing
○
and 'weekends'. Although this is a bit wordier, we need to
international numbers, use the fol owing format: +61 2 1234
remember we're writing for multiple cultural groups, and in
5678.
some cultures the 'weekend' is  Friday-Saturday (Jewish) or
○
For domestic numbers, include the area code: 02 1234 5678.
Thursday-Friday (Muslim). Standard format (also note the
○
1800, 1300 or 13 numbers don't require an area code:
single comma, not multiple): The switchboard operates
from Monday to Friday 8 am to 5:45 pm Canberra time, and
■
1300 025 663 (13 000 BLOOD)
on Saturday, Sunday and public holidays 9 am to 3 pm
■
Format 1300 phone numbers in 3-digit groups, i.e. 1300
Canberra time.
XXX XXX, not 1300 XX XX XX
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Time:
●
List ‘Get in touch’ contact details in this order
○
Space between numeral and 'am' or 'pm', i.e. 6 pm not 6pm
○
Phone:
(this is AGSM style) 'Canberra time' not AEST. The reason
○
Email:
for this is Canberra is on AEDT for half the year, so saying
AEST wil  confuse the people (i.e. Queenslanders) who are
○
Web:
on AEST al  year round.
○
Post:
○
'between X and Y' or 'from X to Y' not 'between X to Y'. If
●
However, if there is little need for a call to action to contact a
you're referring to 2 time periods (i.e. days and times), be
specific business area, sign off with a general statement that
consistent.
directs people to the ‘Contact us’ page, for example:
○
If you have a query about fresh blood products in Australia,
please contact us.

Website Style Sheet
Currency: Use currency symbol and numerals, not words or
Lists: Fragment lists with lead-in sentences: lowercase on
currency codes. For dol ars, specify either A$ or US$. For whole
list items and ful  stop only on last item (no punctuation on
amounts, don’t include cents, e.g. $20 not $20.00
other items). Ful -sentence lists: cap on first word and ful
Dashes: Unspaced en-rules: spans of numbers and coordinate
stop at end of each item. Standalone lists: Cap on first
nouns. Spaced en-rules: parenthetical information. No em-rules.
word and no ful  stops, even on last item. Only use
numbers (rather than bul ets) for lists if the items need to
Dates: e.g. 24 August 1942. e.g. nineteenth century not 19th. Use
be presented in sequential order. Avoid hierarchical lists
BCE and CE, not BC and AD, e.g. 44 BCE. Elide years to double
with more than two levels of bul ets.
digits (e.g. 1985–86), except for BCE years, which are written in
ful  (e.g. 546–514). Use digits for decades and no apostrophe
Numbers: Spel  out zero and one. Numerals for 2+. Words
(e.g. 1930s).
for: numbers starting sentences; fractions; names or titles;
figures of speech. Numerals for: units of measurement;
El ipses: Use to indicate missing material in a quote. Use single
tables and charts; dates and times. Commas in numerals
space before and after el ipses.
with 4 or more digits, e.g. 1,200. Combine numerals and
Foreign terms: Italicise except if loanword (e.g. café, naive) or
words for numbers over one mil ion, e.g. 20 bil ion.
First Nations Australian word.
Ordinal numbers: Words up to ‘ninth’; numerals for 10th
Headings: Sentence case
onwards. No superscript for suffixes.
Hyphens: For compound adjectives (e.g. a long-term plan) not
nouns. Hyphenate compass directions (e.g. north-west).
Hyphenate adjectival ages, e.g. 11-year-old boy.
Italics: For titles of books (except religious books, e.g. the Bible,
the Qu’ran), publications, published works, legal cases, Acts (but
not Rules or Regulations), proper names of vehicles/vessels (e.g.
HMAS Adelaide), films, TV and radio programs, long poems. For
articles, book chapters, websites etc. use single quotation marks.

Website Style Sheet
Percentages: Use numerals with percentage sign, no space e.g.
Time: Use colon for time, e.g. 3:50 pm. Space between time and
20%. Use words and ‘per cent’ at start of sentence.
‘am’ or ‘pm’. Avoid using ‘bi’ to mean ‘two’, e.g. ‘biweekly’ (as it
can mean twice a week or every two weeks). Use ‘Canberra time’
Personal titles and initials: No ful  stop with abbreviated titles
rather than AEST/AEDT (because it changes).
(e.g. Dr, Mr, Mrs). Unspaced and no ful  stops with personal
initials, e.g. UK Le Guin. See AGSM guidance on how to refer to:
Underline: Don’t use except for hyperlinks.
royalty/vice-royalty (i.e. Governor-General); politicians; military
Units of measurement: Always in numerals. Metric with
members; academics; members of the judiciary; diplomats; and
honours and awards recipients.
Imperial in brackets if necessary e.g. 100 km (160 miles).
Space between numeral and unit, e.g. 1 km.
Quotations: Spel ing and punctuation in quotes (such as
mandatory statements) fol ow that in the original text.
Don’t spel  out for common units, e.g. 2 km not 2 kilometres.
Quotation marks: Single for direct speech, double for quotes
For decimal numbers less than one, use 0 in front of decimal
within quotes. If the punctuation mark is part of the quoted text,
point (e.g. 0.6 not .6).
place the punctuation mark before the closing quotation mark. If
Use colons for mathematical ratios (9:1 not 9 to 1).
the punctuation mark is part of the sentence outside the quoted
text, it fol ows the closing quotation mark. (See linked guidance
for examples.)
Square brackets: Use to indicate author-added material in a
quote.

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Homepage guidance

Visual Style Guide
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Homepage guidance
Carousel
The material that is displayed on the carousel is both NBA driven and user driven.
• NBA driven –key information and current campaigns the NBA wants to
communicate to users, including Lifeblood campaigns.
• User driven – Google Analytics provides data determine what wil be popular and
useful to users.
Tiles
The material that is displayed on tiles are user driven. Google Analytics provides data
determine what wil be popular and useful to users.

Visual Style Guide
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Homepage guidance
Flag
The flag is a static feature item and is used to promote campaigns (e.g. Lifeblood).
News and updates
Items in the News and updates section are determined by the NBA. Items display in
chronological order, latest to oldest.

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Graphics

Visual Style Guide
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Logo use
Uses the complete logo (icon and word-mark) on a white background.

Visual Style Guide
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Colours
HEX
Common uses
#AF2227
Buttons and icons
#790609
Links
#DEA700
Detailing (e.g. line under header) and secondary navigation (e.g. tabs)
●
Uses NBA brand red colour
●
WCAG AA Compliant
#FEDD9F
Chips (active state ONLY) *
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Colour blind accessible
#161616
Text
#A8A8A8
Borders
#F4F4F4
Backgrounds
* Chips are compact elements that represent an input, attribute, or action. Chips al ow users to enter
information, make selections, filter content, or trigger actions.

Visual Style Guide
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Images
Adobe Stock images, icons and symbols are used on the website. Lifeblood supplied images are also approved to be used on the website.
Imagery samples used throughout the website:

List of preferred
terms and spellings

Website Style Sheet
List of preferred terms and spel ings | A-B
ABDR – Australian Bleeding Disorders Registry; MyABDR is a mobile
Australian Red Cross – short form of Australian Red Cross Society (not
app and website for patients
‘the Red Cross’)
ACSQHC – Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
best practice (noun); best-practice (adjective)
adviser not advisor
BloodPortal (one word - just ‘BloodPortal’, not ‘The BloodPortal’)
AHCDO – Australian Haemophilia Centre Directors' Organisation
BloodNet (one word); BloodNet-to-LIS interface (hyphens)
AHP – Australian Health Provider (proper noun; not approved health
BloodSafe eLearning
provider); includes hospitals, pathology laboratories, general
BloodSTAR (one word)
practitioners (GPs) and other health providers who receive blood
products
blood products not blood-related products
ANZSBT – Australian and New Zealand Society of Blood Transfusion
blood sector – not proper noun, i.e. Australian blood sector, not
Australian Blood Sector
at no cost to patients (not free of charge)
Blood Sector Systems – proper noun
Australian Government (not Commonwealth Government)
blood supply
Australian Government Department of XX – when referring to federal
government departments that also have state counterparts, e.g.
BOC – Blood Operations Centre
Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care

Website Style Sheet
List of preferred terms and spel ings | C-L
Chief Executive (of the NBA) - not CEO or General Manager
flowchart (one word)
Commonwealth entities and Commonwealth companies - these are
free of charge – use ‘at no cost to patients’ instead
specific things, so don’t use Australian Government. See Dept of
Glanzmann’s thrombasthenia (capital G but lowercase T)
Finance Australian Government Bodies info sheet
haemophilia (with ae)
cover sheet (two words)
Haemophilia Foundation Australia
crossmatch, crossmatching (one word, no hyphen)
Haemophilia Treatment Centres (proper noun)
cryodepleted (one word, no hyphen)
Healthdirect (website name)
data - singular not plural
high privacy risk (no hyphens, even adjectivally)
dispense - can use as a noun in reference to blood products, e.g.
HSO – health service organisation (not proper noun)
immunoglobulin (‘the dispenser authorises the dispense of the
ICT – information communications and technology (no caps)
product’)
Ig – immunoglobulin
driver’s licence (with apostrophe)
factor VII – and other factor types: roman numerals and no cap on
JDO – Jurisdictional Direct Order
‘factor’
Lifeblood – not Life Blood or LifeBlood; shortened form of
foetomaternal (Aus/British spel ing, derived from ‘foetus’)
‘Australian Red Cross Lifeblood’. Formerly known as the Australian
not fetomaternal (US spel ing)
Red Cross Blood Service. Change all ‘Blood Service’ references to
Lifeblood.
LIS – laboratory information system

Website Style Sheet
List of preferred terms and spel ings | M-S
massive bleeding – specific clinical term
red blood cel s (not ‘red cel s’ – except for ‘red cel  diagnostic products’)
massive transfusion – specific clinical term
RCDP – red cel  diagnostic products
minister – not Minister, unless it’s a title e.g. Minister for Health and
RCPA – Royal Col ege of Pathologists of Australasia (note ‘Australasia’
Aged Care. Also Australian Government Minister for Health and Aged
not ‘Australia’)
Care, not Commonwealth Government Minister.
resume (as in CV, not ‘to resume’) – no diacritics (NBA style choice
near miss – no hyphen for the noun (a near miss) but hyphen for the
based on 2019 APSC ‘Cracking the Code’ document)
adjective (near-miss events)
Rh D (with space)
MyABDR app  – capital M
US not USA or U.S.
NATA – National Association of Testing Authorities, Australia
SIT – system integration testing
national blood arrangements
SPOT – specialist practitioner of transfusion
National Immunoglobulin Governance Program (but lowercase on
supply chain – no hyphen, even adjectivally, e.g. blood supply
generic mentions, e.g. ‘our governance program’)
chain worker
National Product Price List (proper noun)
state and territory – no capitals
PBM – patient blood management
stock holding – two words when referring to manufacturing stock.
plasma-derived
One word when referring to the share market.
preventive not preventative

Website Style Sheet
List of preferred terms and spel ings | T-Z
time frame – two words
TN – transfusion nurse
TNS – transfusion nurse specialist
TSO – transfusion safety officer
UAT – user acceptance testing
username not user name

Website Style Sheet
List of preferred spel ing of blood product brand names
Blood product brand names – these are the correct
spel ings of the fol owing blood products according to
the manufacturers. Note the capitalisation:
ADVATE
Fibrogammin
NovoSeven
ADYNOVATE
Flebogamma
NovoThirteen
A-Z ALPROLIX GAMUNEX Octagam
BeneFIX
Haemocomplettan
Privigen
BERINERT
HEMLIBRA
RECOMBINATE
BPL Factor XI
Hemoleven
Rhophylac
CEPROTIN
Hizentra
RiaSTAP
CUVITRU
HyQvia
RIXUBIS
ELOCTATE
Kiovig
Xembify
Evogam
Kogenate FS
XYNTHA
FEIBA
MonoFIX‐VF

Document Outline