Driven's style guide.
Building a brand to make life better for Canadian small business owners
As the largest non-bank small business lender in Canada, we’re here to help small and medium businesses with the capital, support, and innovative solutions they need as they face new challenges, uncertainty, surprises, and opportunities every day. Since 2006, we’ve provided over $1B in financing to help more than 17,000 Canadian small and medium businesses navigate everything from minor cash flow challenges to major financial setbacks.
Our brand reflects who we are and how we want our users to feel when they use our solutions.
Editorial
Purpose
Driven's editorial content speaks to Canadian SMB owners on their level. It treats them with respect, and builds on the core promise of the brand: "we've got you". We’re here to help small and medium businesses with the capital, support, and innovative solutions they need as they face new challenges, uncertainty, surprises, and opportunities every day.
We are creating content for a world where financial institutions earn the trust of their SMB customers, rather than the other way around. Content is not used simply to drive end users directly through the conversion funnel to completion of a loan transaction – it is used to build the company's overall reputation as a trusted and honest partner, with the knowledge to help owners, whatever their challenge.
The company speaks in a collective voice that is welcoming, vulnerable, playful, and open. It speaks with confidence and humility. We are a fellow traveller, and we have gained a lot of wisdom through supporting over 17,000 businesses. It is this unique experience that must be reflected at all times, through content that's not available elsewhere that reflects the real challenges business owners are searching for advice on. We sell our offerings most prominently through the actual stories of our customers and other business owners facing challenges. We speak clearly to offerings and we don't overpromise.
Pillars of Content Identity
Every business is different, and doesn't think of itself in a vertical. Focus around needs and challenges, not presumptions of particular industries.
- Focus on use cases, not industry verticals – voice and structure should be oriented around understanding of needs and challenges, all CTAs and invitations for further exploration should be around what the customer gets, not what they have to do to convince you to fund them.
Our customers know their own business better than we do – we're here to help them remove obstacles to that vision, and unlock simpler paths forward.
- To client: We're not here to question the importance of your challenge. You know why you need to fix the compressor, or take risks on an expansion. We provide the tools and capital you need to unlock that, with an upfront honesty about the implications and possibilities, and you decide what you want to do with it, and when you want to do it.
Be an honest broker, trusted as a member of a community
- Create a clear and consistent voice that invites trust and creates the space for a perception of TC as a community leader who cares for the space, not a transactional bureaucrat.
- Ensure that all service content reads like it was written by humans, not SEO robots –loosen the tone, allow for personality, vulnerability, and understanding of ambiguity.
Business success needs fitness – we provide tools and tips for building, measuring, and maintaining that fitness
- Fitness means the ability to rapidly adapt to unforeseen challenges – to spin on a dime –and also to consistently push oneself further.à
- It means questioning, self-evaluating, optimizing, training, and investing.
After COVID, many people are moving into the entrepreneurship space following previously stable careers. They need a champion.
- We're here to demystify, destigmatize, and enable growth and success for the SMB/at home business moving beyond its startup phase.
- This global moment isn't just about "reopening" – it's about people moving at an accelerated pace into new and unexplored business areas and opportunities, possibly far removed from where they were before.
- There's a new wave of ecommerce businesses – often launched or popularized on Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok – that are breaking through into long-term growth and sustainability. Post COVID, these include members of every other industry category – food, services, etc. They have their basic tools, they have their audience, but they face new challenges in growth, supply chain, cashflow, customer service, etc.
- Members of the gig economy have often made deep capital investments in their equipment, and in their futures. We must support them like other businesses.
Voice
& Tone
Universal Rules
- Speak in collective voice - the company is always a "We".
- Write content that is meant to be read by humans, not algorithms. Do not repeat stock phrases purely for the sake of imagined SEO benefit – not only does this not work, more importantly it puts those potential customers off and disrupts the fragile trust relationship you are building. Readers can sense a con, even if they can't articulate why.
- Keep things casual, confident. Trustworthy but not stuffy. "We've got you." vs "A suite of bespoke services are available to match stakeholder requirements."
- Customers don't care about internal departmental structure or procedures. Make it clear you care about them more than you care about these things. Where it makes sense, orient language, headings and CTA around client needs and outcomes, not internal process or product, eg "Get Started" vs "Application Process", or "What's your challenge?" vs "Our industry offerings" (directional only)
Messages we always want to reiterate
- "We've got you" – we're there for your actual challenges and we understand your needs are unique.
- Take every opportunity to bring real customer stories into all content, including repurposing quotes from existing profiles in other content. Customer stories are the lynchpin of all other content.
- When we present unique challenges, drive readers towards further resources to help them understand how we fit their unique challenges, ideally via direct consultation with reps.
Things we Never Say
- "Realize your dreams" - avoid these sort of clichés where possible. We're here for everyday business reality, for people who are already there.
- "You could get money now" – funding is not a prize, it's a considered business decision which SMB owners decide to undertake on their own terms. We provide funding because we trust they know they need it and can pay it.
Style
- Spelling: house spelling is Canadian Oxford
- Grammar: house style is Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition.
Product
- The finance product is always called "the Driven Small Business Loan" – any other references to a term loan or line of credit product or other must be edited to instead refer to real product name in a way that naturally describes features.
- The Cash Flow Advisor maybe referred to as "Driven Cash Flow Advisor" or "Cash Flow Advisor" in short form. Never abbreviate to CFA.
Colour
Palette
Primary Palette
Purple Line
Aa
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Aa
Aa
Aa
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Secondary Palette
Green Line
Aa
Aa
Aa
Aa
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Gold Line
Aa
Aa
Aa
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Grey Line
Aa
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Typography
Styles
Headings
Typography - Montserrat
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee
Body Copy
Typography - Montserrat
Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.
Quotes
Typography - Montserrat
The ultimate Interface component kit built to create harmony across your products.
The ultimate Interface component kit built to create harmony across your products.
Additional Copy Elements
Typography - Montserrat
- Example Item 1
- Example Item 2
- Example Item 3
- Example Item 1
- Example Item 2
- Example Item 3
- Example Item 1
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Additional Copy Elements
Typography - Montserrat
This line rendered as bold text.
This line rendered as italicized text.
This line of text is meant to be treated as deleted text.
This line of text is meant to be treated as deleted text.
You can use the mark tag to highlight text.
Rich Text
Content
Heading 1
Heading 2
Heading 3
Heading 4
Heading 5
Heading 6
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quisque et neque at diam eleifend placerat. Phasellus dapibus libero eros. Morbi tempor imperdiet tortor, at laoreet est vestibulum et. Etiam sed finibus neque. Sed mollis porta mi, a varius risus lacinia ut. Duis nulla mi, eleifend quis efficitur et, suscipit sed tortor. Proin felis lectus, pretium vitae diam at, bibendum euismod nunc. Phasellus sagittis nisi vestibulum, lacinia augue vitae, sollicitudin enim. Aliquam sit amet neque sit amet augue auctor porttitor a sed purus. Ut faucibus pulvinar leo, ut accumsan leo congue nec. Suspendisse suscipit sem ac quam laoreet egestas.
Vestibulum gravida, nibh non auctor aliquam, nisi turpis pulvinar nibh, vitae rutrum quam odio at orci. Praesent ac lorem ullamcorper tortor malesuada porta. Pellentesque scelerisque non felis quis rutrum. Pellentesque dapibus justo tortor, feugiat tempus erat gravida id. Etiam vestibulum, nibh ut auctor vulputate, dui sem tristique mauris, laoreet ultricies lorem libero nec elit. Aliquam mollis nisl eget placerat euismod. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Morbi hendrerit, orci sit amet interdum luctus, nunc arcu porta neque, et varius tortor dolor tempus elit. Sed lobortis dictum quam, at convallis ante lobortis at. Maecenas est purus, aliquet et lectus eget, dictum pretium lectus.
Quisque in dolor aliquet, auctor leo a, sodales massa. Mauris tempor tellus sed felis pulvinar scelerisque. Curabitur enim magna, aliquet a pharetra ut, efficitur id orci. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aenean erat massa, pharetra et nulla nec, pretium aliquam nunc. Aliquam erat volutpat. Cras pharetra arcu sapien, sed pharetra nunc volutpat quis. Aliquam euismod pretium nisl vel pharetra. Ut eu suscipit libero, vel porta risus. In tempus urna eu iaculis vulputate. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia curae; Integer blandit varius augue. Sed vitae diam gravida mauris feugiat ornare eu id ex.
Curabitur velit velit, suscipit et bibendum vel, finibus at purus. Vestibulum vitae lobortis sapien, quis molestie dui. Quisque at pellentesque tellus. Proin quis sodales metus, ac porttitor lacus. Aliquam quis mattis est. Nulla nibh nisi, rhoncus faucibus elementum non, congue nec nisl. In sed dui eget quam placerat congue vel in ipsum. Praesent porta ipsum nec ligula tempor dictum.
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Curabitur velit velit, suscipit et bibendum vel, finibus at purus. Vestibulum vitae lobortis sapien, quis molestie dui. Quisque at pellentesque tellus. Proin quis sodales metus, ac porttitor lacus. Aliquam quis mattis est. Nulla nibh nisi, rhoncus faucibus elementum non, congue nec nisl. In sed dui eget quam placerat congue vel in ipsum. Praesent porta ipsum nec ligula tempor dictum.
Aenean laoreet massa felis, ut tincidunt ante luctus vel. Ut sed convallis dolor. Ut sagittis eros non metus ultricies, vitae tristique tellus cursus. Sed feugiat tellus vitae ligula cursus scelerisque. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Maecenas tincidunt nibh et enim sollicitudin scelerisque. Donec molestie auctor libero ut suscipit.
Nullam vitae est quis nibh varius aliquet ac id mauris. Vestibulum eu dui sit amet tellus volutpat varius. Ut scelerisque varius leo, in congue diam. Praesent nec aliquet metus, sed commodo leo. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Nam non volutpat enim, ac sodales turpis. Donec scelerisque a libero blandit pretium. Fusce tristique, lorem et maximus egestas, turpis dolor link inside text sollicitudin libero, non dictum quam quam nec dui. Aliquam viverra ultricies auctor. Duis semper imperdiet mauris nec convallis. Nulla imperdiet ipsum quis nisi lacinia, vel iaculis odio elementum. Fusce cursus sed metus vel luctus. Praesent fermentum lacus nisl, nec faucibus sapien auctor eget. Vestibulum nec ornare eros, eu consectetur lorem. Curabitur gravida congue nisi id semper. Curabitur id metus non arcu efficitur vehicula eget in libero.
Sed nec porttitor nisl. Donec ullamcorper massa in leo imperdiet consequat. Proin finibus tortor vitae enim lobortis eleifend. Maecenas tellus felis, facilisis at nisl ut, pretium venenatis augue. Mauris et nulla sit amet massa interdum lobortis pretium quis purus. Pellentesque at mattis risus. Phasellus eget interdum sapien. Sed euismod mollis risus, at sollicitudin metus placerat vel. Suspendisse eu ornare turpis.
Phasellus ut nibh laoreet, tristique nibh et, hendrerit massa. Etiam eu tincidunt metus, sit amet dapibus lorem. Pellentesque arcu urna, imperdiet et ex malesuada, consectetur vestibulum risus. Morbi gravida tincidunt urna, at aliquet erat bibendum a. Vivamus tristique mi eu est imperdiet placerat. Duis mattis velit ut condimentum hendrerit. Pellentesque cursus magna ut ligula lacinia, sit amet viverra purus suscipit. Nunc vel dictum urna. Proin facilisis commodo arcu ut consectetur.
A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!
Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
Duis blandit faucibus mi sit amet efficitur. Nam dapibus mi ut dictum tincidunt. Proin nec consectetur felis, at consequat mauris. Phasellus efficitur mollis erat, nec sollicitudin tortor auctor sed. Suspendisse aliquet nunc id elementum elementum. Sed risus erat, malesuada sed auctor in, luctus eu nulla. Aliquam vel risus urna. Ut venenatis ullamcorper magna eu sodales. Curabitur tincidunt odio magna, eu lacinia odio bibendum eget. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia curae; Aenean eget neque sed massa vulputate lobortis nec vitae sapien. Morbi auctor metus at ex commodo, nec efficitur erat porta. Nulla vestibulum ipsum vel aliquam luctus. Nam lacinia nec est et bibendum.
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Morbi molestie nisi tellus, vel tincidunt orci suscipit ac. Duis ut massa finibus, dapibus purus vitae, vehicula diam. Sed blandit, risus a tincidunt laoreet, ligula lorem lacinia nisi, et ultricies massa ex in orci. Aenean ullamcorper vehicula nisl sed consectetur. Nulla a dignissim lacus. Mauris varius congue urna vel consequat. Sed non nisi arcu. Mauris vulputate diam odio, vulputate elementum elit tincidunt ac. In in eleifend dolor. Mauris mi ipsum, tempor vitae lacus eu, vestibulum feugiat augue. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia curae; Vivamus euismod dapibus velit, et tincidunt sapien dapibus sit amet. Donec eu vestibulum dui, at cursus sapien. Morbi convallis accumsan risus vel fringilla.
Mauris accumsan eget massa molestie luctus. Donec eu orci sit amet ligula vulputate dictum et eget metus. Vestibulum velit urna, posuere et velit vitae, blandit ornare libero. Duis ultrices urna mi, sed tristique neque vulputate ut. Curabitur eu pellentesque justo. Nullam imperdiet laoreet sodales. Sed varius, est scelerisque gravida venenatis, massa sem cursus lorem, at gravida justo est consectetur dui. Suspendisse quis viverra risus, at fringilla dui. Cras molestie, metus nec venenatis facilisis, urna sapien consequat leo, non pretium ligula dolor sed erat. Cras viverra tristique mi laoreet sodales. Vivamus mattis ipsum non tellus facilisis tincidunt.
Blockquote Cras viverra tristique mi laoreet sodales. Vivamus mattis ipsum non tellus facilisis tincidunt.
Morbi risus metus, venenatis vel nibh at, sagittis congue neque. Sed quis mi sed arcu pellentesque eleifend at a quam. Nam sollicitudin sapien justo, non posuere est maximus non. Vestibulum ac lacus tempor, ornare nibh in, convallis augue. Mauris non odio a urna ornare ultricies vel a est. Vestibulum maximus augue et bibendum pretium. Pellentesque volutpat eleifend venenatis. Praesent porta ex sed massa iaculis, in finibus risus sagittis. Integer at turpis egestas, malesuada sem et, lobortis mauris. Proin eu massa dui. Curabitur quis ante molestie, vehicula mi vitae, ullamcorper ipsum. Fusce laoreet lacus et sapien tincidunt consectetur. Donec lacinia viverra purus, quis porta leo pulvinar malesuada. Integer ac gravida leo. Duis iaculis nisi quis mollis tempor. Mauris vitae volutpat nulla.
The Slash
Divider
Section Divider
Horizontal Content
Section Divider
Vertical Content
Example Usage
Video Thumbnails
Illustrations
Art & Style
Direction
Main Visuals
Expansion
Supporting Visuals
Variation
Color Variation Possible
Field
Elements
Form Fields
Input Fields
Alert
Bars
Notification
Input Fields
Icons
Custom Set
Driven Icons
Icon Set
Feather Icons by @Cole
