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A system to help you design and write content for VA.gov
Our content style guide and front-end framework, Formation, include guidance, standards, and tools to help teams build a consistent, intuitive, and Veteran-centered experience across VA.gov.
Content style guide
By practicing language in an intentional way, we can provide content that supports Veterans' needs and improve their experience on our site. See usage guidelines, examples, and more.
Content principles
Our content principles guide the voice and tone of everything we write.
Writing for SEO
See basic SEO tips and best practices for making content findable in searches.
Word list
Use our in-house style for common words on VA.gov, so we can use words and labels consistently.
Formation
Formation, our front-end framework, is built with reusable components, patterns, and object-oriented CSS, allowing you to spend less time on common UI problems and implementation, and more time solving Veterans’ needs.
Visual design styles
Use our color palette, typography, and more to give all sites on the VA.gov platform a consistent look and feel.
Components
Design and code for interface building blocks that can be reused across the VA.gov platform.
Utilities
HTML classes scoped to a single property that can be used to override default properties or style new objects without writing additional CSS.
Design patterns
Components and utilities can be combined to solve recurring user needs. Here, we provide design samples and code for our design patterns.
Page layout & templates
Information about the design grid, how to build page layouts, and examples of page templates.
Resources
Downloads, links, and third-party tools to help designers and developers create and build applications and products for VA.gov.
