No dashes.
A new house rule for every piece of Shout writing. The em-dash had crept into copy as a default pause. From now on it's out. So is the en-dash. The brand reads calmer and more decisive without them.
RULE 01The dash habit, retired.
No em-dashes. No en-dashes. No hyphens used as pauses.
Punctuating with a dash signals an interruption. Shout doesn't interrupt itself. Use a period to stop, a comma to breathe, a colon to introduce, or parentheses to aside. The dash characters —, –, and - (hyphen used as punctuation) are no longer part of the Shout voice.
Don't write
- I'm a marketer — eight years in.
- Mar 2020 – Present
- 45–60 seconds total.
- Counter management — rota, training, briefings.
- 11 GCSEs A*–C.
Write instead
- I'm a marketer. Eight years in.
- Mar 2020 to Present
- 45 to 60 seconds total.
- Counter management: rota, training, briefings.
- 11 GCSEs, A* to C.
RULE 02Replacement substitutions.
When the urge to reach for a dash hits, choose the substitution that matches the rhythm.
| If the dash was doing this | Use this instead | Example |
|---|---|---|
X — Y (a hard pause) |
Full stop. X. Y. |
I came up in beauty. Fifteen years on counter. |
X — Y (a soft aside) |
Comma, comma. X, Y, X |
The thing that's kept me here, more than the products, is the regulars. |
X — list (introducing detail) |
Colon. X: a, b, c |
Counter management: rota, training, briefings. |
X – Y (date or number range) |
The word "to". | Mar 2020 to Present. 45 to 60 seconds. |
X — extra (parenthetical) |
Parentheses. X (extra) |
I work best in teams that say "I don't know" out loud (and mean it). |
RULE 03What's still allowed.
Hyphens, inside compound words only.
A hyphen joining two words into one is fine, and necessary. On-counter consultations, day-to-day, GDPR-compliant, front-of-house. The rule is about punctuation dashes, not word hyphens.
Why it matters.
Dashes read as thinking out loud. The brand reads as someone who already decided. Calm authority. Loud, then settled. The mark shouts; the wordmark closes the matter. Dashes are the opposite of closure.