Rules, Not Adjectives
Specific enough that two writers make the same choice.
Brand Voice
Brand Voice Documented Well Enough for Other People to Use
A voice described as "friendly but professional" tells a writer nothing, which is why organisations with documented voices still sound like whoever wrote each piece. Brand voice has to be specific enough to act on — actual rules, actual examples, and the words you use and avoid.
We Document It Concretely
Adjectives describing a voice do not help someone writing a sentence.
Before and After
The same sentence written wrongly and rightly.
A Word List
Terms you use and terms you do not.
Register by Context
An error message and a case study need different registers.
Tested on Real Writing
Applied to existing copy to see whether it changes anything.
Voice, Explained
What Makes a Voice Usable?
Four things, and none of them is a list of adjectives.
Discuss Your Voice →- 1
Specific Rules
Sentence length, contractions, person, formality.
- 2
Comparisons
This, not that. Concrete pairs rather than descriptions.
- 3
Vocabulary
Words to use and words to avoid, listed.
- 4
Context Variation
How the voice shifts between a homepage and an error message.
What Voice Work Covers
A definition writers can apply without asking.
What is said is covered by brand messaging.
How We Define Brand Voice
Look at what you already write, then make the good parts into rules.
Read What Exists
Across every channel, including support replies.
Find What Works
The writing that already sounds right.
Write the Rules
Concrete enough to apply.
Produce Examples
Before and after, from your own copy.
Train and Review
So it survives being handed to other writers.
Specificity
Why "Friendly but Professional" Helps Nobody
It describes an intention without providing a single decision a writer could make.
What does a usable rule look like?
Use contractions. Address the reader as "you". Keep sentences under twenty-five words where possible. Do not begin with a subordinate clause. Never use "leverage" as a verb.
Each of those settles a decision. A writer facing a sentence can apply them, and two writers applying them produce compatible output.
"Friendly but professional" settles nothing. Every writer already believes they are being both, which is precisely why the results diverge.
Why does error copy matter here?
Because it is read with more attention than anything else and is almost never covered by voice guidelines. It gets written by whoever built the feature, in whatever register they use.
It is also where tone does the most work. A failure message that is breezy reads as flippant; one that is cold reads as blame; one that explains what to do reads as competent.
Extending the voice definition to cover interface and error copy is usually the highest-value part of the exercise, and the part that gets left out.
Questions,answered.
Brand voice is how an organisation sounds in writing, defined by concrete rules, examples and vocabulary rather than by adjectives — so different writers produce consistent output.
Because they describe intentions rather than decisions. Every writer already believes they are being friendly and professional, which is why results diverge despite the guidance.
That it settles a choice. "Use contractions", "address the reader as you", "avoid this word" — each of those makes two writers produce compatible sentences.
Yes, and it usually does not. Error copy is read with more attention than anything else and gets written by whoever built the feature, in whatever register they happen to use.
Messaging decides what is said. Voice decides how it sounds. The same claim can be written in several registers and the choice should not be accidental.
Still deciding if brand voice is right for you?
Talk to UsEvery Writer Thought They Were Being Both
Voice guidelines almost always land on a pair of adjectives with a "but" between them. Friendly but professional. Confident but approachable. Expert but accessible.
The formulation is popular because it sounds balanced and because nobody can object to it. It also gives a writer nothing to act on — they were already trying to be both, and their idea of the balance is their own.
So four writers produce four voices, all of which their authors would describe as friendly but professional, and the organisation concludes that voice guidelines do not work.
Free Voice Review
Find Out How Many Voices You Have
Send us copy from your website, your product and your support replies. We will tell you how consistent they actually are.
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