Voice & Tone Guides People Actually Use — Guide #2
Voice & Tone Guides People Actually Use — Guide #2. If your brand feels fuzzy to you, it’s fog to your audience. Let’s make it obvious and repeatable.
Design’s job is recognition and readability at speed across surfaces you don’t control.
Steps
- Design constraints before concepts — Constraints produce coherence; they are not creative jail.
- Document decisions in one page — People use what they can read in two minutes.
- List three proof points — Social, data, demos. Proof turns belief into trust.
- State the promise in plain words — Avoid poetry; say the outcome a buyer can point to later.
- Define the audience and their stakes — Name who loses what if nothing changes; real stakes sharpen choices.
Why this matters: Constraints produce coherence; they are not creative jail. In branding, consistency is a function of decisions captured and reused.
Why this matters: People use what they can read in two minutes. In branding, consistency is a function of decisions captured and reused.
Why this matters: Social, data, demos. Proof turns belief into trust. In branding, consistency is a function of decisions captured and reused.
Why this matters: Avoid poetry; say the outcome a buyer can point to later. In branding, consistency is a function of decisions captured and reused.
Why this matters: Name who loses what if nothing changes; real stakes sharpen choices. In branding, consistency is a function of decisions captured and reused.
Toolkit
- Messaging blocks — Headline • subhead • bullets • CTA mapped to page sections.
- Voice ladder — From formal to playful with examples for each channel.
- Positioning line — For [audience] who struggle with [problem], we deliver [outcome], proven by [proof].
- Palette tokens — CSS variables / design tokens for color and spacing across apps.
How to use it: Headline • subhead • bullets • CTA mapped to page sections. Save the final in a shared doc; link from tickets so execution matches intent.
How to use it: From formal to playful with examples for each channel. Save the final in a shared doc; link from tickets so execution matches intent.
How to use it: For [audience] who struggle with [problem], we deliver [outcome], proven by [proof]. Save the final in a shared doc; link from tickets so execution matches intent.
How to use it: CSS variables / design tokens for color and spacing across apps. Save the final in a shared doc; link from tickets so execution matches intent.
Example
A dev‑tools startup replaced clever taglines with a plain promise and saw demo requests up 34% in six weeks.
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