Verbal identity

Member lesson

Voice principles and how to write them

Lesson 2 of 10 in Verbal identity.

The power of great copy, with brand tone of voice and copywriting expert, Vikki Ross · Think with Google
Lesson

Almost every tone of voice document contains the same four words. Friendly, confident, human, clear. They are agreed by everyone in the room and they change nothing, because nobody ever set out to write something unfriendly or unclear.

voicewho the brand isthe sameeverywheretonehow it sounds in each momenta welcomean errora receiptbad newsseriousplayfulthe tone changes with the moment. the voice never does
A brand's voice stays the same everywhere, while its tone changes with the moment: playful for a welcome, serious for bad news.
On the left a team pulls a slack rope with no one at the other end under a cross, and on the right two teams strain against each other on a taut rope under a tick.
One team pulls a rope with nobody on the other end, while two real teams pull against each other. A voice principle counts only when someone could sensibly choose its opposite.
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Members answer these 3 questions and keep the ticket for this lesson. Every lesson has one.

  1. Question 1, locked

    You are reviewing a draft voice principle. What tells you it will change how somebody writes?

    • Whether its opposite is a position somebody could actually hold
    • Whether everybody in the room agreed to it
    • Whether it is one of the brand's four core adjectives
    • Whether it can be said in under five words
  2. Question 2, locked

    Which of these words means this? “A rule about how the brand writes, stated so two writers reach the same answer.”

    • Long form
    • Formality register
    • This not that
    • Voice principle
  3. Question 3, locked

    Which of these words means this? “A principle written as an edge pair, we are this but not that, and proved with a before-and-after rewrite.”

    • Native
    • Tone dimensions
    • Descriptor
    • This not that

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