Voice & Tone Matrix
Synthesized from Duolingo writing system structure + Carbon/Polaris/Atlassian content patterns (transferable; not a copy of any brand voice).
Voice vs tone
- Voice = stable personality (always true).
- Tone = situational volume of that voice (error vs celebration).
Required voice qualities template
Define 3–5 qualities as pairs:
| Quality | Means | Does not mean |
|---|---|---|
| Clear | concrete next step | cold or bureaucratic |
| Encouraging | progress is possible | toxic positivity |
| Playful | human warmth | unprofessional jokes in failure |
| Direct | short sentences | rude |
Tone matrix (minimum contexts)
| Context | Energy | Formality | Humor | Length | Must include |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Onboarding | high | medium | light ok | short | why + first action |
| Empty state | medium | medium | light ok | short | next action CTA |
| Success | medium-high | low | ok | short | what changed |
| Error | low | medium | none | short | cause + recovery |
| Destructive confirm | low | higher | none | medium | irreversible impact |
| Marketing | high | low-medium | brand-specific | varies | promise without hype claims |
| Legal/security | low | high | none | precise | accurate terms |
Character-speaking rules (if product has a mascot/persona)
- Declare who may speak (system vs character).
- Character may not deliver legal, billing, security, or health-critical messages.
- Character has a glossary of forbidden claims.
- Emotional range is bounded (e.g. sad ≠ cruel; excited ≠ chaotic).
AI copy guardrails
- Never invent product features or statistics.
- Prefer canonical glossary terms.
- Errors: problem → impact → action.
- Avoid shame language ("You failed").
Linked rules
rule.brand.content-designrule.interaction.product-quality
Worked example structure (from Duolingo public writing system — do not copy their voice)
Duolingo publishes four stable voice qualities and shows each as Means / Not with channel-specific examples (push notifications vs in-product). Transfer the structure:
- Name 4 qualities
- For each: brief definition + "means" bullets + "not" bullets
- Show the same quality in multiple channels
- Keep tone separate (reads the room) while voice stays constant
Empathy rule from their tone page (transferable): when content touches hardship, lower energy and exclamation; when celebrating achievement, energy can rise. Success = short celebration; failure = short support without shame.
Character page pattern (Duo): publish is / isn't trait lists and channel-specific do/don't for notifications vs lessons. Characters may be more intense than brand voice but must not become threatening.
Source pages scraped 2026-07-13: /writing/voice, /writing/tone, /writing/duo.