How I crafted the new voice and tone to a product: Content Style Guide, finally
Once I had enough material from Company Workshops to work on, I needed to sit… and write.
But before that, I went through many references and inspirations to identify which would be the better way to categorize the sections of the Content Style Guide. This was a very important discovery to do, ’cause it’s the best way to understand what makes sense for your product’s content guide (if you’re interested, I’ll share our references by the end of this article).
In parallel, we (the Product Design Team) were working on the app redesign, as well as redesigning Figma flows, standardizing the screens and creating the Design System. All this process was really good, it matured our critical and logical sense for flows and improved our UI skills. This also gave me the opportunity to apply writing patterns and rules I started to define, along with the Ton’s voice and tone on the version of the product that soon would be on the streets.
Our content sections
Our Content Style Guide was born in Google Docs, ladies and gentlemen. I know it seems a little frustrating to see the content completely raw, with no visual aspect to enhance it. But believe me, it is the best way to get it started and done, cause then you won’t have any distractions since all you have to worry is about the content itself (for now).
Anyway, this was the way we decided to categorize our sections:
WHY IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE A CONTENT STYLE GUIDE?
- What is a Content Style Guide and what does it work for?
- For whom is the Content Style Guide made?
This first section is very important since many people who would be in contact with this material probably never heard of the concept of a Content Style Guide. So an introduction is never enough.
WHO IS TON?
- Values
- Attributes
This is more of a brand thing, but just as the previous section, is always good making sure to put everyone on the same page. Plus, it’s a good way to make people get into Ton’s vibes and personality from here.
WHO ARE OUR USERS?
- Context
- Personas
This is also a good elucidation for the people who will work with the product guidelines for the first time. They need to know who we are writing experiences for. However, this will be a restricted space, only for employees with a password.
VOICE & TONE
- Voice ≠ Tone
- Ton’s Voice
- Ton’s Tone
- Ton in action
This is where people are cordially presented to Ton, our product’s personality. The whole Content Style Guide is written as if Ton was speaking to the reader since we had defined Ton would be a constant and real presence in the whole user’s experience. Ton will be the voice on the app, on the communication’s e-mails, as well as the chatbot itself. So giving the experience that Ton is teaching the reader how to be him when writing is a good experience to get into the mood. Here, we also start giving some examples of how Ton should sound.
HOW WE WRITE
- Principles
- About people
Here we present to our reader what are the objectives of our content’s product and how to get there. Also, we start showing how we refer to people.
GRAMMAR
- Basics concepts
- Puntuaction
- Numbers
- Translation
- Wordlist
Even though people that will work with content have a good communication strategy, it is always good to provide them with Grammar guidelines, not only to train them but to keep patterns. We know, by a fact, we won’t have only one person responsible for all types of contact points with our user, so we have to make sure everyone will sound the same, no matter the channel.
VOCABULARY
Since we work with a very specific group of users (micro-entrepreneurs), we all have to be aware of a controlled vocabulary dictionary (words and processes our users are in touch with their routine), so we can be clearer and objectives.
WRITING
- For the product
- For the landing page
- For the active communication
This is a way to show how Ton works and sounds the same, even on different channels. The section is full of dos & don’ts samples, which is very positive. Nothing is better than visual examples and contexts.
Giving life to the Content Style Guide
Well then! After two weeks of production, the content document was ready, but we needed to make it “pretty” to make it usable and useful. I mean, no one would follow the material guidelines if it doesn’t look real, right?
So we (@hugo, @carol, and @renan) put it online, along with the Design System that is being constructed, which made us come up with an idea: aTon Design Language, a space where both Content Style Guide and Design System can be found and accessed.
Ready but not finished
Yes, that’s what you just read. The truth is that the Content Style Guide will never be “finished”. There’s always gonna be something new to be added, concepts to be changed, ideas to be updated. Because we will always change, we will always have something new on our product.
Also, the goal is not only having a Content Style Guide but to make people understand how important it is and how to use it. So, this is my next challenge!
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A HUGENORMOUS thank you to my teammates @hugo @carol and @renan for hugging and believing in this project to come to life.
Oh, and as promised, here are our references to make this project:
