defining-voice-and-tone

name	defining-voice-and-tone
description	Creates voice and tone guidelines for a product or brand. Use when establishing new content standards, onboarding writers, or aligning cross-functional teams on communication style.

Defining Voice and Tone

Quick start

Collect or infer:

• Brand attributes (3-5 adjectives describing personality)
• Target audience segments
• Competitive positioning
• Existing content samples (good and bad)
• Contexts requiring tone variation (support vs. marketing vs. legal)

Then produce output using TEMPLATES.md. Validate with RUBRIC.md.

Workflow

1. Audit existing content to identify current voice patterns and inconsistencies
2. Define 3-5 voice principles with "this, not that" contrasts
3. Map tone spectrum across emotional contexts (celebratory → neutral → serious → crisis)
4. Create do/don't examples for each principle
5. Document tone modulation rules for specific scenarios
6. Run the rubric check. Revise until it passes.

Degrees of freedom

Freedom level: Medium

• Default: follow templates exactly
• Allowed variation: number of voice principles (3-5), tone spectrum granularity, example quantity—as long as rubric passes

State awareness

• New brand: Start from scratch; prioritize differentiation from competitors
• Existing brand: Audit first; preserve what works, fix inconsistencies
• Rebrand: Document departures explicitly; create migration guidance
• Multi-product: Define shared core voice with product-specific tone layers

References

• Templates: TEMPLATES.md
• Rubric: RUBRIC.md
• Examples: EXAMPLES.md
• Tone spectrum reference: reference/tone-spectrum.md