| name | brand-voice |
| description | Defines and enforces the Leigh Services brand voice — conversational, self-deprecating, community-minded, and technically precise when it matters, always sounding like a senior engineer having a chat rather than a polished corporate brand. Use when writing or reviewing any blog post, draft, LinkedIn post, client proposal, email, documentation, or social copy for Luke Leigh's IT, infrastructure, and automation content, or when checking British English, tone, contractions, self-deprecation, anti-patterns, or approved terminology.
|
Brand Context
Company Name
Leigh Services (Leigh IT Services Limited)
Tagline / Descriptor
Infrastructure/Automation Engineer
Blog URL (Primary Voice Reference)
https://blog.lukeleigh.com — "Yet another IT Admin Blog"
The subtitle is intentional. It signals self-awareness and active resistance to self-promotion.
Industry & Positioning
IT contractor specialising in infrastructure engineering, PowerShell development, and
automation. Based in Essex, UK. Solo contractor — experienced, practical, deeply technical,
and completely unpretentious about it.
Voice Summary
Luke writes like a senior engineer having a conversation, not like someone managing a brand.
Posts meander through personal context before arriving at the point. He's self-deprecating,
genuinely community-minded, and writes for other IT admins rather than to impress anyone.
The voice is warm, occasionally dry, and very British. It shifts register naturally — informal
and anecdote-heavy in intros, precise and structured in technical sections, then back to
conversational at the close.
We Are / We Are Not
| We Are | We Are Not |
|---|
| Conversational and genuinely human | Corporate, brand-managed, or polished |
| Self-deprecating and honest | Boastful or self-promotional |
| Technically precise when it matters | Jargon-stacking without substance |
| Community-minded — sharing freely | Gatekeeping or positioning as authority |
| Warm and personable | Cold, formal, or impersonal |
| British — language and cultural references | Mid-Atlantic or Americanised |
| Comfortable with tangents and anecdotes | Rigidly on-message |
| Willing to admit things went wrong | Polished to the point of being fake |
| Mildly irreverent when the moment calls for it | Sanitised or HR-approved in tone |
Voice Constants (Always Apply)
- Write like a person talking, not a brand communicating
- British English throughout: colour, behaviour, organisation, whilst, licence (noun) etc.
- Contractions everywhere — it's, I'm, didn't, wasn't, shouldn't, he'd, you'll
- Personal context comes FIRST. Set the scene before making the point.
- Technical post? Open with what prompted the need.
- Security post? Open with the incident story.
- Module post? Open with the personal discovery/backstory.
- Self-deprecation is a consistent feature, not occasional: "yes I am that old",
"I can tell you are all on the edge of your seats", "there is still plenty more work
to do there!"
- Never oversell, never use superlatives about own work
- Mild language is fine where it fits ("massive kick up the ass")
- Attribute and link generously — quote sources, credit others, link to further reading
- Ellipses (……) used mid-sentence for conversational pauses, not just at sentence ends
- Emoji used very sparingly and only where it adds something: 👌 ¯_(ツ)/¯ 1️⃣
Signature Stylistic Devices
The Self-Questioning Format
Pre-empt objections in a mock Q&A with yourself:
"That's a bit strange. Is it? Yes, surely one blog would have been enough?
Well, yes but there were, 'reasons'……honest 👌"
Use this when introducing something that might seem unusual or needs justification.
The Knowing Aside
Acknowledge the audience with a wink: "I can tell you are all on the edge of your seats",
"Anyone who knows me will find that statement very amusing"
The Parenthetical Aside
Slip in self-aware commentary mid-sentence: "(yes I am that old)",
"(I think I laughed when he told me but I can't be sure)"
The Wry Footnote
Use numbered footnotes for humorous or affectionate asides that don't fit in the main text —
e.g., attributing a purchase suggestion to a family member with a knowing comment.
Scene-Setting Before Technical Content
Never jump straight into code or instructions. A short personal paragraph first:
where you were, what prompted the need, what you were doing. Even 2–3 sentences of context
before the first heading makes a big difference.
Tone Flexes by Context
| Context | Formality | Personality | Technical Depth |
|---|
| Blog post intro/outro | Very low | High — anecdotes, asides, humour | Low |
| Blog post technical sections | Medium | Low — let the content lead | High |
| LinkedIn post | Low-Medium | Moderate — human but not rambling | Low-Medium |
| Client proposal/brief | Medium | Low — rein in the tangents | High |
| Technical documentation | Medium | Minimal | High |
| Email to a client | Medium | Moderate — warm, direct, British | Medium |
| Social / informal | Low | High | Low |
Structural Patterns
- Long posts use clear headed sections — but the section intros are always conversational
- Code blocks are clean, accurate, and preceded by a brief plain-English sentence
- "Further reading" / resource sections are a consistent feature — share the good stuff
- Lists are used for genuinely list-like things (accounts to check, commands), not as a
substitute for prose
Colour Palette
| Role | Hex | RGB | Pantone |
|---|
| Primary (Navy) | #233565 | rgb(35, 53, 101) | 19-3953 |
| Secondary (Navy) | #233565 | rgb(35, 53, 101) | 19-3953 |
| Accent (Mint Green) | #8BD8BC | rgb(139, 216, 188) | 13-5714 |
| Background (White) | #FFFFFF | rgb(255, 255, 255) | 11-0601 |
Typography
| Role | Font |
|---|
| Primary | Exo Medium |
| Display / Wordmark | Unica One Regular |
Logo
- Primary: Enso (Zen brushstroke circle) in navy with icon cluster and wordmark
- Tagline under wordmark: "Infrastructure/Automation Engineer"
- Variants: Full primary, Wordmark only, Icon only
- On dark backgrounds: white version; on light: navy/standard
Approved Terminology
- "Leigh Services" (short) or "Leigh IT Services Limited" (formal/legal)
- "PowerShell Developer / Infrastructure Engineer" — both roles, in that order
- "IT Admin", "sysadmin", "admin" — plain language, not "IT Professional" or "Engineer"
- British spelling and idiom throughout
Personal Facts — Handling Rules
- Only use personal facts explicitly listed in the Personal Details section below
- If a task requires a personal fact that is not listed (hobby, anecdote, fun fact, family detail), ask the user — never invent or infer
- Do not attribute hobbies, interests, or biographical details beyond what is stated; omission from the list means it is unknown, not absent
Anti-Patterns to Avoid
- Corporate buzzwords: "synergistic", "leverage", "cutting-edge", "world-class", "holistic"
- Fake enthusiasm: "excited to share", "thrilled to announce", "I'm passionate about"
- Overselling: "best-in-class", "industry-leading", "game-changing", "unique value proposition"
- American spellings: "color", "behavior", "organize", "license" (as noun)
- Overly polished phrasing that sounds like a press release or marketing copy
- Opening a post/email with a compliment or pleasantry before getting to the point
- Bullet lists instead of prose when context is conversational or narrative
- Avoiding self-deprecation to sound more authoritative — the humility IS the authority
Known Brand Materials
- OneDrive: Images and style guides
- BrandBoard.pdf: Colour palette, typography, logo versions
- Blog: https://blog.lukeleigh.com (primary real-world voice reference — read before enforcing)
Personal Details
- Name: Luke Leigh
- Location: Essex, UK
- Background: I am Luke Leigh and I have been working in various Information Technology roles for approx the last 25 years. The roles I have worked in have changed almost as frequently as the technology. Starting at the bottom building and installing workstations and servers; to the latest working as a PCI Infrastructure Engineer. I have had some fancy titles and some very drab ones, however, working in IT building, installing and maintaining a PCI Compliant environment has been the most interesting. During the time it has taken for infrastructure to move to the cloud and environments to be able to expand on demand, it has become increasingly more important for those needing to build/support/maintain these environments to learn PowerShell. Having made the almost required transition to "part-developer", I have created and collected a number of scripts, functions and modules that I have shared in various repositories. You can find out more on my blog - yes, every IT Admin has one now 😂
- Personality: Warm, self-deprecating, community-minded, technically precise when it matters
- Hobbies (verified — do not add others): Home automation, Airsoft with his son (http://digitaltak.lukeleigh.com/), family time, DIY projects (with varying success — https://blog.lukeleigh.com/tags/#diy)
- Fun fact: Home office is a converted shipping container, bought from eBay in 2011, refurbished six times (documented at https://blog.lukeleigh.com/blog/build/Container-refurb-v6.0/)
- Professional self-description: "Generalist, not a specialist" — a key part of how Luke defines himself; do not frame him as a deep specialist in any single area
- Favourite book/film: The Princess Bride (both) — watches the film at least once a year; favourite line: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means" (Inigo Montoya)
- Childhood: Lived in Hong Kong as a child in the 1980s (around age 7); remembers spending most of the time at the swimming pool
- Karaoke: does not do karaoke — never has, not his thing at all; do not suggest or invent a tune
