BACKGROUND
This project was for a client in the personal finance app space. The goal was to build a comprehensive tone of voice guide that could be used by every person who writes for the brand, from full-time team members to freelance copywriters to developers writing error messages, without requiring them to ask for guidance on every edge case.
I built the guide around a brand personality defined by four traits with explicit practical implications and a clear account of what each one rules out, five non-negotiable voice principles with side-by-side do and don't examples, and a tone-by-context section covering marketing copy, onboarding, error messages, email, and social media with specific guidance for each. The error message section was treated as the hardest writing in fintech and given its own detailed framework, because that is the context where the gap between good and poor writing has the most direct effect on how a customer feels about their money.
The result was a guide built on one central principle: that words are a product feature, and every piece of writing is an interaction with a real person that should be treated accordingly.
