Foundations / Voice
The cadence is the brand.
The voice rules are the same on a hero, an invoice, a 404 page, an email signature. Six rules govern every word I ship under joel.design. The linter at the bottom runs them on demand.
The voice IS one of the brand decisions
The brand-options doc identifies five decisions that produce 80% of brand durability. Voice cadence is one of them. The constraint (period-terminated, two clauses, no em dashes) is the signature. It gives writing a specific texture even before you read the words.
The six rules.
Period-terminated.
Every sentence ends in a full stop. Not an ellipsis. Not a trailing fragment. “Working.” not “Working…”
Two clauses max.
If a sentence needs a third clause, split it into two sentences. “I design it. I build it. It works.” is the template.
No em dashes.
Use commas, periods, or parentheticals instead. The constraint is itself a signature. It forces tighter writing.
First person.
“I” not “we.” The studio is one person. Pretending otherwise is the wrong opening note.
Verb-object case study titles.
“Reduce the noise for X.” “Ship the system for Y.” Action plus subject. Never just a project name.
No filler.
Cut “just,” “really,” “very,” “actually,” “literally,” “basically.” The linter flags these automatically.
Before / after.
Real edits I made when shipping the brand voice. Each “kill” was on the site. Each “ship” replaced it.
KILL
Thanks for reaching out — I’ll get back to you within 24 hours.
SHIP
Got it. I’ll reply within a day.
KILL
Your brand is the first thing a customer judges you on. In seconds.
SHIP
Your brand is the first thing a customer judges you on.
KILL
We’re really excited to help you transform your business with AI-powered automation that just works.
SHIP
Automate the busywork. AI does the repetitive part. You ship the work.
Try the linter.
Paste any copy below. The linter analyzes it sentence by sentence against the six rules and scores it 0 to 100. Em dashes and overlong sentences are errors. Fifteen points off each. Filler words and missing terminators are warnings, five points off each. Try one of the presets to see how it scores.
Voice Linter
Score and issues will appear here as you type.
Where the voice lives.
- Web copy. Hero, services, FAQ, contact, footer.
- Email. Signatures, invoice messages, follow-ups.
- Invoice line items. “Phase two. Design, build, ship.” not “Web Design Services (Phase 2).”
- Loading and error states. “Working.” / “Nothing here. Go back.”
- Confirmation messages. “Got it. I’ll reply within a day.”
- Social. Same cadence, even in 280 characters.