Voice and tone

Just as products should look and act consistently, they should also speak consistently. We speak with one voice and vary our tone depending on situational context.
Two overlapping speech bubble icons, one filled and one outlined, rendered in a translucent frosted-glass style on a soft pastel gradient background transitioning from pink and peach to purple and blue.

Voice

Our design principles apply to the words used throughout our products to ensure that language seamlessly integrates with visual design. We apply these principles to the product voice with language-specific guidelines.

Rational

Clear and understandable

  • Ensure decisions about grammar and mechanics are research-informed and tested.
  • Avoid language that’s overly opinionated, funny, or trendy.

Human

Friendly, honest, and responsible

  • Vary sentence style and structure for readability and relatability.
  • Acknowledge and account for users’ emotions.

Focused

Concise and simple

  • Describe only what’s needed, without unnecessary decoration.
  • Avoid creating new concepts and only name things when necessary.

Brand guidelines

The Adobe Style Guide's "Voice" section defines the principles of our brand voice. This guide also contains a glossary with branded terms and information about applying branding guidelines in a variety of different customer-facing situations.

Tone

If voice is our products' personality, then tone is all the different ways we express that personality.

Tone can vary depending on the people we talk to, as well as the situations in which we talk to those people. For example, though you have one personality, you might still speak to a family member differently than you would a neighbor. You might also speak to your family member in different ways if they were sad, happy, or frustrated.

The same thing applies to how we talk to users.

Tone is a powerful tool that can both shape a positive user experience for people, as well as clear the air in a negative one.

Tone Spectrum

The right tone depends on a user’s contextual needs and corresponding emotions for that experience, as well as how involved and emotional we need to be in the process.

Think of the tone for any given experience as being on a spectrum:

Tone can fall on a spectrum going from motivational to helpful, helpful to instructive, instructive to reassuring, reassuring to supportive.

Tone guide

The tone spectrum acts as a sliding scale for considering which of our attitudes and expressions are appropriate for different experiences.

Tone
Attitude
Frequency
Motivational
Positive and encouraging

We're looking out for you and cheering you on. You've got this!
Rarely
Helpful
Polite and respectful

We know you're busy, so we'll make this brief.
Occasionally
Instructive
Neutral and direct

Here is the information you need.
Often
Reassuring
Professional and reliable

We know you're worried about this issue, and we're here to help.
Occasionally
Supportive
Concerned and empathetic

Something bad has happened and we understand how you feel. We want to inform, guide, and support you through this.
Rarely
The points on this spectrum aren't necessarily binary. For example, the right tone for an experience could be either motivational or helpful, or it could exist somewhere between those points.

Resources

Adobe Design Content Strategy Wiki
Content Standards