Finding a Brand's Voice Before You Touch a Single Word
The short answer: replace standalone adjectives with contrast pairs like confident but not arrogant, collect example sentences that do and don't sound like the brand, test the voice on a difficult piece of copy like a complaint response, and store the guidelines in the same place as the rest of the style guide.
Ask a client to describe their brand voice and you'll almost always hear friendly, professional, trustworthy. Those words describe nearly every business and don't help anyone write a sentence.
Key takeaways
- Adjectives alone don't constrain anything.
- Contrast pairs give writers clear boundaries.
- Real examples teach voice faster than descriptions.
- Test voice on hard copy, not easy copy.
- Guidelines only work if writers can find them.
Why don't brand voice adjectives work?
Because they don't limit anything. Friendly and professional could describe a law firm and a taco truck. A usable voice is specific enough that two writers given the same guidelines would produce noticeably similar copy.
What are brand voice contrast pairs?
Pairs that define a boundary on both sides: confident but not arrogant, warm but not casual, expert but not academic. They tell a writer how far to go and where to stop.
Contrast pairs set the boundary
| Be | But not |
|---|---|
| Confident | Arrogant |
| Warm | Casual |
| Expert | Academic |
Three or four pairs is usually enough to guide writers.
How do examples help define brand voice?
Write a few sentences that clearly sound like the brand and a few that clearly don't, even if you invent them. Seeing the contrast teaches the voice faster than any list. branded by's brand voice and tone guide with 50 do and don't examples is built entirely on this principle and is worth studying.
How do you test a brand voice?
Write something hard in it: a response to an angry review, a price increase notice, an apology for a delay. If the guidelines produce something that sounds like this specific brand, the voice works. If it sounds like generic customer service, the guidelines are still too vague.
Where should brand voice guidelines live?
In the same living style guide as logos and colors, not a separate file nobody remembers. Building a Style Guide Clients Will Actually Use covers how to keep it all in one place.
Voice follows position, so nail the position first. The free positioning statement builder turns what you do, who you do it for, and the result into a statement, a portfolio headline and a LinkedIn headline you can paste today.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between voice and tone?
Voice is the brand's consistent personality. Tone adjusts to the situation, like more serious in an apology, more playful on social.
How many voice traits should a brand have?
Three or four contrast pairs is usually enough to guide writers without overwhelming them.
Can AI tools follow brand voice guidelines?
Yes, especially with contrast pairs and examples included in the prompt. Always review the output for accuracy and feel.
Where to go from here
Brand voice development is covered inside Brand University. Pair this with Writing a Positioning Statement That Isn't Generic, and join Brand University on Skool.
About the author
Evan Barnes is the founder of Brand University and of branded by, a brand-first growth agency based in Greenville, South Carolina. He built Brand University to teach designers the business side of design, from positioning and pricing to running client work, and more than 1,200 designers now learn inside the Brand University community on Skool.
