Direct
Name the thing. Avoid hedge words and throat-clearing.
WrongWe may need to verify this.
RightWe need to verify this.
Content standards
Voice & Tone
JM Family writes like a colleague helping you finish your work. This page defines that voice, shows how tone shifts by context, and gives the rules for the strings that matter most: buttons, errors, and empty states.
Voice
JM Family’s voice is the same in every product, in every channel, on every screen. It does not change when the topic gets technical or the news gets bad. It is the company speaking to a colleague who is competent and busy. Direct, plain, respectful, in that order.
Tone changes. Voice does not. If a string ever sounds like a different company wrote it, the voice is wrong.
Plain
Use the word the reader uses. Save jargon for cases where it carries meaning.
WrongInitiate the workflow.
RightStart the workflow.
Respectful
The reader is competent. Never blame, scold, or perform.
WrongYou entered an invalid date.
RightThat date is outside the eligible range.
Tone
Tone is the dial that moves between contexts: warmer for welcomes, calmer for errors, more confident for marketing. The voice stays the same underneath. Use this matrix to pick the tone before you write.
| Context | Tone | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Welcoming a new user | Warm and brief | “Welcome to The Hub. Pick a topic below to get started.” |
| Confirming an action | Calm and specific | “Vendor saved.” |
| Recovering from an error | Calm and helpful | “We couldn’t find an account with that email. Check the spelling or create a new account.” |
| Asking the user to wait | Honest and brief | “Updating your settings. This usually takes a few seconds.” |
| Reporting a system delay | Plain and accountable | “Reports are running slower than usual today. We’re working on it.” |
| Marketing or feature intro | Confident, never hyped | “Run reports without leaving the page.” |
| Compliance or policy notice | Clear and neutral | “Vendors with expired insurance cannot be assigned to new jobs until they renew.” |
Plain words
Prefer the shorter, more common word almost always. The list below is not exhaustive. The rule under it is: if your reader would not say the word out loud in a meeting, do not write it on a screen.
| Avoid | Use |
|---|---|
| Action required | What to do |
| At this time | Now |
| At your earliest convenience | When you can |
| Bandwidth | Time, capacity |
| Best in class | (delete) |
| Circle back | Follow up |
| Endeavor | Try |
| Facilitate | Help |
| Going forward | From now on |
| In order to | To |
| Initiate | Start |
| Leverage | Use |
| Make a determination | Decide |
| Per your request | As you asked |
| Please be advised | (delete) |
| Prior to | Before |
| Provide assistance | Help |
| Reach out to | Contact, email, ask |
| Subsequent to | After |
| Synergize | (delete) |
| Terminate | End, cancel |
| Utilize | Use |
Plain does not mean dumbed down. It means the reader gets to the answer in one read. Words like “vendor,” “compliance,” and “remittance” stay when they carry meaning the reader needs.
Button labels
A button label tells the user what happens when they click. It is a verb, almost always followed by an object. Vague labels make users hesitate; specific labels move them forward.
Action verb + object. Two words when possible, three or four when the action needs disambiguation.
Don’t
OK
Do
Save changes
“OK” tells the user nothing about what they are confirming.
Don’t
Submit
Do
Send invite
“Submit” is generic. The verb should match the outcome.
Don’t
Yes
Do
Delete vendor
Confirmation prompts deserve labels that name the action they trigger.
Don’t
Click here
Do
Open dashboard
“Click here” is invisible to anyone scanning by link text.
Don’t
Continue
Do
Create account
“Continue” hides what comes next. Name the next step.
Don’t
Done
Do
Mark request complete
“Done” is ambiguous. Say what got done.
Error messages
Errors are conversations. The user did something, the system has feedback, and the user needs a next move. A good error message does three things in this order: tells the user what happened, says why if knowing helps, and gives a clear next step. It never blames the user.
- What happened. Describe the problem in plain language, from the user’s point of view.
- Why, if it helps. Skip this when the cause is internal. Include it when the reason changes what the user should do.
- What to do. Give the next action. If the user can recover here, say how. If they need help, say where.
Don’t
Error: invalid input.
Do
We couldn’t find an account with that email. Check the spelling or create a new account.
Don’t
Something went wrong.
Do
We couldn’t save your changes because the server timed out. Try again in a minute.
Don’t
You entered an invalid date.
Do
That date is outside the eligible range. Pick a date between Jan 1 and Dec 31.
Don’t
Authentication failed.
Do
We couldn’t sign you in. Reset your password or contact the help desk.
Don’t
Required field missing.
Do
Add a vendor name before saving.
Empty states
Empty is an opportunity, not a failure. The user is here for the first time, or they cleared the list, or they have not done the work yet. A good empty state does two things: explains what would normally be here, and tells the user how to get the first one.
- What would be here. Name the kind of content the user can expect to see.
- How to get the first one. Point to the action that fills the empty state, ideally with a button or link.
Don’t
No items.
Do
You haven’t added any vendors yet. Create your first vendor to start tracking compliance.
Don’t
Nothing here.
Do
No reports match these filters. Clear the filters to see all reports, or run a new one.
Don’t
No data.
Do
Your team hasn’t logged any tickets this week. New tickets show up here as they come in.
Sentence case
Use sentence case for headings, buttons, labels, menu items, and tabs. Title case is reserved for proper nouns and product names. Sentence case is faster to read because the reader’s eye does not have to parse capitalization patterns.
Don’t
Save Your Changes
Do
Save your changes
Don’t
Manage Vendors
Do
Manage vendors
Don’t
New User Onboarding
Do
New user onboarding
Don’t
Account Settings
Do
Account settings
Exceptions
- Proper nouns: JM Family Enterprises, Ask Hubert, The Hub.
- Product names: Workday, ITNow, HRNow.
- Acronyms keep their natural casing: “PTO request form,” not “Pto request form.”
Numbers, dates, and times
Consistency here is invisible when it is right and irritating when it is wrong. Pick the format that matches the context: prose, data-dense UI, or machine-readable.
| Element | Rule | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Whole numbers in prose | Spell out zero through nine. Use numerals for 10 and up. | “Add up to three vendors.” / “12 requests pending.” |
| Whole numbers in data-dense UI | Use numerals everywhere. Consistency beats prose convention. | A table column that always reads 3, 7, 12, 48. |
| Dates in human-facing text | Spelled month, comma, four-digit year. | Mar 5, 2026. |
| Dates in machine-readable contexts | ISO 8601 with dashes. | 2026-03-05 |
| Times | 12-hour with am/pm. Include the timezone when ambiguous. | 3:00 pm ET |
| Currency | Show the currency code when not US dollars. | $1,250 / CAD 1,250 |
| Percentages | Numeral plus the percent sign, no space. | 42% |
| Phone numbers | Hyphen format for US. International standard for non-US. | 954-555-0142 / +44 20 7946 0958 |
Related anti-patterns
Catalog entries that describe failure modes for voice and tone specifically. Each links to the full anti-pattern with wrong and right examples.
- mediumCute error messages for failures that need real actionWhimsical copy on consequential errors trivializes the user's problem and hides what they should do next.
- mediumGeneric empty-state copy that says nothingEmpty states that say only "No data" or "No items found" leave users unsure what belongs there or what to do next.