Tone of voice
Brand voice by archetype
Tone of voice is the part of an archetype you use most often, because you apply it every time you write anything at all. Below is the register that belongs to each of the twelve, and the specific way each one tips over when it is overdone.
The twelve registers
The words in the middle column are the ones to write against: draft a post, then read it back and ask whether it sounds like them.
| Archetype | The register | What it does, and where it tips over |
|---|---|---|
| The Innocent | simple, upbeat, lighthearted, optimistic, cheerful, humble, pure | Plain sentences, short words, no hedging. It earns trust quickly. It tips over when plainness becomes vagueness — say the specific thing, not the nice one. |
| The Sage | deep, analytical, factual, researched, humanist, trustworthy, wise, decisive, scholarly | Measured, evidenced, unhurried. It reads as authority. It tips over into lecturing, so lead with the conclusion and let the reasoning follow it. |
| The Explorer | curious, enthusiastic, daring, resourceful, adventurous, inquisitive | First person, curious, present tense. It carries a reader along. It tips over when everything is a beginning and nothing is ever a finding. |
| The Rebel | candid, straight-shooting, bold, polarizing, controversial, anti-mainstream, defiant, unapologetic, dominant | Short, declarative, unhedged. It cuts through a feed. It tips over when the contrarian position turns up before the argument that earns it. |
| The Magician | thought provoking, ethereal, charismatic, experiential, transformational, shapeshifting, inspiring, magical | Metaphor, reframe, the long view. It makes people see differently. It tips over into abstraction — name one concrete thing you do before you name what it changes. |
| The Hero | self-assured, actionable, motivational, defends the underdog, direct, confident, unshakeable | Active verbs, results, plain confidence. It reads as capable. It tips over the moment the achievement stops illustrating a point and becomes the point. |
| The Lover | intimate, spiritual, doting, collaborative, passionate, descriptive, indulgent | Warm, sensory, addressed to one person. It makes a reader feel seen. It tips over into an intensity a stranger has not agreed to yet. |
| The Jester | clever, politically incorrect, irreverent, over the top, high energy, fun loving, self-deprecating, expressive, silly | Fast, irreverent, self-deprecating. It disarms. It tips over when the joke arrives so reliably that nothing you write can be taken seriously. |
| The Everyman | genuine, likable, good natured humor, down to earth, welcoming, wholesome, friendly, humble, practical | Conversational, concrete, unpretentious. It reads as honest. It tips over into the generic, and the specific detail is the only thing that stops it. |
| The Caregiver | thoughtful, nurturing, concerned, protective, charitable, maternal | Patient, reassuring, second person. It lowers the stakes for the reader. It tips over when every sentence serves them and none states your own position. |
| The Ruler | noble, sophisticated, elite, highly structured, prestigious, confident, refined, affluent | Precise, structured, unapologetic about standards. It reads as competent. It tips over into pronouncement — show the reasoning, not just the ruling. |
| The Creator | descriptive, insightful, inventive, unconventional, metaphoric, imaginative | Vivid, unusual, image-led. It is memorable. It tips over when the writing pleases the writer and leaves the reader standing outside it. |
What is a brand voice?
A brand voice is the register you write in — the vocabulary, sentence length and level of formality that stay constant whatever you are writing about. It is not what you say but how you sound saying it, which is why it is the part of an archetype you apply most often: every post, every email, every page.
How do I find my brand voice?
Start from the archetype rather than from adjectives. An archetype gives you a set of constraints that fit together, where a list of adjectives chosen one at a time usually does not — "authoritative, playful, warm and disruptive" describes nobody. Take the quiz, get your archetype, then write against the register listed for it and read the result back against those words. The gap between what you wrote and how the archetype sounds is the thing to close.
Can I have more than one brand voice?
Most people score highly on two or three archetypes, and the second usually shapes how the first shows up rather than competing with it — a Sage with a Jester second sounds quite different from a Sage with a Ruler second. What does not work is switching register between posts, because consistency is most of what makes a voice recognisable in the first place. Pick the one you can hold when you are tired, not the one you admire most.
Which register is yours?
The quiz scores you against all twelve and shows you the whole spread, so you can see how close the second one is before you commit to a voice.
Discover Your Archetype