plain-spoken

Warm but direct. An expert peer explaining something clearly and then stopping. Every string below is written for Fieldnote, the shared example product, so voices can be compared line for line.

1. Voice attributes

Five attributes, each with the same idea written in voice and out of voice.

Warm but direct

Care about the reader, but do not pad sentences to seem kind. Directness is the warmth.

In voiceThis will delete 3 projects and everything in them.
Out of voiceWe're really sorry, but we just wanted to make sure you know this action might unfortunately remove some of your content!

Substantive over stylish

Say the thing, then stop. The second sentence usually serves the writer.

In voiceSaved.
Out of voiceSuccess! Your changes have been saved successfully.

Plain words for ordinary things

Use the word the reader would use, unless a longer one is genuinely more precise.

In voiceYou can't undo this.
Out of voiceThis operation is non-reversible.

Never prescriptive without cause

Instruct only when there is exactly one correct next step. Otherwise name the options.

In voiceTwo projects have the same name. Rename one, or merge them.
Out of voiceYou should rename your project to avoid confusion.

Honest about failure

Say what broke, whose fault it was, and what happens next.

In voiceWe couldn't save your note. It's still here — try again in a moment.
Out of voiceSomething went wrong.

2. Style rules

Decidable without judgement. A rule you have to interpret is a preference.

RuleDecision
Headings, buttons, labels, navSentence case. Only proper nouns and acronyms capitalised.
VoiceActive. We couldn't save your note, not your note could not be saved.
TensePresent.
PersonYou for the reader. We only when the product acted or failed. Never I.
ContractionsYes — can't, don't, we'll.
Serial commaAlways.
NumbersNumerals everywhere, including 1–9. UI is scanned, not read.
DashesEm dash, unspaced. Never --, never a spaced hyphen.
Quotation marksCurly. Commas and periods inside, US English.
Terminal punctuationSentences take a period. Fragments, labels, buttons and list items do not.
Exclamation marksNone. Not one.
EmojiNone in product UI.

3. Buttons and calls to action

Primary action
Create projectSave changesSend invitations
In progress, then done
SavingSaved
No ellipsis on the in-progress label — the spinner already says it is working.
Cancel and dismiss
CancelNot nowClose
Cancel is the one button allowed to have no object.
Destructive
Delete projectDelete 3 notesRemove collaborator
The count goes in the label. A reader should never have to look elsewhere to know the scope.
Navigational CTA
Read the setup guideSee all projects
Never Click here, never Learn more on its own.
Disabled, with its tooltip
Send invitations
Tooltip: Add at least one email address first

5. Labels, help text, placeholders

The label names the field. The help text explains format or consequence. Neither repeats the other.

Field with help text Project name Collaborators see this name
Field with format help Retention period Notes are deleted after this many days. Leave empty to keep them indefinitely
Field with a consequence Workspace URL Changing this breaks existing links
Placeholder used correctly Email address Placeholder: rosa@example.com An example of a valid value — never an instruction, never the label again.
Required field Project name (required) The word, not an asterisk. See shared/ACCESSIBILITY.md.

6. Validation and errors

Each says what happened and what to do. A message that only reports the failure has answered half the prompt.

Required field left emptyEnter a project name.
Malformed valueThat doesn't look like an email address. Check for a missing @.
Valid but rejectedYou already have a project called “Field interviews”. Pick another name.
Whole-form failureWe couldn't create the project. Two fields need attention — they're marked below.
Warning, not an errorThis project has no collaborators. You can add them later.

7. Empty states

Three different situations. Writing one sentence for all three is the common failure.

First run — nothing has ever existed No projects yet A project holds related notes and the people working on them.
Create a project
Filtered to nothing No notes match “interview” Try a shorter search, or clear the date filter.
Clear filters
Cleared by the user — a success, not a void Archive is empty You've cleared everything. Archived notes will show up here.

8. Loading, saving, progress

Initial loadLoading projects
Save in progressSaving
Long operation with an estimate Exporting 1,240 notes. About 2 minutes.
Background job the user can leave We're importing your notes. You can close this — we'll email you when it's done.

9. Page-level failures

Heading, one sentence of explanation, one recovery action.

Not found We can't find that project It may have been deleted, or the link may be wrong.
See all projects
Permission denied You don't have access to this project Ask its owner, Rosa Alvarez, to add you.
Request access
Server error Something broke on our end Your notes are safe. We've been notified and we're looking at it.
Try again
Offline You're offline Your changes are saved on this device and will sync when you reconnect.
Rate or quota limit You've hit the export limit You can export 10 times an hour. Try again at 3:40 pm.

10. Confirmation dialogs

The title names the consequence. Buttons restate the verb — never Yes/No, never OK.

Destructive and irreversible Delete 3 projects? This also deletes 412 notes inside them. You can't undo this.
CancelDelete 3 projects
Destructive but recoverable Archive this project? Collaborators lose access until you restore it. Nothing is deleted.
CancelArchive project
Benign — and whether this voice would skip it Discard your draft? You've written 40 words that haven't been saved.
Keep editingDiscard draft
plain-spoken would skip this if the draft were autosaved. A confirmation the product does not need is a sentence the reader did not need.

11. Toasts

SuccessProject created
FailureCouldn't send invitations. Try again.
Undoable3 notes deleted  ·  Undo
Queued or deferredExport queued. We'll email you the file.

12. Callouts and inline notices

Informational Notes sync every few seconds You don't need to save.
Cautionary This workspace is nearly full You're using 9.2 GB of 10 GB. New notes will stop saving at the limit.
Blocking Your trial ended yesterday Your notes are safe and read-only. Add a payment method to start editing again.

13. First run and feature introduction

Welcome Welcome to Fieldnote Collect research notes, group them into projects, and share them with your team.
Three-step setup 1   Name your workspace 2   Create your first project 3   Invite the people you work with
Empty workspace prompt Your workspace is ready Start with a project — it's where notes live.
Create project
Introducing an unused feature Tags let you pull notes across projects. Add one from any note's menu.

14. Transactional messages

Subject line, then the first sentence. Subject lines are their own discipline.

Invitation Rosa added you to Field interviews You can now read and edit the 68 notes in this project.
Mention Rosa mentioned you in a note She asked about the March interview transcripts.
Weekly digest Fieldnote: 24 new notes this week Most of the activity was in Field interviews and Pricing research.
Expiry or billing warning Your trial ends in 3 days After that your notes stay safe but become read-only.

15. Microcopy

The zero and one cases are where voices quietly break, so they are written out here.

SituationString
Just nowJust now
Recent12 minutes ago
YesterdayYesterday at 4:15 pm
Older14 March 2026
Count — zeroNo notes
Count — one1 note
Count — many412 notes
File size2.4 MB
OverflowRosa, Amir, and 3 more
Truncation+3 more
Consent lineBy creating an account you agree to our terms and privacy notice.

16. Preferred and forbidden terms

UseNot
deleteremove, trash, discard, destroy
sign in / sign outlog in, login, logout
settingspreferences, options, configuration
note, project, collaboratoritem, entity, resource, asset
workspaceorganisation, tenant, account
can'tcannot, is unable to
try againretry, re-attempt
turn on / turn offenable, disable, activate
useutilise, leverage

Strike on sight

Delete on sight and say the thing plainly. No exceptions clause.

leverageutiliseseamless delightfulrobustpowerful intuitiveeffortlesssimply justeasyunlock empowerstreamlineoptimise elevatejourneyecosystem solutionbest-in-classworld-class cutting-edgenext-generationgame-changer

simply and just tell readers that what they are struggling with is trivial. easy promises an experience you cannot guarantee — say what it takes instead: “two steps”, “about a minute”.

17. Writing antipatterns

18. Do and don't

DoDelete 3 projects?
Don'tAre you sure?
DoThat doesn't look like an email address. Check for a missing @.
Don'tInvalid input.
DoWe couldn't save your note. It's still here — try again in a moment.
Don'tOops! Something went wrong.
DoCreate your first project
Don'tReady to get started? Simply click here to begin your journey!
DoYou're using 9.2 GB of 10 GB. New notes will stop saving at the limit.
Don'tYour workspace is approaching capacity. Please consider upgrading to unlock more storage.
DoProject created
Don'tSuccess! Your new project has been created successfully.

Length budgets

A design can rely on these when sizing a region: button ≤ 20 characters, field label ≤ 30, toast ≤ 40, page title ≤ 40, empty-state heading ≤ 40, tooltip ≤ 60, notification subject ≤ 60, help text ≤ 90, error ≤ 120, empty-state body ≤ 140. plain-spoken runs short, which makes it safe in dense designs. The full table is in VOICE.md.