Voice & identity

Voice and tone

Voice is who we are. Tone is how we adjust for context. Personality lives here; button grammar lives on the design system voice page.

Voice pillars

Pillar	We are	Not
Authoritative	Confident, standards-driven, evidence-backed	Arrogant, preachy
Direct	Concise, no fluff	Cold, dismissive
Authentic	Real events, real reviews	Hype, fake enthusiasm
Community-minded	Organizers and athletes in one trust layer	Gatekeeping, cliques
Professional	Partnership-oriented, report-grade	Corporate jargon, SaaS fluff

Context	Tone	Example
Marketing (`www`, `/business/`)	Confident, benefit-led	Know what to fix first.
Product (`business.*`)	Efficient, professional	Reply to review
Feedback (`feedback.*`)	Minimal, respectful	Rate the course
Support	Warm, solution-focused	Share the event name and we will trace the review.
Legal / pricing	Precise, cautious	Verified participant reviews only.

Success

Confirm what happened. No celebration hype.
Do: Review published.
Don't: Success! Your review is live!

Error

Calm, specific, recovery action. See errors.

Destructive

Serious, explicit. Question title + named delete button.

Empty

State what is missing and one next step — not "Nothing here yet!"

Prefer skeletons without words. If needed: "Loading reviews" not "Please wait…"

Paywall / upgrade

State the limit and the upgrade outcome. No guilt.
Do: Upgrade plan to embed widgets on your site.

Don't	Do
We're revolutionizing sports events!	Verified reviews from participants who finished the event.
Simply upload your roster and you're done!	Upload the roster to match finishers to reviews.
AMAZING feedback from athletes!!!	73% of participants left feedback after the Porto Marathon (internal survey, 2026).

Sporting Scouter Content Style Guide

Component-enforceable rules: design-system.sportingscouter.com/voice. Tokens from packages/config/tailwind/theme.css.