Our tone of voice provides a set of core elements to define quality writing across all touchpoints, as well as supporting elements to convey the best of our brand personality to the world.
It is designed to serve as an umbrella that informs and unites style guides for departments, countries, and languages. Voice and tone express a brand’s essence, signaling who we are and what we stand for. They create the feeling: “that sounds like Uber.” And they let us show up in the world as the innovative global mobility company we are.
Truly audience-first communication will transform and unite our voice.
Writing as straight-forward and easy to understand as the intuitive experience of our products.
How we create a recognizable voice and a strong brand.
Primary voice characteristic
Problems are solvable, good ideas win out, and the future is bright.
Uber is for everyone.
We are leaders in our field and enthusiastic to share our innovations.
We can be more audience-first and bolder at and important touchpoint
Before/After
We can be clear over clever
Before/After
We can take a moment to be more inviting and fun while still being clear
Before/After
Is the focus on the audience?
Is why they would care clear?
Is the level of formality appropriate?
Is it easy to understand in a single quick pass?
Is it as clear and succinct as possible?
Is it scrubbed of any jargon?
If the audience is being asked to act, is that action and how to take it clear?
Does it follow all regional, department, or channel guides as well as these master principles?
- Does it focus on solutions over problems?
- Are any negatives (no, not, etc.) necessary, or is there a way to rephrase them with positive language?
- Have we assumed the positive about the situation or audience?
- Does it sound like a warm, caring person wrote it?
- Are lists bulleted and phrase-based?
- Is there anything that could be made easier to understand?
- Does it grab the audience’s attention?
- Are we speaking as confident leaders?
- Does it feature strong, specific word choices?
- All of them! Really, very, and basically. Slash and burn!
It will force you to choose the best words (is it really red or scarlet?).
- You do that like this...
- This is how you do that...
- This is how you do that...
- Every there/their/they’re it’s/its, your/you’re, principle/principal, compliment/complement, affect/effect, weather/whether, to/too/two,
lie/lay.
- Are they as precise as they can be?
Maybe you edited a story, but perhaps
you rewrote, revised, or polished it.
- Repetition is sometimes effective.
Sometimes. Use it sparingly and intentionally.
- Look out for common mistakes: more
than versus over, less as opposed to fewer,
and further rather than farther.
- That tends to get overused.
Do you need that every time you use it?
Go a step further: check who (people) versus that (not people) and that (restrictive) versus which (non-restrictive).
- Do all of your pronouns have clear antecedents? This and it are often used without a clear and present subject.
- Use specific nouns Is that boat you mention a rowboat, a tugboat, a barge, a cruise ship, or a kayak?
- The Civil War occurred in the 19th century; Your aunt collects 19th-century corkscrews.
- Make word choices to convey excitement, don’t lean on punctuation.
- It’s the best way to catch typos and mistakes and awkward phrasing and
lapses in logic.
- Are they all necessary? Would a more specific noun choice be better? Is it a big house or a mansion? A brimmed hat or a fedora?
- Don’t keep something because you like it; keep it because it works.
Audience-first communication
Straight-forward and easy to understand
A recognizable voice through consistency