Your words get checked, like your pixels.
A design system says how things look. A voice says how they sound. Give Atelier one, and it writes every heading, button and error in it. Then its check reads the words back, the same way it looks at the layout.
First draft
Invalid date. Please simply enter a valid date in the format DD/MM/YYYY.
- Say what’s needed instead of “invalid”.
no-blame - Drop “simply”, or say what makes it quick.
no-minimizers - Reading level is grade 8. Your limit is 5.
readability
After the fix
Your appointment date must include a year, like 27 10 2026.
0 issues · grade 4 of 5
First draft
Ugyldig dato. Angiv venligst en gyldig dato i formatet DD-MM-ÅÅÅÅ.
- Say what’s needed instead of “ugyldig”.
no-blame - LIX is 41. Your limit is 30.
readability
After the fix
Skriv også årstallet for din aftale, fx 27 10 2026.
0 issues · LIX 22 of 30
First draft
Ungültiges Datum. Bitte gib dein Datum im Format TT.MM.JJJJ ein.
- Say what’s needed instead of “ungültiges”.
no-blame - Use “Sie” in German, not “du”.
register-de
After the fix
Geben Sie auch das Jahr Ihres Termins an, zum Beispiel 27 10 2026.
0 issues · Wiener Sachtextformel 4 of 5
A voice is a folder
It sits next to your design system, as plain text you can read and change.
- VOICE.md
- Who you are and who you’re not. “Plain, not childish.” Plus four tone sliders, from funny to serious.
- terms.yaml
- One approved word for each idea, in each language, plus the words to avoid. English says “sign in”, Danish “log ind”.
- rules.yaml
- Rules the check can test: words to avoid, button length, sentence case, no “!” in errors.
- patterns/
- How to write errors, buttons, empty states, forms and confirmations.
- locales/
- Each language’s own rules: how to address the reader, which quote marks, how hard a text may be to read.
- examples/
- Before and after, with a line on why.
English
- Reader
- “you”
- Quotes
- “…”
- Limit
- Flesch-Kincaid grade 5
Dansk
- Reader
- “du”, never “De”
- Quotes
- »…«
- Limit
- LIX 30
Deutsch
- Reader
- “Sie”, never “du”
- Quotes
- „…“
- Limit
- Wiener Sachtextformel 5
Start from a preset
Pick a voice that’s close, like the one for public services, then make it yours. Or write one from scratch.
Written, not translated
Each language is written the way a native writer would, from its own word list. Marketing copy may change its words to land the same way.
One voice, many projects
Link the same voice to every project. Pages, decks and emails all sound like one company.