Tone and Voice

This may vary slightly depending on, say:

• The item you are writing—is it a guide or a lesson?
• The goal of the paragraph of sentence—is it an introduction or technical description?

We might adopt a tone with the following features:

The light-heartedness outlined above should come out more strongly during introductions to lessons, how-to guides or exercises. We want to catch attention and ensure readability for the learner at these crucial touchpoints in the learner flow.

Here’s an example from Prototyping in Figma:

We’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy—things are going to get nerdy!

In the black-and-white world of design, we’re used to working with fixed frames, layers, and visual elements, where every change is manually created. We all know how to noodle up screens upon screens to show how a flow might go one way or another.

However, if we want to stay DRY as our design gets more complex, then it’s time to step outside into full technicolor and start considering state variables.

That said, when the information is more technical, such as writing steps to guide a process, the scale should align more closely with the following:

As a general rule, think of your favourite school teacher—did they seem to know when to crack goofy jokes, when to get you focused, but also when to empathize with your struggles as a learner?