# Copy registers

The voices to choose from, drawn from how professional sites wrote before language models (2014 to
2021). Choose one per client; borrow a single move from a second. Every sample line is written for this
file, for a made-up client. A register shapes the sub-line, the body, the story and the microcopy; it
never bends the rules of `copy.md` (the h1's category, the headings' nouns, the buttons' verbs).

**None is the default.** Choose by the buyer, the price and the client's real character; when the brief
does not settle it, take the register least like the last page this session wrote.

## 0. The model's default (the one to avoid)

Warm, wry, modest, a little literary, mildly against big companies. Paragraphs end on a deadpan twist;
sincerity comes from honest, calm, quiet, actually; a strip of figures, three polished quotes, a pun in
the footer. Use it only when the client asks for it, and then within the device budget.

## 1. Facts only

- **Sounds like:** "Kessler Partners advises family firms on succession. Founded 1994, nine partners,
  offices in Basel and Freiburg."
- **Moves:** plain declaratives with names, dates and counts; third person or a terse first person;
  exclusivity shown by a rule or a fact, never by an adjective.
- **Fits:** a strong track record, professional services, B2B infrastructure, clubs, consultants.
- **Fails when:** the facts are weak. Then it reads as an empty CV.

## 2. Technical and dry, with proof

- **Sounds like:** "Every pull request gets its own database, seeded from last night's backup. Branch
  in 4 seconds; delete it on merge."
- **Moves:** a label paired with a hard figure; the mechanism in verb-led steps; real commands, UI
  strings and file names on the page; the enemy is a category ("most preview setups"); jargon kept on
  purpose for experts or translated once; the product as the subject of the sentence.
- **Fits:** developer tools, infrastructure, APIs, technical software.
- **Fails when:** it turns into a spec dump with no pain named, or into abstractions ("power and
  alignment").

## 3. The founder's letter

- **Sounds like:** "We ran a print shop for eleven years and lost a day a week to quotes. So we built
  the quoting tool we wanted, and now 300 shops use it."
- **Moves:** first person; a named habit or a category as the enemy; the reader's pain in their own
  words; a refrain used on purpose; an argument carried across the sections, each paragraph within
  `copy.md`'s lengths; a plain human sign-off in the text (never the footer).
- **Fits:** products with a stance, small software companies, anything founder-led and against the way
  things are done.
- **Fails when:** the stance is put on, or the founder has no real argument.

## 4. Self-aware and playful

- **Sounds like:** "Hot sauce from one farm in Kent. Medium is hot. Hot is a mistake you make once."
- **Moves:** a straight face about a small product; the joke in the sub-line or a card, with the fact
  right under it; house words the brief gives; the microcopy in full voice; failures on display. Hype
  words stay out even as a joke: copy-lint FAILs them, ironic or not.
- **Fits:** drinks, snacks, small consumer goods, small studios, playful apps.
- **Fails when:** the jokes are random, aimed at the customer, or put on a serious purchase (money,
  health).

## 5. Literary and formal

- **Sounds like:** "A balm for hands worn by cold water and rope. Citrus, cedar, a little smoke. 75 ml,
  34 euro."
- **Moves:** an exact, slightly raised vocabulary; "clients", not "customers"; sensory notes in tight
  lists; materials and botanicals by name; never an exclamation mark; the price plain on the button.
- **Fits:** skincare, fragrance, design objects, high-end retail.
- **Fails when:** it turns ornate without being exact ("a luxurious ritual of the senses").

## 6. Proper nouns and restraint

- **Sounds like:** "The old customs house above the harbour, built 1871. Eight rooms face the strait;
  the ferry to the island leaves below the terrace at 7:40."
- **Moves:** places, history, buildings and geography do the work; unhurried physical verbs (overlook,
  stroll, reside); no prices in the hero, no quotes; the story in three sentences and a date. The word
  "luxury" never appears.
- **Fits:** luxury hotels, heritage houses, architecture practices, galleries.
- **Fails when:** there is no real place or history in the brief to name.

## 7. Sensory facts, second person, present tense

- **Sounds like:** "You order at the counter beside the roaster. The cardamom buns come out at 8:00
  and again at 11:00."
- **Moves:** what the reader will see, smell, hear or carry, each one a literal fact of the place (the
  oven, the hour, the floor, the weight); craft shown as a repeated step and a constraint; one defining
  absence ("no mirrors in the studio"); odd human numbers. Never a metaphor or a mood paragraph: the
  floor of `copy.md` holds.
- **Fits:** cafes, food, bars, fitness, yoga, spas, anything consumed with the body.
- **Fails when:** every section turns sensory. Prices and booking stay plain.

## 8. Historical scene

- **Sounds like:** "In 1958 the tram stopped outside, and the bakery opened at five for the drivers. It
  still does."
- **Moves:** opens on a dated moment, not on the brand; streets, furniture and people named; old
  photographs as evidence, never captioned on the page (`copy.md`).
- **Fits:** restaurants, family firms, anything with a real lineage in the brief.
- **Fails when:** the history is invented or generic ("rooted in tradition").

## 9. Plain-spoken activist

- **Sounds like:** "Every jacket we sell, we take back. In 2025 that was 3,140 jackets, and 2,200 went
  back on sale."
- **Moves:** a mission in one measurable sentence; the hard subject said plainly; admits its own harm;
  buttons that act on the mission; proof in numbers and reports.
- **Fits:** mission-led consumer brands, non-profits, firms with real impact figures in the brief.
- **Fails when:** the mission is a paragraph of abstract nouns ("inspiring healthier communities").

## 10. Refusal and narrowness

- **Sounds like:** "We repair bicycles. Not e-bikes, not scooters. Bicycles, in two days, at the bench
  you can see from the street."
- **Moves:** positioned by what it will not do; scarcity stated as an honest limit; the makers named
  when the brief names them; a ritual as community.
- **Fits:** makers, small batches, specialists, single-product companies.
- **Fails when:** the refusal is invented to sound focused. (It spends the page's negation run.)

## 11. The product as the hero

- **Sounds like:** "The X2 runs 140 minutes on a charge and climbs a 2 cm sill. It maps the flat on the
  first run."
- **Moves:** almost no "we"; the product is the subject of every sentence; a turn of phrase is followed
  at once by a spec; one moment from life ("crumbs under the sofa at 22:00").
- **Fits:** hardware, physical products, apps with one strong feature.
- **Fails when:** a play on words has no fact under it.

## 12. Hurried and conversational

- **Sounds like:** "Packaging for small food brands, by three people in one studio in Bristol (the one
  who answers the phone also draws the box)."
- **Moves:** talks to one busy person; asides in brackets; self-deprecation; casual section labels that
  still name the thing; permission to leave.
- **Fits:** small studios, freelancers, portfolios, direct-to-consumer brands with a founder.
- **Fails when:** it gets chummy ("We get it.") or the jokes replace the information.

## Matching voice to the trade (starting points only)

| Trade | Try first | Avoid |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Cafe, roastery, bakery | 7 sensory, 8 historical, 4 playful | 0 the default |
| Developer tool, infrastructure | 2 technical-dry, 3 founder's letter | 4 playful in the hero |
| Software for small businesses | 3 founder's letter, 11 product as hero | abstract "power and alignment" |
| AI product | 2 technical-dry, 11 product as hero | "magic", "superpowers" |
| Agency, studio | 1 facts only, 12 hurried, 4 playful | stacked category nouns ("digital brand experience company") |
| Portfolio | 12 hurried, 1 facts only | a list of credits with no person in it |
| Luxury hotel | 6 restraint | the word "luxury" |
| Guesthouse, small hotel | 12 hurried, 7 sensory, 6 restraint | "boutique", "curated experiences" |
| Fitness, yoga | 7 sensory, 10 refusal | "the best version of yourself" |
| Architecture | 6 restraint, 1 facts only | "spaces that inspire" |
| Course, teaching | 3 the teacher's letter, 7 sensory for a physical skill | "transform your life" |
| Skincare, beauty | 5 literary, 10 refusal | "clean", "glow" with no ingredient |
| Finance | 1 facts only, 3 founder's letter | jokes about money worries, unsourced savings |
| Hardware, appliances | 11 product as hero, 2 technical-dry | adjectives where the spec should be |
| Game | the game's own world and tone, 12 for the studio | the default register on the store page |
| Drinks, snacks | 4 playful, 9 activist | 0 the default |
| Repair shop, trade | 10 refusal, 1 facts only | "passion", "quality you can trust" |
| Wedding, events, photography | 7 sensory, 12 hurried | "capturing your special day" |