The short version
- Gradiently's Designer reads the brand kit before it writes, and writes in the kit's voice.
- The voice section holds up to five tone words, a short description in your own words, and lists of what the brand always and never does.
- Audience and About matter as much as tone, because they tell the Designer who it is writing for and what the brand actually offers.
- Specific instructions such as "never use exclamation marks" change AI copy far more than adjectives like "friendly".
- The brand kit is part of Gradiently Pro, and only workspace owners and admins can edit it.
On this page
To teach an AI your brand voice for AI writing, give it rules it can follow rather than adjectives it has to guess at. In Gradiently, that happens in the brand kit: the Designer reads it before every design and writes in its voice. Four fields carry most of the weight: Tone, In your words, Always and Never, backed by About and Who it's for. Fill those well and the copy that comes back sounds like you on a good day.
This page is about the words. For the full kit, logos and colours included, see brand kit setup.
Which brand kit fields the Designer reads
The Designer uses the whole kit, but each part shapes something different. Identity and audience decide what it says. Voice decides how it says it. Colours and fonts decide how it looks.
What you write
What it changes
What it changes
What it changes
What you write
What it changes
What you write
What it changes
What you write
What it changes
What you write
What it changes
Tone: choose fewer words than you think
The Tone field offers twelve words and lets you pick up to five. Most brands are clearer with three. Every extra word dilutes the others, and some pairs pull against each other: playful and serious together tell the Designer nothing.
- Warm, calm, friendly: cafés, florists, wellness, local services.
- Precise, technical, confident: software, engineering, finance tools.
- Bold, rebellious, witty: streetwear, music, independent drinks brands.
- Luxurious, calm, precise: jewellery, hotels, architecture studios.
- Playful, warm, witty: children's products, bakeries, games.
The tone words set the register. The next three fields are where your brand stops sounding like every other warm, friendly brand.
In your words, Always and Never: write rules, not wishes
An AI follows instructions it can check. "Be approachable" is a wish; "use first names and contractions" is a rule. The best entries are specific enough that two different writers would produce similar copy from them, which is the same test brand guidelines for AI recommends for any assistant.
Vague
- Friendly and professional
- Engaging, modern copy
- Always on brand
- Never boring
Specific
- Short sentences. Contractions. Say "we", not "the team".
- Lead with the thing itself: the bread, the date, the price.
- Always say where the coffee comes from.
- Never use exclamation marks, slang or "amazing".
Here is a complete voice section for a small roastery, written to fit inside the field limits. Notice that half of it is about what not to do. Negative rules are often the quickest way to remove the generic AI tone.
Tone: Warm, Calm, Precise
In your words: Plain and warm, like a regular chatting at the counter.
Short sentences. British spelling. Never shouty.
Always: Say where the coffee comes from.
Name the roast and the brew method.
Give real times and prices when we have them.
Never: Exclamation marks, emoji, slang or "amazing".
Words like "artisanal" or "curated".
Promise anything we haven't confirmed.About and audience: the facts behind the voice
A voice without facts produces confident nonsense. About is where you put what the brand actually offers: what you make, where, for whom, and what makes it different. Up to 1,200 characters is room for your products, your opening hours, your one unusual promise. When the Designer has those, it uses them instead of inventing filler.
Who it's for shapes the vocabulary. Busy professionals in the city who care where their coffee comes from produces different copy from students who want somewhere warm to work. Choose the industry too, or describe your own if none fits. If you are still working out who the brand is, brand personality and brand voice are good first reads.
With an empty kit: generic excitement and no facts.
With the roastery's kit: origin, roast and method, in its calm voice.
Fill the kit in faster from your website
You don't have to start from blank fields. Add your website in Identity and choose Read site: Gradiently fetches the site's name, description, colour and icon, and offers each one to use or ignore. The description often makes a decent first tagline or About. Import your brand from your website covers what it reads and how to get the best result.
How to test your brand voice
- 1
Ask for three ordinary posts
Pick everyday jobs, not launches: opening hours change, a new product, a thank you. Ordinary posts are where generic tone creeps in.
- 2
Read them aloud
If a line sounds like something you'd never say to a customer, find the rule that would have stopped it and add it to Never.
- 3
Check every fact
Invented details mean About is thin. Add the real ones: hours, prices, places, names.
- 4
Ask again and compare
Run the same request after the change. One rule at a time makes it obvious which edits help.
The same kit reaches beyond the Studio. When you connect ChatGPT or Claude to Gradiently, the assistant can read your brand profile, voice included, before it lays anything out; see Gradiently in Claude. And for a wider set of techniques for words on designs, read writing copy for visuals.
Questions people ask
How do I teach AI my brand voice?
Give it specific, checkable rules: a few tone words, a short description, and lists of what you always and never do. In Gradiently these live in the brand kit, which the Designer reads before it writes.
How many tone words should I choose?
Three is usually clearest. The field allows up to five, but each extra word weakens the others, and contradictory pairs cancel out.
Why does AI copy still sound generic?
Usually because the instructions are adjectives rather than rules, or because the brand's real facts are missing. Add concrete Never rules and fill in About.
Do ChatGPT and Claude use my Gradiently brand voice?
When connected to Gradiently, they can read your brand profile, including its voice, through the Gradiently tools before they design.
Is the brand kit free?
The brand kit is part of Gradiently Pro. Free accounts can still design with any unclaimed Mark.
Written by Gradiently
The team behind Gradiently, a design tool built around Marks: living gradients that make everything you design look like yours.
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