Voice and tone
The Slack voice is the heart of our brand—it shines through our words, design, sound and overall experience with Slack. It sounds like your friendly, intelligent coworker: clear, concise and human.
Clear
Clarity is a courtesy to our readers. We respect their time and their intelligence, answer questions before they’re asked, and don’t get in the way of their actions. We recognize the weight of the written word. Saying what you mean is the best way to say something meaningful.
Concise
We give every word purpose. We’re thoughtful and intentional with our words. We don’t get carried away with ourselves.
Human
We are characterful. But we never let character overwhelm content. What we have to say is infinitely more important than being admired for the way we say it. We like the people we’re talking to, so we keep things warm and conversational. We add delight when the moment is right, and we reward the curious with pleasant surprises.
EXAMPLE
What’s new?
How’s everybody doing out there? Are you getting enough sleep? Drinking enough water? Eating some vegetables here and there? We don’t have any big updates this time around, so we wanted to use this space to remind you to be kind to yourself and those around you. That’s all. Love ya.
For guidance on shifting tonality, please see the
voice and tone spectrum.Language
It should go without saying, but it’s still worth stating: Never use exclusionary terms, cultural appropriation, ableist or misgendering language, or anything that could be interpreted as a slur. This includes references to pop culture, the use of slang, most abbreviations or anything else that might resonate with only a few people, but not most people.
Emoji
We encourage using emoji in the right place and time, such as when they can add meaning or delight to what we say. However, never use emoji in place of words in a sentence. 💜
The Slack name
Since the Slack brand name is trademarked, we don’t use Slack as a verb, or create words that include our brand name. Sorry, no “Slackers” here. For more notes on the proper usage of Slack, visit
About Slack page.
Stylization
We follow AP style, with any exceptions noted in the Slack editorial style guide. For spelling, use the first entry for a word in Merriam-Webster unless otherwise noted.
Capitalization
Sentence case is the default capitalization style for most Slack copy.
Sentence case
Use sentence case for headlines, subheads, body copy and links
Caps case
Caps case is reserved for buttons, eyebrows, and jump links
Title and lowercase
Use title case for proper nouns, including the Slack name itself (even if our logo suggests otherwise) and organizational departments in headlines. We always lowercase slack.com unless it is used to start a sentence, which we kindly suggest you avoid.
Capitalization of product terms varies; please consult the
24 product glossary.
Capitalization of product terms varies; please consult the
product glossary.
EXAMPLE
Folks who like Workflow Builder are sure to love channels in Slack.
Times and attributions
Times
- Use numerals, a space and periods: 9 a.m., 12:30 p.m.
- For display copy, capitalize and remove periods: 8 AM PDT | 12 PM EDT
- Drop the :00 for times at the top of the hour: 10 a.m., 1 p.m.
- In a span, use an en dash: 8:30 a.m.–1 p.m.
- In running text, use words: Taking place on October 7 and 8 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Attributions
Here are a few handy things to remember about job titles:
- Capitalize job titles in pull quotes and display copy, but not in running text
- Abbreviate CEO, CFO, COO, CTO, VP, Sr.
- Don’t abbreviate uncommon acronyms, like Chief Technical Operations Officer
- Co-founder, not Co-Founder
Punctuation
Use standard punctuation in body copy (err on the side of no exclamation points!). Headlines, buttons, links and eyebrows should not have any punctuation, outside of commas and question marks. Keep headlines short enough that they don’t feel like they need punctuation—a complete sentence can look out of place without a period.
Symbols
- We do not use ampersands (&) or plus signs (+) in place of "and"
- We do not use the Oxford/serial comma unless it is critical for clarity
- Always set end punctuation inside closing quotation marks
Em dashes (—)
No spaces around em dashes, except in tweets.
EXAMPLE
An aside—like this one—needs no extra spaces
En dashes (–)
Use in charts and display ads for a span or range of numbers, dates or times—otherwise spell it out
EXAMPLE
9:30 a.m.–1 p.m. | January 22–25
Use title case for proper nouns, including the Slack name itself (even if our logo suggests otherwise) and organizational departments in headlines. Capitalization of product terms varies; please consult the
We always lowercase slack.com unless it is used to start a sentence, which we kindly suggest you avoid.
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