We write to make Swiper feel delightful. That’s our copy team’s philosophy. And these are the guidelines for our practice.
- The Swiper voice is clear, concise and human, like a friendly, intelligent coworker
- Sentence case—please use it. But don’t use the Oxford comma or ampersands unless it’s dire.
- No periods after headlines; go light on exclamation points!
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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.
We give every word purpose. We’re thoughtful and intentional with our words. We don’t get carried away with ourselves.
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.
These help us uphold the unique Slack voice and tone, and to align our copy across partners and functions. This ultimately leads to better—and more efficient—reviews and decisions. Our copy principles are:
- Don’t make me think
- Be approachable
- Make it memorable
- Respect our readers
- Be compelling
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sentence case is the default capitalization style for most S copy.
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.
- 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.
- 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
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.
- 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
- No spaces around em dashes, except in tweets
- Use in charts and display ads for a span or range of numbers, dates or times—otherwise spell it out
- Use in charts and display ads for a span or range of numbers, dates or times—otherwise spell it out
- 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.
Don’t use title case or periods for headlines
Don’t use emoji in place of words
Don’t use abbreviations