We do that by working with a permanent sense of wonder. For us, wonder is the source of joyful effort, intellectual curiosity, and the courage to make something meaningfully better. For the people we serve, it becomes software that carries complexity, learns the work, and helps them move with clarity and confidence.
Good work begins with mastery of our attention. We learn to steady it, direct it toward what matters, and return it when it wanders. The work becomes meaningful when that inner discipline turns outward as grateful service.
Wonder is not a break from the work. It is the quality of attention we bring to it.
Source
Five principles. One voice.
The verbal identity is not a layer we add at the end. It is how these principles sound when they become words.
01 · Wondering
Work with Wonder
Before trying to master the problem, take responsibility for the quality of attention you bring to it. Ask what might be possible, look again at what others take for granted, and notice the assumptions and biases we bring before they choose for us. Stay humble enough to be surprised. Let curiosity guide attention, let wonder lead to learning, and let learning become joyful self-improvement. Question the familiar with courage, then patiently pursue the better path until it is real and useful to someone else.
Test — Did we give the right thing our full attention, discover a better question, and turn what we learned into service?
02 · Simplifying
Make Complexity Feel Simple
Make choices, consequences, and next actions easy to understand. Simplicity is more than clean design. It is a quiet gift of time, profit, and joy. Protect the time of the team and the people we serve. The best solution often feels calm because the hard thinking has already been done.
Test — Did we remove effort, uncertainty, or a decision that the person should never have had to carry?
03 · Present
Meet the Person Before the Problem
Behind a request may be hard-won experience, fear of disruption, or a hope to feel safe and understood. Respond with patience and compassion. Treat hesitation as a need for more clarity, evidence, control, or continuity — and meet it with humble encouragement, never with pressure. Tell the truth about uncertainty, preserve the freedom to choose, and earn trust through grateful service.
Test — Does the person feel understood, respected, and free to make a confident choice?
04 · Stewarding
Learn the Work, Lighten the Work
Let the software carry the repetitive burden, surface what matters, and help people act while keeping them in control. We do not ask people to think like software. We teach software to think alongside people, so they have more time and attention for what matters most.
Test — Is the system doing more of the work while the person retains understanding and control?
05 · Courageous and calm
Build with Courage, Earn Peace of Mind
The familiar is not always safe, and the new is not always better. We earn trust by proving what works, naming what does not, and making important actions clear, controlled, and reversible. Pursue greatness as a forceful good, never as force. Our work is complete only when its power feels calm in another person's hands.
Test — Have we made life meaningfully better in a way people can see, trust, and safely use?
Voice
Who is speaking, even when the room changes.
A senior colleague who has done the work, who listens before advising, who never rushes you, who makes hard things feel holdable. Curious without being naive. Warm without being soft. Precise without being cold.
Not a guru. Not a cheerleader. Not a lawyer. Not a founder on stage. Not a bot performing empathy.
Wondering
Curious, humble enough to be surprised, never cynical. Looks again at what others skip. Asks a better question before offering an answer.
“There may be a simpler path here. Let's look at the work as it actually happens.”
Never: Novelty-seeking, hype, fake astonishment, or questions that are really pitches.
Simplifying
Carries the complexity offstage. Names the choice, the consequence, and the next action. Cuts a step before adding one.
“Two things to decide. The rest we can carry.”
Never: Jargon, feature dumps, or calling something simple as a way to rush the person.
Present
Writes to a someone, not an audience. Hears hesitation as a need for clarity, evidence, control, or continuity. Patient. Never pressuring.
“If you want to sit with this, that's wise. Nothing changes until you say so.”
Never: Urgency theater, guilt, 'don't worry', or talking over the person's experience.
Stewarding
Shows that we learned the work. Carries the repetitive burden. Keeps the person in control and able to see what the software is doing.
“We'll draft the next step from what you already do. You can change any of it.”
Never: Black boxes, 'trust us', or asking people to think like the system.
Courageous and calm
Willing to be meaningfully different. Proves what works. Names what does not. Makes important actions clear, controlled, and reversible.
“This is new. Here is what is proven, here is what is still uncertain, and here is how you reverse it.”
Never: Swagger, disruption talk, or hiding risk inside confidence.
Tone
The voice does not change. Tone does.
Voice is who we are. Tone is how we behave in a particular room — a button, a launch, a difficult reply. Stay the same person. Adjust the volume, the length, and the amount of proof.
Writing
Craft that protects someone else's attention.
Speak to a someone
Second person for the person we serve. First person plural for us. Do not say 'users' in anything they will read. Do not write to a segment.
One idea when it matters
Short sentences for decisions. Longer sentences are allowed when teaching or comforting. Do not bury the point.
Choice, consequence, next
If the person must decide, say what the options are, what follows, and what to do now. Cut the step before adding one.
Hesitation is information
When someone pauses, they usually need more clarity, evidence, control, or continuity. Meet that need. Never add pressure.
Keep them in control
Say what the software is doing. Offer a way to change or reverse important actions. Power should feel calm in their hands.
Mechanics
Contractions are welcome. Oxford comma. Sentence case for titles. Buttons are verbs. No exclamation points in product UI, and almost never elsewhere. Numerals for 10 and above.
Prefer, when true
peace of mind · wonder · attention · clarity · confidence · patience · service · control · reversible · the work · carry · lighten · choice · evidence · continuity · grateful · humble · calm · proven · hold · see · next · still
Put down
- disrupt / revolutionize — Say what is actually different, and what stays.
- unlock / supercharge / 10x — Name the burden you now carry for the person.
- seamless / magic — Show the step that disappeared. Do not claim invisibility.
- just / simply / easy / obviously — Do not minimize the person's work. Make it actually lighter.
- don't worry / no need to — Give evidence, control, or a reversible path.
- users — You, people, teams, the person doing the work.
- leverage / utilize / delve — Use, open, look. Prefer the word a colleague would say.
- we're excited to announce — Start with what changed in someone's day.
- guaranteed / always / never (unearned) — Prove the range. Tell the truth about uncertainty.
- click here — Name the destination or the action.
Surfaces
Same person, different rooms.
Product UI
Help someone act without taking over.Spare, present tense, one next action. Calm even when the moment is not.
- Labels name the thing in the person's language, not the feature's.
- Helper text answers the hesitation underneath: clarity, evidence, control, or continuity.
- Destructive actions say what will happen, and whether it can be undone.
- Empty states say what belongs here and the first honest step — not 'nothing here yet'.
- Loading names the work being done, not 'please wait'.
- No exclamation points. No 'just' or 'simply'. Buttons are verbs.
Marketing
Invite someone to feel understood, then show the work.Wonder first, proof second. Spoken aloud by a calm person.
- Lead with the person's inner state — peace of mind, confidence, time returned — not our capability.
- Wonder is a quality of attention, not a slogan sandwich.
- Proof over promise. Show the work. Name what is not yet true.
- Headlines a person could say without cringing.
- Never disrupt, supercharge, unlock, or 10x.
Support
Be fully present with one problem at a time.Listening, precise, unhurried. Care as clarity.
- Mirror the person's language before introducing ours.
- Treat frustration as a need for control or continuity, not as attitude.
- One problem, then the next. End with a next step and an open door.
- Never 'as per my previous', never 'unfortunately', never blame the person.
- Tell the truth about uncertainty. If you do not know, say so and say when you will.
Documentation
Teach the work, including exceptions and judgment.Patient teacher. Task-first. No condescension.
- Headings are tasks a person would recognize ('Review a change before it goes live').
- One line of why, then the how.
- Document the exception and the human judgment — that is the work.
- Do not ask the reader to think like the software.
- Keep the person in control: say what the system will do, and what they can reverse.
Incident and apology
Restore control. Tell the truth. Do not perform.Direct, human, unhedged. No theater.
- Lead with what happened and who is affected.
- Name what is safe now, what is not, and what we are doing.
- Apologize without diluting. No 'if you were inconvenienced'.
- Say what will be different. Do not promise what you cannot prove.
- Give a way to get help that does not require hunting.
Examples
Cut the performance. Leave the person.
- Don't
We're excited to announce that we've supercharged our platform to unlock seamless, 10x workflows.
DoThe work is lighter now. You still decide. The software carries more of the repetition.
Wonder and proof, not hype. The person stays in control.
- Don't
Invalid input.
DoThat date is in the past. Choose today or later — nothing has been saved.
Name what happened, what is safe, and the next action.
- Don't
Just click here to get started!
DoStart with a workflow you already know. We'll learn it with you.
'Just' minimizes. Meet the person inside their work.
- Don't
Please wait…
DoLearning how this workflow is usually done.
Name the work being carried, so the person still understands.
- Don't
Nothing here yet.
DoThis is where reviews will land. Bring the first one in when you're ready.
Empty states teach what belongs and preserve freedom to choose.
- Don't
Delete workspace? This cannot be undone.
DoDelete this workspace? Projects inside will be removed. You have 30 days to restore it.
Important actions are clear, controlled, and — when we can — reversible.
- Don't
As per my previous email, you need to clear your cache.
DoI read this as the list not matching what you just saved. If that's right, here is the shortest path back to a trustworthy view.
Present. Mirror the work. No pressure, no scolding.
- Don't
Utilize the dashboard to leverage insights across your user base.
DoOpen the work you already do. The dashboard will surface what needs a decision, and leave the rest alone.
Teach the work. Do not ask people to think like software.
- Don't
We wanted to reach out regarding a potential issue some users may have experienced.
DoExports failed for about two hours this morning. If you ran one, it did not go through. Nothing else was changed. You can run it again now.
Truth, control, next action. No hedging theater.
- Don't
A revolutionary AI-powered operating system for modern teams.
DoSoftware that learns the work — including the exceptions — so you can move with a quieter mind.
Meaningfully different, then dependable. Peace of mind is the promise, not 'AI'.
The tests
If it cannot pass these, it is not finished.
- 01 · Work with Wonder
Did we give the right thing our full attention, discover a better question, and turn what we learned into service?
- 02 · Make Complexity Feel Simple
Did we remove effort, uncertainty, or a decision that the person should never have had to carry?
- 03 · Meet the Person Before the Problem
Does the person feel understood, respected, and free to make a confident choice?
- 04 · Learn the Work, Lighten the Work
Is the system doing more of the work while the person retains understanding and control?
- 05 · Build with Courage, Earn Peace of Mind
Have we made life meaningfully better in a way people can see, trust, and safely use?
We do not ask people to think like software. We teach software to think alongside people.