Voice and Tone

보이스와 톤

Voice is a brand's personality (constant); tone is its expression in the moment (calm on error, upbeat on success).

Also known as: Brand voice
···
html
<div class="stage">
  <div class="pane bad"><span class="mark">✕</span><span class="label">Before</span>
    <div class="bubble"><p class="copy" id="bt"></p></div>
    <p class="why" id="bw"></p></div>
  <div class="pane good"><span class="mark">✓</span><span class="label">After</span>
    <div class="bubble"><p class="copy" id="gt"></p></div>
    <p class="why" id="gw"></p></div>
</div>
css
.stage{width:94%;height:88%;display:flex;gap:4%}
.pane{position:relative;flex:1;border-radius:14px;border:1px solid var(--line);background:var(--surface);padding:16px 14px 12px;display:flex;flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;align-items:center;gap:10px}
.mark{position:absolute;top:10px;right:12px;font:800 16px/1 system-ui;color:var(--accent-2)}
.good .mark{color:var(--accent-3)}
.label{position:absolute;top:10px;left:12px;font:700 10px/1 monospace;color:var(--muted);text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:.06em}
.bubble{width:90%;border-radius:14px 14px 14px 4px;border:1px solid var(--line);background:var(--bg);padding:12px 14px}
.copy{margin:0;font:600 clamp(11px,2.9vmin,14px)/1.5 -apple-system,sans-serif;color:var(--fg)}
.why{margin:0;font:500 11px/1.3 -apple-system,sans-serif;color:var(--muted);text-align:center}
js
const bt = document.getElementById('bt'), bw = document.getElementById('bw');
const gt = document.getElementById('gt'), gw = document.getElementById('gw');
const L = {
  ko: { bt: '처리에 실패하였습니다. 재시도하십시오.', bw: '에러 상황인데 딱딱한 합쇼체 명령조', gt: '저장이 안 됐어요. 다시 시도해볼까요?', gw: '같은 보이스, 에러엔 차분한 톤' },
  en: { bt: 'Processing has failed. Please retry.', bw: 'blunt and formal for an error moment', gt: "That didn't save — want to try again?", gw: 'same voice, softened tone for the situation' },
};
let lang = 'ko';
function paint() {
  const t = L[lang];
  bt.textContent = t.bt; bw.textContent = t.bw; gt.textContent = t.gt; gw.textContent = t.gw;
}
paint();
setInterval(() => { lang = lang === 'ko' ? 'en' : 'ko'; paint(); }, 2600);

Voice is the personality a brand keeps constant — friendly, professional, playful — while tone is how that same voice flexes with the situation. A person's personality doesn't change, but they don't celebrate and apologize in the same register.

The most common Korean UX-writing mistake is mixing **해요체 (casual-polite) and 합쇼체 (formal-polite) on the same screen**. "저장했어요" (casual) next to "삭제하시겠습니까?" (formal) reads like two different products. Pick one register and hold it consistently.

The demo shows the same message in two tones: ✕ stays stiff regardless of context, while ✓ keeps the same voice but softens for an error moment.

When to use

Match the sentence-ending register of existing screens before writing a new one. Pre-defining tone per situation (error/success/delete) saves rewrites later.