Writing style guide

I've built writing style guides at two organizations: one for a solo documentation team at a SaaS startup, and one for a team of 3-7 writers at an enterprise company. The guides are confidential, so the examples here are recreated from that work.

The challenge

Whenever I started a new documentation effort, the same problems showed up: voice varied from writer to writer, corporate jargon crept in, and there were no clear structural standards. That made content hard to keep consistent and new writers slow to onboard.

My goal was a single, accessible reference that kept everyone writing in the same voice and got new writers up to speed quickly.

My approach

Audit: I inventoried the content we produced so the guide covered what we actually wrote.
Research: I benchmarked style guides from similar companies.
Draft and review: I built the guide, then reviewed it with the team.
Training and coaching: I trained the team, then ran coaching sessions until everyone was comfortable using it.
Maintenance: Writers brought change requests to me, and I reviewed the full guide once a year. The guide stayed published where the whole team could find it.

What I built

Voice & tone matrix

Voice shouldn't just be abstract adjectives.

I built a practical matrix that turned our personality into actionable writing rules and showed how they shift across situations.

A screenshot of voice and tone matrixes in a writing style guide.

Accessibility as a foundation

Accessibility isn't a separate checklist. I introduced it at the start and reinforced it throughout the guide.

A screenshot of accessibility guidelines in a writing style guide.

Writing standards

Consistency comes from simple rules, so I set standards for style, grammar, mechanics, and word choice.

Content chunks

Well-chunked information is easier to follow. I defined repeatable content blocks with rules for improving reader understanding. (See Templates & content blocks )

A screenshot of content chunk overviews in a writing style guide.

Image guidelines

I set clear, simple guidance on when and how to use images.

Impact & takeaways

One voice across the team. Everyone wrote in a cohesive voice, no matter who drafted the content.
Faster, more focused Product reviews. The guide answered "why is it written this way?" before the meeting, so reviews focused on whether the content was correct.
Easier onboarding. New writers had one place to learn the standards.
Built to last. A single owner, a clear path for change requests, and an annual review kept the guide current.

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