# Berlin Bytes — Voice & Tone

The visual system has a verbal twin. Same brand, same rules — applied to words.

## Two registers: external vs internal

Berlin Bytes speaks in **two clearly separated registers.** Pick the register before you pick the words.

| | **External** (marketing, sales, website, customer-facing) | **Internal** (team, culture, internal comms & assets) |
|---|---|---|
| Language | **German** (the website default & the language of all customer/sales communication) | **English** (always) |
| Address | Formal **"Sie / Ihr"** | Relaxed "we / you" |
| Tone | Professional, confident, precise, transformative. Polished. | Confident, warm, and free to be cheeky, funny, even ironic. |
| Mascot | No Bearnie | Bearnie welcome |
| Emoji | None | Sparing & warm OK |

> The cheeky/profane lines that live in the internal brand guide ("Trust me, web sucks…")
> are **internal voice only**. They must never leak into external copy.

## Voice in one line

**Confident and plain-spoken** — externally professional, internally warm and witty.
Short, direct sentences. We won't use 5 buzzwords when 1 verb does the job.

### External tone (orient on berlin-bytes.de)

Professional, forward-looking, outcomes-led. German, formal Sie-form. Examples from the live site:

> "Launchen Sie ein Produkt, das Ihr Unternehmen voranbringt."
> "Maximieren Sie das Potenzial Ihrer Produkte."
> "Vorausschauend, präzise, transformativ."
> "Wandel gestalten. Kompetenzen ergänzen. Innovation ermöglichen."

### Internal tone

> "We're not the loudest voice in the room — we're the ones who show up and make it work."
> "Talking straight without layers, decisions happen fast."
> "Happy PowerPointing! <3"

## Pronouns & address

- **External (German):** formal **"Sie", "Ihr", "Ihnen"**. Address the customer with respect. Refer to the team as "wir".
- **Internal (English):** first-person plural **"we / our / us"**, direct second-person **"you / your"**.
- **Never** corporate third-person ("Berlin Bytes is committed to…").

## Language policy

- **Website default: German.** All customer-facing and sales communication is **German**.
- **Internal communication: always English.**
- An English version of the site exists for international audiences; product/global communications may be English. When in doubt for external DE-market copy, default to German.

## Casing

| Surface | Casing |
|---|---|
| Display headlines | **Sentence case** — "Why corporate leaders choose to work with Berlin Bytes". Never title case. |
| Eyebrows | **ALL CAPS**, wide tracking (~0.14em). "WHO WE ARE", "ANGEBOT FÜR BETTERTRUST". |
| UI labels & pills | **Title Case** — "Website", "Case Study", "Kostenlose Beratung". |
| Internal / Slack-y comms | Relaxed, lowercase OK ("Happy PowerPointing! <3"). |

> Note: the visual `DESIGN_SYSTEM.md` says "no uppercase" for the *type system* (body/headlines). The **eyebrow** is the deliberate exception — a small uppercase label, not running text.

## Punctuation

- **Em-dash heavy** — used to chain ideas in display copy.
- Arrow markers (`→`, `->`) in instructional / brand-guide contexts.
- Smart quotes (`"" '`).
- Periods are fine but optional on short headlines.

## Numerics

Big bold numbers are a signature: `+100`, `+50`, `95%`, `400%`.
- `+` prefix for "more than".
- Rendered in **Space Mono**, mustard-on-grape in stat cards.

## Emoji

Used **sparingly** and warmly in **internal / section-marker** contexts only: 🗂️ for asset bins, 🎏 for banner sections, ❤️ / `<3` as a sign-off.
**Never** in customer-facing marketing copy. Don't sprinkle ✨🚀 into slides.

## Tone matrix

| Surface | Register | Voice |
|---|---|---|
| Website / hero / pitch | External (DE, Sie) | Professional, confident, declarative ("Launchen Sie ein Produkt, das Ihr Unternehmen voranbringt.") |
| Sales / customer comms | External (DE, Sie) | Polished, outcomes-led, respectful |
| Stats / proof | Either | Stark, numeric ("400+ Projekte", "+100 Happy Customers") |
| Case study | External (DE, Sie) | Plain, outcomes-led ("Conversions um bis zu 400% steigern.") |
| Internal slides / brand-guide | Internal (EN) | Cheeky, funny, even ironic ("Trust me, web sucks…") |
| Bearnie / mascot moments | Internal (EN) | Warm, approachable, human |

## Quick checklist (copy)

- [ ] **Register chosen first** — external (DE, formal Sie) vs internal (EN, relaxed)
- [ ] External copy is professional, German, Sie-form — no cheeky/profane, no Bearnie, no emoji
- [ ] Internal copy is English; wit/irony welcome
- [ ] Sentence-case headline, no title case, no ALL CAPS running text
- [ ] Em-dash to chain ideas; arrows in instructions
- [ ] Numbers as `+100` / `95%` in Space Mono
- [ ] Never third-person corporate