Content voice and tone
Maersk Design System (MDS) content has one brand character expressed through two writing modes. Pick the mode from the content’s job, then apply the shared foundations and the mode’s specific register. When a page mixes jobs, split it: instructional sections use documentation mode, a launch note inside the same release uses announcement mode.
This skill does not govern agent messages. A future agent communication standard remains a separate concern.
Choose the mode
| If the content… | Use | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Tells a designer or developer how to decide or build something (component pages, guidelines, content policy) | Documentation mode | documentation-mode.md |
| Shares news, celebrates a launch, or tells a story (announcements, blog posts, articles, roadmap, release notes) | Announcement / blog mode | announcement-blog-mode.md |
If you cannot tell, ask one question: is the reader here to make a decision, or to learn what changed? Decision → documentation. What changed → announcement.
Shared foundations (both modes)
These hold regardless of mode. Current MDS brand and content guidance defines the standard; no individual component page is a fixed voice-and-tone baseline.
- British spelling, sentence case for headings and labels, active voice.
- Lead with the point. State the decision or the news first, then the detail.
- Concrete Maersk logistics context where it genuinely fits: bookings, containers, vessels, ports, schedules, cargo, customs.
- Define a term on first use; then use it consistently.
- No shouting (no all-caps), no hype without substance, no accusatory or judgemental phrasing.
- Every sentence earns its place. Remove anything that does not change what the reader thinks or does.
- Respect the brand character pillars in brand-tov.md: Human, Optimistic, Authentic, Ambitious.
Guardrails
- Do not restate cross-component or brand policy; link to
/guidelines/*,/content/*, and the brand tone of voice instead. - Do not invent metrics, quotes, names, dates, or product claims in announcement mode. Every factual statement must come from the source material.
- Component-page structure and MDX contracts live in author-component-page. This skill governs register and voice, not those content-element contracts.
- After drafting either mode, apply the final editing pass before handoff.