Ask a team what their brand sounds like and you get adjectives. Ask what it would never say and you get answers within seconds.
“We'd never say revolutionary.” “We don't promise results.” “No exclamation marks in prices.” Those answers are sharper than “friendly and professional”, because each one rules out a real sentence.
A never list is the cheapest part of a voice guide to write and the easiest to check. It is also the part most guides skip.
01The idea
Ruling out is easier than describing.
A description leaves the writer to guess. A boundary tells them exactly which sentence not to write. Reviewers can apply it too, without arguing about taste.
A description
Confident but humble.
A boundary
Never “the best in town”. Never a result we can't guarantee.
Boundaries also protect the brand. A physiotherapy clinic that never promises “pain-free in four sessions” stays clear of claims it can't stand behind.
02The list
Three kinds of never.
- Words.Industry clichés and words that clash with the brand: “artisanal”, “solutions”, “unbeatable”.
- Claims.Promises about results, timelines or comparisons the brand can't prove.
- Habits.Patterns that creep in: all-caps offers, a question in every opening, three emoji in a row.
Keep each entry short and add what to do instead. “Not ‘solutions’. Name the service.” is a rule a writer can follow in the next sentence.
03The source
Find the entries in your own edits.
The best never list is not invented in a workshop. It collects itself, one edit at a time, whenever someone crosses out a word and says why.
One clinic post, two versions.
First draft
Say goodbye to back pain forever with our revolutionary treatment!
Two entries for the list: “revolutionary” and a promise of a result.
After an edit like this, write the rule down where the next writer will see it. In Kanso, the rule goes into the voice guidance in Brand Brain, and drafts that break it are marked before review.
Every crossed-out word is a rule someone forgot to write down.
04The limit
Keep it short enough to remember.
A never list with forty entries becomes a style police that nobody reads. Ten to fifteen entries are plenty for most brands. Remove one when it stops coming up.
Pair it with the positive side of the guide: the decisions that describe the voice and how the tone changes from one moment to the next. Together they tell a writer both where to go and where not to.
