---
system: atlassian
category: content
topic: voice-and-tone
content_type: guidance
status: latest
retrieved: 2026-05-16
source_url: https://atlassian.design/foundations/content/voice-tone
tags: [voice, tone, content-design, brand, atlassian]
---

# Atlassian Design — Voice and Tone

## Atlassian's personality

Atlassian's personality is defined by three core traits that hold constant across all content:

**Bold** — Motivating teams with the right amount of support at the right time to do their best work. Bold does not mean aggressive or assertive — it means confident and supportive.

**Optimistic** — Understanding where in the journey someone is and highlighting the key points. Optimism is contextual: it is calibrated to the user's actual emotional state, not applied uniformly.

**Practical, with a wink** — Getting to the point and being direct and concise. "Practical with a wink" is Atlassian's way of saying: efficient first, personality second. The "wink" is the occasional small delight — not humor, not playfulness, but a moment of unexpected warmth or pleasantness.

---

## Tone framework

Tone adjusts based on where the user is in their journey and their emotional state in that moment. Atlassian's three voice traits all have a "more/less" dial that turns based on context.

| User state | Tone adjustment |
|---|---|
| Confident, interested, anticipatory (power users, admins) | More bold |
| Apprehensive, confused, or fearful (new/trial users) | Less bold |
| Ambitious, inspired | More optimistic |
| Uncertain, unsupported | Less optimistic |
| Overwhelmed, stressed | More practical (reduce flourish) |
| Successful, joyful, relieved | Add the "wink" |

The three traits rarely all dial in the same direction at once. A stressed user doing a difficult task needs maximum practicality and minimum wink, even if they're also feeling bold.

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## Six content principles

Atlassian organizes its content intent around six principles. These apply to UI and app content — not marketing copy.

### 1. Inform to build trust

"Tell people only what they need to know in the moment and nothing more." Over-informing is as harmful as under-informing — it creates noise and erodes trust.

*Applies to:* Flags, tooltips, contextual help, notifications.

### 2. Empower to inspire action

Educate users at pivotal moments with best practices. Give them enough to act, not everything you know.

*Applies to:* Empty states, onboarding, feature discovery, contextual education.

### 3. Encourage people along the path

Provide consistent support and human guidance through complex tasks. Users should feel accompanied, not abandoned.

*Applies to:* Multi-step flows, progress indicators, error recovery states.

### 4. Motivate by showing possibilities

"Show the possible benefits" through concrete examples. Abstract encouragement ("You're doing great!") is less effective than concrete possibility ("Teams that use this feature complete 30% more work.").

*Applies to:* Benefits modals, upgrade prompts, feature spotlights.

### 5. Satisfy by meeting expectations

Deliver practical answers without unnecessary flourish. The user asked a question (explicitly or through their action) — answer it completely and then stop.

*Applies to:* Success states, confirmation messages, help content.

### 6. Delight with unexpectedly pleasing experiences

"Delight means little flourishes, not humor." Use this principle sparingly and only when the user is in a positive emotional state. Delight is a reward for user success, not a default mode.

*Applies to:* Success states for major milestones, easter eggs, celebration moments.

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## What Atlassian's voice is not

- Not humorous by default (humor requires a very specific context)
- Not casual or informal — "practical with a wink" is not the same as casual
- Not uniformly optimistic — optimism should match the user's journey position
- Not wordy — "inform to build trust" means giving less, not more