# Voice, grammar and word list

North brand guidelines for AI agents · https://identity.north.ae/AGENTS/voice · Updated 2026-10-14
Use when: Writing or editing any English copy: UI, docs, marketing, email, social, proposals.
Rules that always apply: https://identity.north.ae/AGENTS

## Voice
- Clear: short sentences, active voice, plain words, one idea per sentence. Lead with the answer.
- Calm: no hype ("revolutionary", "game-changing", "magic"), no exclamation marks in product/formal writing, no emoji in formal content; name risks plainly.
- Precise: exact numbers, names and terms; never "100% secure", "unhackable", "guaranteed", "military-grade".
- Human: write to one person ("you", "we"), contractions; people stay in command.
- AI language: agents draft, analyse, suggest, prepare; people approve, decide, send. AI never "thinks", "wants" or "understands". Say where models run ("on your on-premises model").

## Tone by channel
| Channel | Tone |
|---|---|
| Product UI | Brief, direct, helpful. Buttons say what happens ("Send 3 emails"); keep action names through a flow; errors say what happened + how to fix, no blame/apology |
| Documentation | Precise, structured, neutral |
| Government proposals | Formal, respectful, evidence-led |
| Marketing/web | Confident, warm, concrete |
| Social | Conversational, one idea, ≤ 2 hashtags |
| Support/incidents | Calm, honest, specific, with next update time |
| Internal | Friendly, direct |

## Grammar and editorial (British English)
- Spelling: organisation, licence (noun) / license (verb), colour, centre, programme. UI strings may follow software standards.
- Sentence case for headings, titles, buttons, menus. No full stop in headings.
- Serial (Oxford) comma. "and" not "&" (except names and tight UI).
- Acronyms: spell out on first use with the abbreviation in brackets, except AI, API, PDF, URL, UAE. No full stops: UAE, UK, US, EU.
- Dates: 13 October 2026 (tables 13 Oct 2026; ISO 2026-10-13 in data/file names). Time: 14:30 GST in technical/government text, 2:30 pm GST in marketing. Working week Monday–Friday.
- Numbers: one to nine in words, 10+ numerals; numerals with units (3 GB, 5 minutes); thousands with commas; 63% no space; money "AED 1,200", "USD 45".
- En dash for ranges without spaces (9–17); spaced em dash sparingly; hyphenate compound adjectives (on-premises model).
- Bullets: capital first letter, parallel, full stops only on full sentences, ≤ 7 items.
- Pronouns: "they" when unknown; agents (including Mai) are "it".
- No ™/® in running text. Code, commands and settings in monospace; UI labels in bold.

## Using AI to write
- Confidential content (customer names, proposals, internal plans, anything classified): only Mai in NorthStar on an on-premises model. Never public AI tools or browser extensions.
- Start drafts from real sources; never let a model invent statistics, quotes, customer stories, people, logos or screenshots.
- Check every fact, number and name; run the naming rules; read aloud; human review for anything public, legal or customer-facing.

## Word list
| Write | Don't write |
|---|---|
| North | NORTH, north, North AI |
| NorthStar / NorthCloud / NorthEdge | North Star, Northstar, North Cloud, North Edge |
| NorthStar Admiral (Server, Console, CLI, Mobile) | North Admiral, Admiral desktop, operator app |
| North Success, North Academy, North Identity | NorthSuccess, North support portal, brandbook |
| Mai, Shaheen, Masar | MAI, SHAHEEN, NorthStar Shaheen, North Chat (Mai's former name) |
| agent | bot, AI employee, digital worker |
| on-premises | on-premise, on-prem (except tight UI) |
| residency, data residency | data sovereignty (unless legally precise) |
| model garden | model zoo, model store |
| sign in (verb) / sign-in (noun) | log in, login |
| email, dataset, real time (noun) / real-time (adj.) | e-mail, data set, realtime |
| human in the loop | HITL (in customer copy) |
| the UAE | U.A.E. |