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Brand identity — voice, microcopy, tone (DRAFT)

Status: Draft for design review. Produced as the initial pass on #42 Foundation: brand identity (voice + microcopy + tone). The brief is grounded in personas.md, competitive-landscape.md, and the ADR-0005 Casual-primary / Builder-secondary track framing. Final adoption pending review — the Figma-design partner is invited to react, override, refine. The structure here is a starting point, not an ending one.

1. Why this exists

961tech is the Lebanese aggregator most of the personas are landing on by mistake or by Google. The buyer's mood when they arrive runs the gamut: "I just want a laptop" (Casual), "compatibility please don't bite me" (First-time builder), "I know what I want, get out of my way" (Karim the gamer), "I'm buying for the office, just confirm price + stock" (Office IT). One brand voice has to land for all of them without looking like it's trying to.

The competitive landscape is dominated by:

  • Lebanese tech retailers (PCAndParts, 961Souq, Macrotronics, et al.) that ship a workmanlike English-only B2C e-commerce voice with WhatsApp-prominent trust density and no brand identity to speak of.
  • Global aggregators (PCPartPicker, Pricena) that read either "engineering-first community" (PCPartPicker) or "indifferent middleware" (Pricena's MENA presence).
  • The Lebanese-Arabic SERP that collapses to classifieds — no brand-shaped competitor in Arabic, even though Arabic queries arrive.

961tech's voice job: be the trusted Lebanese friend who knows PC parts, knows the local market, won't pretend to be Apple or Best Buy, will tell you when something's overpriced, and won't talk down to a beginner or up to an enthusiast.

2. Brand snapshot
Name 961tech
What it is Lebanon's PC parts price comparison site — and the Casual-track product browser for laptops, prebuilts, and peripherals
Voice (one-liner) Knowledgeable Lebanese friend who's been buying tech here since 2015.
Tone (one-liner) Direct, dry, slightly teasing, never sales-y, never patronising.
Personality (5 words) Helpful · Honest · Local · Specific · Quietly opinionated
What we are NOT Not an enterprise SaaS · Not a youthful gamer brand · Not a Lebanese-flag-waving nationalist project · Not Material Design · Not corporate-cheerful
Reference vibe The senior friend in the Lebanon PC Gamers FB group who actually knows what they're talking about — minus the time-zone unavailability and the typos.

3. Voice principles

The voice principles are the load-bearing part of this doc. Microcopy can drift; the friend produces concrete language in Figma; but if these principles aren't right, every piece of copy will be re-litigated.

3.1 Specific over generic

Always. Lebanese buyers see through generic copy instantly because they've been burned by it (translated EU e-commerce templates, AI-spam SEO blogs, and every "premium tech retailer" bio). The competitive-landscape research turned up the same pattern across every retailer profiled.

✗ Generic ✓ Specific
"Find great deals on PC parts" "Compare CPU prices across 6 Lebanese retailers in 30 seconds"
"Quality you can trust" "Stock checked daily. Last refresh: 2h ago"
"Your one-stop shop" "We don't sell — we tell you who's cheapest right now"
"Premium experience" "WhatsApp the retailer when you click. They expect that here"

The specific version is also shorter, in every example. Not coincidence.

3.2 Tell people the price, then the qualifier

The Lebanese market runs on price. Personas confirm it: every primary persona's first decision input is $/performance. The voice has to lead with the number and trail with the qualifier — never the reverse.

✗ Reverse ✓ Lead with number
"Including VAT, the price comes to $1,460" "$1,460. Includes VAT"
"We have estimated this at around $200" "~$200 (estimate; quote-only retailer)"
"Limited-time pricing!" "$640 today. $710 last week"

This is also the right shape for the Casual track's product detail page — the price needs to be visible without scrolling.

3.3 Lebanese English, not transatlantic English

We're talking to Lebanese buyers. They speak Lebanese English: more direct than American, more colloquial than British, code-switches casually with Arabic but for tech, defaults to English (per the i18n research, locked in ADR-0004).

What that means concretely:

  • OK: "Lebanon's PC builder, finally." / "We track 6 retailers. They don't track each other." / "Don't worry, we'll fight the compat-warning instead of you."
  • Not OK: "Welcome to your premium PC building experience." / "Discover unparalleled deals on cutting-edge components." / "Your journey to the perfect PC starts here."

If a sentence could've been written by a generic SaaS landing page, rewrite it. If it sounds like the friend in the FB group, keep it.

3.4 Honest about what we don't know

The competitive research showed that Lebanese buyers respect retailers who say "we don't have it" over retailers who say "call for price" (961Souq's structural weakness, see retailers.md §2). 961tech's voice should always own its limits explicitly:

  • OK: "We don't track Multitech yet (their site blocks us). Try [direct link]" — better than silently omitting it.
  • OK: "Last scrape: 2h ago. Could be stale — confirm with retailer before paying" — better than a pretend-real-time UI.
  • OK: "This product isn't on any retailer we track. Got a tip? Tell us via WhatsApp" — better than an empty grid.
  • Not OK: "Out of stock everywhere" (we don't know that — we know we couldn't find it).

3.5 Quietly opinionated

961tech has opinions — about overpriced GPUs, about which retailers are reliable, about whether Call For Price is a UX failure (it is). The voice doesn't shout these opinions, but it doesn't pretend to neutrality either. It treats the buyer as someone who'd want a real opinion from a friend.

  • OK: "PCAndParts is the price leader in Lebanon. Macrotronics is the cleanest pricing. 961Souq has the broadest catalog but half is 'Call For Price'. Pick your tradeoff."
  • OK: "$2,000 for that GPU is steep. Wait two weeks if you can — last drop was $1,750."
  • Not OK: "All retailers offer competitive prices." — no they don't, and the buyer knows it.

3.6 Help, don't condescend

First-time builders are a primary persona. They have compat anxiety, jargon overload, confidence issues. The voice never says "don't worry your pretty head" — it says "here's the rule; here's why; here's the override if you want it."

✗ Condescending ✓ Helpful
"Don't worry, we'll handle the compatibility for you" "PSU 450W is 30% below the recommended 600W for this GPU. You can override (gamble), upsize, or pick a less power-hungry GPU"
"Just relax, we got you" "If you're new: start with a tier preset. If you know what you're doing: ignore the preset"
"You don't need to understand all this" "Compat warnings explain the rule. Click to expand the why"

4. Tone variations by surface

The voice is constant. The tone varies by surface — same friend in different rooms.

Surface Tone Example
Homepage (Casual landing) Inviting, calm, not flashy "What are you shopping for? Pick a category, we'll show you who's selling it for cheap."
Builder track entry Slightly more technical, signal-respecting "Build a PC with live compatibility checks. Pick your CPU first — sockets cascade from there."
Product detail (Casual) Factual, prices-forward, fast "$1,460 at PCAndParts. $1,495 at 961Souq. $1,512 at Macrotronics (incl VAT). [Buy at PCAndParts]"
Compatibility warnings (Builder) Specific, actionable, never alarmed "PSU 450W is below recommended 600W (30% headroom for this GPU). Override or change part."
Empty states Honest, direction-giving "Nothing matches that filter combination. Drop the price ceiling or the brand filter — usually one of those is the culprit."
Error states Owns the failure, no jargon "Couldn't load the price for this listing. The retailer's site might be down. Try the direct link below."
Confirmations / success Brief, no celebration choreography "Saved. Your build's at /build/abc123. Share that link." (NOT "🎉 Yay! Your build was saved successfully!")
Affiliate disclosure Plain, never apologetic, never marketing "We earn from purchases via the retailer button. Doesn't change your price."
Out-of-stock / Call For Price Clear, not euphemistic "Retailer doesn't show a price. WhatsApp them: +961 1 657 725" (NOT "Inquire for pricing")
About page Personal, brief, real "Built nights and weekends by Amine in Beirut. If something's wrong, [email]."

5. Microcopy patterns

The reusable phrases. Treat as a starter list — the design partner expands.

5.1 Calls-to-action

  • Primary: "Compare prices" / "View at retailer" / "Build your PC" / "Save build" / "Share build"
  • Secondary: "See all retailers" / "Add to compare" / "Track price" / "Reset filters"
  • Avoid: "Click here", "Learn more", "Get started", "Discover", "Explore now"

5.2 Buttons in the Builder track

  • "Pick CPU" (not "Browse CPUs" — we're picking one)
  • "Swap" (not "Change component" — too long)
  • "Clear slot" (not "Remove component" — clear is a builder verb)
  • "Auto-fill" (when a preset would populate slots — verb-led, no marketing)

5.3 Stock state labels (#3)

State Label
In stock + USD price "$X at [retailer]" — price first
In stock + LBP-only retailer (none in current roster, but if added) "X LBP at [retailer]"
Out of stock "Out of stock" (not "Currently unavailable" — too corporate)
Quote-only / Call For Price "WhatsApp for price" + retailer's WhatsApp number when known
Stale data "Price as of [N]h ago" — never "Last updated" (bureaucratic)

5.4 Empty-state phrases

  • Search returns 0: "Nothing matches \"\<query>\". Try a brand name or a model number."
  • Filter returns 0: "No products match this filter combination. The price ceiling is usually the culprit."
  • Build slot empty: "Pick a \<category>" (verb-led; no fluff)
  • No retailers track this: "Not currently tracked at any retailer we scrape. [Suggest a retailer ↗]"

5.5 Error phrases

  • Network: "Can't reach the retailer's site. Try the direct link or check back in a few minutes."
  • 404 listing: "This product or retailer doesn't exist. Got here from a stale link?"
  • 500: "We broke something. Refresh, or try [back]." (NOT "Oops! Something went wrong! 😬")

5.6 Tax / VAT signals

Macrotronics displays VAT-inclusive (rare). Most don't. UX needs to communicate this without judgement:

  • "$1,460. Includes VAT." (Macrotronics)
  • "$1,460. VAT may apply at checkout — confirm with retailer." (everyone else)

5.7 The Lebanese touch (use sparingly — never as marketing)

  • "fresh USD" — used in personas; recognisable to Lebanese buyers as the cash payment they know
  • "WhatsApp" — used as a verb where it's the actual UX path
  • "the retailer" — neutral noun for the destination; never "our partner" or "vendor"
  • Light Arabic transliterations should be allowed in search (per ADR-0008) but not in UI copy (per ADR-0004)

6. Things to avoid (forbidden patterns)

The "AI slop" rejection list. Documented now so future contributors don't accidentally regress.

  • Emojis in product UI. No 🎉 on saves. No 🔥 on deals. Lebanese buyers read this as "I'm being sold to by a SaaS." Reserved for the postmortem dance: emojis live in commit messages and internal Slack, not the product surface.
  • Exclamation marks. One per page max. Reserved for genuine warnings ("Heads up: this PSU's sub-spec for this GPU"). Never on a button ("Save your build!") or a homepage hero ("Build your dream PC!").
  • First-person plural marketing voice. "We make it easy to find the best deals!" — no. We don't talk about ourselves on home, product, build, or retailer pages. Save it for /about.
  • Adjectives without measurements. "Premium", "powerful", "unbeatable", "cutting-edge", "world-class" — banned. If something's powerful, give the FPS-per-dollar number. If it's unbeatable, say "$110 below next-cheapest".
  • Generic CTAs. "Click here", "Get started", "Discover more", "Learn more" — banned. Every CTA verb-led, every CTA specifies the destination.
  • Faux-friendly tutorial voice. "Step 1 of 5: Let's pick your CPU together!" — no. We're not a wizard. This is the builder model from ADR-0002; respect it.
  • Performance theatre. "Lightning fast loading!" / "Real-time prices!" — never claim speeds we don't measure. If pages are fast, the buyer will notice; if not, the slogan makes it worse.
  • Cookie-banner novella. "We use cookies and similar technologies to enhance your shopping experience and provide personalized content..." — no. "This site uses cookies. [Manage preferences]" — yes.
  • Empty-celebration confirmations. "Build saved successfully! Click here to view your saved build." — no. "Saved. /build/abc123." — yes.
  • "Unlock" / "Unleash". Banned outright. We are not a startup pitch deck.

7. Worked examples

7.1 Casual landing hero

OK draft (one option):

Lebanon's PC parts shopfront, in one tab.

Compare prices for CPUs, GPUs, motherboards, RAM, storage, PSUs, cases, and coolers across 6 Lebanese retailers — updated every few hours.

[Browse parts] [Build a PC →]

Why this: specific (six retailers, eight categories, refresh cadence), Casual-track-primary CTA, Builder-track secondary entry per ADR-0005, no marketing adjectives, no exclamation, no emoji.

7.2 Product detail header (Casual track)

OK draft:

Intel Core i5-12400F Cheapest at PCAndParts: $143 (in stock)

6 retailers track this · last refreshed 2h ago

[Buy at PCAndParts ↗] [See all 6 prices]

Why this: price first per §3.2, retailer-second, freshness signal honest, primary CTA is the conversion path (UC-2), no upsell.

7.3 Compat warning copy (Builder track)

OK draft:

⚠ PSU below recommended wattage

This 450W PSU is 30% below the recommended 600W for an RTX 4070 under load. Builds run; long-term stability not guaranteed.

[Override anyway] [Upsize PSU] [Pick lower-power GPU]

Why this: specific numeric, three concrete actions including "override anyway" (respects the user — doesn't gatekeep), no panic, no jargon.

7.4 Empty-state for category filter

OK draft:

No products match all your filters.

Most likely culprit: the price ceiling ($$$ to $$$). Loosen it or drop a brand filter.

OK draft:

When you click "Buy at \<retailer>" we may earn a commission. Doesn't change the price you pay.

7.6 About page (full text candidate)

OK draft:

About 961tech

Built by Amine in Beirut. He kept losing time pinging retailers on WhatsApp to compare prices for a single CPU, and built this so he could stop. The site tracks Lebanese tech retailers and shows you who's cheapest, in stock, and shipping today.

Found a bug, a missing retailer, or a wrong price? [email or WhatsApp].

No VC, no team, no investor pitch. Evenings and weekends, against a Java day job.

Why this: real, brief, owns the limits, gives an action.

8. What this draft does NOT decide

The Figma-design partner owns the visual layer entirely. This doc is voice + microcopy only. Specifically out of scope here:

  • Color palette, typography, spacing tokens — that's #27 design system v2
  • Logo / wordmark / iconography
  • Per-page layout / wireframes — that's #28
  • Motion / animation / transition vocabulary
  • Accessibility-specific contrast / focus-state rules (the partner produces; we audit)

9. Open questions for review

  1. Tone calibration on price-bearing surfaces. The voice is meant to be quietly opinionated (§3.5). Calibrate: should it lean more opinionated (more "this GPU is overpriced" calls) or stay matter-of-fact? Pick from the homepage hero examples; the answer dictates microcopy across the rest.
  2. Localised greetings. Should the homepage ever surface a context-aware greeting ("Mornings are for laptop browsers; evenings are for builders") or stay timeless? Lean: stay timeless. Worth confirming.
  3. Brand-name presentation. "961tech" — lowercase, monospaced, accent-coloured digit? Or proper-cased "961Tech"? The audit didn't surface a strong preference. Friend's call.
  4. Tagline candidate selection. §7.1 has "Lebanon's PC parts shopfront, in one tab." If a different tagline lands, every other surface that references the brand-promise needs to update.
  5. Code-switching limit. Lebanese English ↔ light Arabic transliteration is OK in search (per ADR-0008) but the UI is English (per ADR-0004). Where exactly is the line — is "WhatsApp the retailer for fresh-USD pricing" OK? Probably yes (both terms are Lebanese-English, not Arabic). Worth a single sweep.
  6. Voice in error states. §5.5 leans dry-witty ("We broke something"). Some buyers find that endearing; some find it unprofessional. The friend's call — but flag it as a deliberate choice, not an oversight.

See also