WRITING STYLE GUIDE
Design Systems | Thumbtack | 2025
The problem...
Thumbtack had four known style guides—all of which contradicted each other (and none of which spoke to accessibility and inclusivity).
​
I partnered with the head of design systems to create a single and comprehensive writing style guide.
The solution...
I turned to the content guides (and gods) from Content Design London, Gusto, Mailchimp, Microsoft, Shopify, W3C, and 18F for inspiration. From there, I used AI to cross-reference and compare their guides with Thumbtack's existing documentation. I worked across teams and with stakeholders to settle discrepancies and fill in gaps. Once completed, we incorporated the new style guide into our Thumbprint Design System, and I built a custom GPT that employees can use to ask questions, create new copy, and edit their own.
The results....
The guide now serves as a single source of truth across the company. It includes robust guidelines for grammar, accessibility, preferred terms, and more.
​
Since launching the guide, I've hosted workshops to help product designers use it to craft their own UX copy. I'm also currently working with the head of design systems to embed the custom GPT into Figma so designers can use it in their workflows.
I've included a few screenshots of the style guide. To review the full guide, send me an email.
Table of contents
Accessibility and inclusion
Grammar and mechanics
