blackcanyontickets/styleGuide/microcopy-crispygoat.md

📝 Crispy Goat Microcopy Guide

This is how Crispy Goat talks — on buttons, forms, error states, and empty spaces. The tone is smart, blunt, self-aware, and never trying too hard.

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🧠 General Voice & Tone

• Confident. Minimal. Blunt.
• A little dry or deadpan — but never robotic
• Never say more than you need to. Ever.
• Be clever only if it doesn’t slow the user down
• Humor should feel unforced. A wink, not a punchline.
• If it sounds like a brochure or a startup pitch deck, it’s wrong.

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🧩 Common Microcopy Patterns

Buttons

Intent	Text
Primary CTA	Let’s Go / Show Me
Secondary	No Thanks / Not Now
Submit Form	Send It / Do the Thing
Danger	I Know What I’m Doing
Obvious Joke	Absolutely Not (for a cancel/close button)

Form Fields

• Placeholder:
  Your Email (we probably won’t write back)
• Label:
  Name (real or fake, we don’t care)
• Submit:
  Fire It Off

Errors

• Something broke. We’re not surprised.
• Try again, or don’t.
• You missed a required field. Embarrassing.
• That’s not a real email. You knew that.

Empty States

• No results:
  Nothing here. Maybe it’s you.
• No events yet:
  Quiet for now. We’re plotting.
• Form incomplete:
  You’re not done. We believe in you, barely.

404 Page

You went too far. Even goats know their limits.

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🎨 Footer Copy Examples

• Crispy Goat. Est. 🤷‍♂️
• Built with real code and no patience.
• Good work. Bad attitude.
• Crafted in the mountains. Released into the wild.

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🤫 Hidden Copy / Easter Eggs

• Console log: console.warn("We told you not to inspect.")
• Hover alt text: "This link goes places. Spiritually."
• Form easter egg: If someone enters asdf or fake text, show:
  Try harder. Or just leave.

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✅ Style Rules

• Use sentence case (not Title Case)
• Avoid exclamation marks (unless sarcastic)
• Never use “submit,” “enter,” “click here,” or “subscribe”
• Use periods for tone. They’re blunt.
• Don’t write instructions unless they’re funny and helpful

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💬 Example Voice in Context

<h2>We’re probably not taking clients.</h2>
<p>But if you’re insistent, go ahead. We dare you.</p>
<button>Make the Case</button>

<label>Email</label>
<input placeholder="We probably won’t reply">

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🧼 Don’t You Dare

• “We value your business”
• “Let’s build something great together”
• “Innovative solutions”
• “Our team of experts”
• Anything that sounds like a pitch deck from 2012

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🧠 Summary

Crispy Goat copy should:

• Say only what’s needed — with style
• Be proud, dry, and on the edge of rude
• Never sound like you’re trying to win the client
• Make someone laugh once, raise an eyebrow twice, and trust you anyway

If it reads like a job application or a startup homepage, rewrite it.