Working with designers - tips from Module 8

Wow, vindication. Having been on both sides of the writer vs designer briefing process, I can vouch for all of these. Check 'em out - excerpts from Module 8 of my writing course, "Writing for Public Relations 2":

Designers are visual people.

Designers tend to see copy as a visual element. They usually will not read the copy itself.

Designers are not mind readers.

If you have examples of the graphic style and mood you want, bring it to the briefing session.

Designers are not readers.

To a designer, the overall 'look and feel' of a piece is the critical issue. They generally will not proofread a finished piece - this is YOUR responsibility and your client's.

Designers are expensive.

This means you need to ensure your brief is precise and your copy is correct. Lack of discipline in this area on your part (or your client's) can more than quadruple the quoted price of a job.

That last one applies more to time than price where I work. Non-designers often underestimate the effort that goes into producing a 'simple' piece. Maybe we've submitted a plain black square in the middle of an A4 sheet of paper, but it took a hundred "two steps forward, one step back" steps through red squares, blue squares, red and blue squares cos that's more on-brand, how about a triangle, on second thought let's try the square again but in rainbow colours, etc. to get to that one black square.

The same goes for writing. The final version may be a simple one liner, but it takes a lot of consideration to word that one liner just right, in such a way that the audience will just get it in those few words. It's all in the delivery, which is sometimes referred to as kairos, for anyone interested. :)

Back to work I go...

what kind of idiot writes a draft?

In highschool, our teachers always made us write a draft of any stories or essays we did in class. I used to wonder, What kind of idiot needs to write a draft? Surely, any halfway-smart person knows what they want to say. Of course, when you're a teenager, you know everything, and I sure as hell knew then that I wasn't some dumbo writer who had to take a few goes.

Many, many failed assignments later, I discovered that I need to write a draft.

It's not about knowing what to say, but knowing how to say it so the message is received in an adequately expressive and unambiguous way. It's the duty of every responsible writer to meet a reader halfway - and this translates to real life too. For instance, nothing shits me more at work than when people pull me in to answer a question that takes place midway through a conversation that they had in their head. Context is so important, and so easy to offer quickly with a bit of consideration before engaging.

This wasn't meant to turn into a half-arsed rant about irresponsible communication. I actually wanted to share my writing process. If you're interested, that is. ^.^

When I sit down to write - a Discoveryzone article, for example - I generally start with a planning doc; a scribble of notes about the aim of the article, the intended audience, a rough list of topics to cover and sites that seed the research process.

Next comes the 'streams of consciousness' draft. This is essentially a brainfart of facts, concepts and phrases that come out of the thinking process. My SOC drafts look quite different to the planning doc. For example, the original list of sites may change shape, shrink or grow during the SOC process. Topics may be added, removed or merged; whatever feels natural.

The final SOC draft will usually contain repetition and word-for-word splices from my research material, producing a flow that's quite rough and clumsy. SOC drafts are then tidied up to form a first draft, with more presentable, non-plagiarised flow and wording.

Subsequent drafts and edits follow, peer review, grammar assistance, Engrish removal, yeah you heard me... until finally, a final.

Like my arrogant highschool self, I firmly believe you don't need a process for good writing. Not one prescribed by others, anyway.

What I've ended up with here emerged over the course of a couple years, where I was getting paid to write properly for public consumption. It's organic, it suits me, and for you to write your best, I think you need to find your own way to do it.

That's it from me.

the touchy-feely human parts of module 5

I love learning about the touchy-feely human bits of writing. Here are some interesting snippets from the module on corporate writing.

Baggage

Senders bring their feelings, attitudes, expectations, past experience and values to any communication. These can be indicated by their tone, their response to questions and so on. This 'personal baggage' can colour the way they encode their message.

The text then goes on to say how if you don't like a person you receive an email from, it's easy to be offended by what they've written. On the other hand, you could get a rude, abrupt message from someone but don't get offended because you have a pre-existing relationship.

Learning point:

People will not be aware of what baggage you bring to the communication process unless you tell them.

Noise


Noise is what you call the things that distracts you from communicating smoothly. Could be anything - loud traffic, building construction, being interrupted by the person you are speaking to, language difficulties, emotions, headaches, etc. Basically, if it's distracting you from the flow of understanding, it's noise.

Learning point:

Noise colours the communication process and can cause it to break down entirely.

Body language


I learned a couple years ago that only 15% of our total communication is done in words. The other 85% is a mix of body language, tone of voice, facial expression and stuff like that. It's all the stuff you kinda have to feel your way through when communicating with people.

Learning point:

When you write, many of these cues are missing, so you have to choose your words very carefully. You want to ensure that there is no confusion about what you are saying.

It still trips me out a bit how some people sound like total dickheads via email, but they're really genuine and cool in person. Guess the 'being careful' thing can make a huge difference.

Channel

Despite body language communicating heaps more at once, it's not necessarily better to do everything in person. I get this quite a bit actually - sometimes people will come up for a face-to-face conversation, when a text chat or email would probably work smoother and faster.

This section of the course gives a couple paragraphs of examples, so I won't quote them here. But to give you an idea, the exercise lists a few types of communication (survey results, staff churn, deadline notices, policy announcements, meeting confirmation, etc.) and asks us to match them with the appropriate communication channels (email, newsletter, meeting in person, posters, reports, etc.).

I'd always taken that sort of thing for granted, but having to think about it now gives a bit of shape to the gut feelings. Like how you'd use a regular publication to talk about run-of-the-mill stuff, but it would be better to use surprise!methods for super exciting or time sensitive stuff.

Context


Quick last one cos it's my bedtime...

Context: the shit that happens that might influence the way your message is understood. It's the vibe, basically. Before you communicate stuff, suss out how people are feeling.

For example, you may have good news about the tearoom refurbishment, but no one has seen your cheery email because they are still in shock at the retrenchments announced by the boss that morning.

I was shopping for a training course a couple years ago and found a "Communications for Women" course next to a plain "Communications" course. The only difference between the two that I could find was that the "for Women" course had a module on good timing. As in, how to be a bit more aware of your surroundings before opening your mouth.

Bit funny, but probably not inappropriate. Sometimes it does feel like the mental filters momentarily switch off as soon as things get a bit exciting. Maybe we're just hardwired with stronger blurt reflexes, or maybe we're socially conditioned differently to boys? Or maybe it's nothing at all and I'm just seeing things, but nonetheless, there was a tailored piece of learning for professional females.

The learning point from the Context section is basically to ask yourself a bunch of sensitivity questions about your audience before you reach out.

I am sleepy now, good night. x

what i'm studying tonight - loose sentences

Loose and periodic sentences tonight.

A loose sentence expresses the main idea first:

The girl wrote with incredible monotony, not realising how much it annoyed her readers.

A periodic sentence saves the main statement to the end:

Not realising how much it annoyed her readers, the girl wrote with incredible monotony.

In the loose sentence, the chief contention is clear from the start; in the periodic sentence, you must read to the end for the full meaning. Used too frequently, the periodic sentence can annoy the reader.

Interesting, huh? :)

I'm very tired. We won at outdoor indoor football tonight. Hooray! Was good to win against that team too, since we drew the last couple of times we played them. Had cannelloni for dinner, with spinach & rocket on the side.

And now, it's study time.

For you, some links:

• Letters & ligatures - lovely character map copypastey tool
• Turning old books into plant pots - nice idea for a hobby project
• Shoes of Prey - design your own shoes (via @snuff_man)
• The Cuddle Hormone: The Good & Bad of Oxytocin - one of many love chemicals

Mood writing from Module 3

Yep, up to Module 3, about editing and grammar. There's lots of little holes in this one - topics that the heading & contents page suggest are covered, which are in fact either not covered or foggily covered. Perhaps these are "stretch" objectives, the way the Blue Screen of Death is "stretch" screensaver.

Here's an interesting snippet, not taken verbatim, from this part of the course. It's about the mood of verbs - how you convey feeling by the way you use a verb amidst the rest of the sentence.

There are three moods:

1. Indicative - where the verb makes a statement or asks a question:

She creates drama.

Does she create drama?

2. Imperative - gives a command or makes a request:

Have fun now!

Wash your hands in the sink.

3. Subjunctive - ...

The explanation gets a bit hazy here. It sounds like the subjunctive mood is where you are expressing possibility, doubt - stuff that's not a question, statement or direct order. So, like... daydream talk: "Oh, I wish this part of the course wasn't so dry and confusing."

As it stands, I am getting nervous. The assignments I've already handed in haven't yet been marked and returned. I need to work doubly-hard next week to get back on schedule. How excitement! Garr...

A snippet from Module 2

Submitted my first assignment for my writing course this evening. Now just trying to do a little bit of the second assignment, then reward myself with some book shopping.

Not much to say tonight - just wanted to share a snippet from Module 2:

One thing is certain about writing and editing - there's never enough time, there's never enough pay and there's always far too much work.

Such a combination can result in even longer hours, working under pressure at a computer. This can be lethal to stress levels and health, if you let it. Try to negotiate realistic timelines and pay rates. Do some relaxation exercises or meditation to ensure you maintain an appropriate and relaxed attitude to your work.

Wow, man, I wish I had known this when I was much younger. Although, I think once you understand this needs to be done (as in, properly understand, not just recite textbook good advice), it gets easier to work it into your lifestyle.

I'm a little bit sick tonight. My throat is sore, mood is low, head tired and eyes a bit sensitive to light - whine whine whine. Looking forward to some slovenly rest shortly, then ten-pin bowling tomorrow, board games on Saturday and football on Sunday.

Hasta mañana, my friends. I leave you with this nice link:
http://sourcesofinsight.com/2010/04/21/the-elephant-and-the-rider/

Burger, she wrote

I had a burger today. A lovely KFC burger and can of Mountain Dew for $4.95. Since that fateful hungover day, I've been waking up with a taste for fast food. There's a Hungry Jacks and KFC across the road from work, Jester's Pies round the corner, Macca's on the other side of the recreation centre...

Fffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuu... it's way too easy to eat badly, and I'm ashamed to not be above the cravings. There was really no excuse today. I wasn't hungover. It was mid-afternoon; I could have had sushi or a salad. I just... really wanted a burger.

But I spent the afternoon psyching myself up - "burger is fuel, burger is fuel" - and ran my heart out at football tonight. WE DIDN'T LOSE!! Drew 1-1 with the other team, who were clearly not thrilled that we weren't a walk in the park.

And now, I'm doing homework. Yeah, homework. I'm a sort-of student again. My employer has kindly offered to let me earn my Diploma of Professional Writing on the company dollar, as a personal development goal for this half.

Yeah, this half. I got my course materials today, which means I'm fitting a 10-month curriculum into the next 10 weeks. WHAT THE FUCK HEY.

Caning through this first tutorial, though. It's about the writing industry and personal workspace preferences, different categories and styles of writing. I'm really excited about this course. It's nice to be in student mode again; purposeful, looked after. I'll try to share bits and pieces as I go - hope you don't mind.

For my writer friends, here are a couple of questions from one of the tute sections - a self-awareness exercise:

Are you someone who works well with a deadline looming? Or does a deadline create confusion and panic?


Do you require silence when you work or do you prefer music or other sounds?


Do you like an open, wide space or one that is closed and cluttered?


Good night, everyone. :)