(Ray)
(Fogra 29_WF)Job:08-28858 Title:RP-Writing & Research for Graphic Designers
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(Ray)
(Fogra 29_WF)Job:08-28858 Title:RP-Writing & Research for Graphic Designers
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018-055_28858.indd 33 8/30/12 4:42 PM
Writing & research for graphic designers
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32
Your voice can be an ability to write fluidly, with relative ease. Following
all the rules of grammar or not, allowing your speech patterns to guide your
writing style, rather than unnaturally formatting what you want to say, you
allow your conversational tone to appear on the printed page.
Alternatively, your voice can be rather formal. Dotting all your i’s and
crossing all your t’s can result in a style that says you are in command of
the English language and deliberate in what you have to say.
Sometimes achieving the more informal voice is as simple as using the
first person; other times it involves injecting adjectives to add descriptive
color. Usually, the formal voice is more in the third person void of an abun-
dance of descriptions. But there are no fixed rules. In fact, if you follow too
many rules you may drown out your voice.
Early in a writer’s development there is a tendency to impose the self-
conscious or strained voice. The right tone doesn’t materialize overnight.
It takes time to develop and mature. In fact, try different approaches to
determine what is comfortable. Actually, there is no one correct tone or
timbre. Some writing will be more serious. Having a sense of humor is great,
but not always appropriate. So the voice should modulate based on the con-
text. Often in the quest for the best voice, a writer will graft tones that are
not really honest. Time is on your side. There are no deadlines, no demands.
The voice or voices should evolve.
Write the way you design. If you are a generalist designer, unfettered by
a specific style, then follow that method. If you have a particular visual or
conceptual stylistic leaning, then your writing voice might echo that. If
you decide your design and writing sides are best when they are separate,
then you will find the essential balance. But just as you never design
without purpose, never write without it either. Your writing should be
informative, enjoyable, perhaps even entertaining. The role of the voice
is to ensure that your content does these things, and more.
Getting Ideas
A voice is nothing if you don’t have a solid idea to write about. Where ideas
come from is probably the most frequently asked question by youngsters
and oldsters. How do ideas materialize? How can you determine whether
they are worthy of the time and effort spent on making them a story?
Some of your story ideas will come from the inner recesses
of your mind, usually prompted by something you see, hear,
or read. Sometimes this is called instinct. Often you are more viscerally
sensitive to ideas that make interesting stories. If you have particular pas-
sions, they might translate well into story ideas. But frequently, an editor
Where Ideas Come From
by Ellen Shapiro
Half of my articles were assigned by editors.
Sometimes I knew very little about the design
firm, illustrator, or photographer I was asked
to write about. So a journey starts that begins
with research and proceeds to visits and inter-
views. That’s the fun part.
Writing, like design, can take you into places
you’d otherwise never have the opportunity
to experience.
Most of my larger, trend pieces are instigated
by me. Target is doing some of the most
interesting retail and product design in the
country and making (fashion, interior) de-
signers the stars of the show. The new United
Airlines campaign uses top illustrators from
all around the world with “Rhapsody in Blue”
as the theme song. A whole design team in
Beijing, China, a country without a design
tradition (as we know it), is getting the
biggest brand launch in history ready for
the Olympics. I pitch those ideas to the
editors. I pitch hard to sell the story. Those
are my best articles because I’m passionate
about them.
But there are fewer opportunities now.
Magazines have tighter budgets and are
publishing fewer issues per year, with
shorter, less literate articles. Shall it be a
blog post for $100? Not worth the trouble
that all the research finding out the who,
what, when, and why would take.
I like writing blog posts because they’re
immediate. I can see something today and
it’s posted tomorrow. The lead time for
design magazines is forever, and stuff can
be very old news by the time it’s published.
Writing for blogs is quite different: fast and
personal. Unfortunately, due to the total glut
of stuff out there, it’s not valued very highly.
Ellen Shapiro is a graphic designer,
blogger, and author.
(Ray)
(Fogra 29_WF)Job:08-28858 Title:RP-Writing & Research for Graphic Designers
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section 1
the three r’s : reading, writing, and research
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will suggest an idea and you will have to make it concrete.
The designer and writer Ellen Shapiro offers some thoughts
about running with her ideas, and the limitations therein (see
page 32).
Strategic Writing
There is a lot of talk these days about “strategic design” and
“design strategies” with regard to developing systems for the
future where designers can optimize their creative and manu-
facturing output for clients. One of the leading advocates of
this approach is Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO. In a June 1, 2005
article in Fast Company, titled “Strategy by Design,” he wrote,
“People need to have a visceral understanding — an image in
their minds — of why you’ve chosen a certain strategy and
what you’re attempting to create with it. Design is ideally
suited to this endeavor. It can’t help but create tangible,
real outcomes.” This is a clear statement, free from the
motivational mumbo jumbo that has enthralled business
leaders for decades.
Brown is an exponent of the concept called “design think-
ing” and his strategic texts are intended to bring this latest
professional buzzword to light. “Organizations need to take
design thinking seriously,” he wrote in the same article. “We
need to spend more time making people conscious of design
thinking — not because design is wondrous or magical, but
simply because by focusing on it, we’ll make it better. And
that’s an imperative for any business, because design thinking
is indisputably a catalyst for innovation productivity. That is,
it can increase the rate at which you generate good ideas and
bring them to market. Where you innovate, how you innovate,
and what you innovate are design problems. When you bring
design thinking into that strategic discussion, you join
a powerful tool with the purpose of the entire endeavor,
which is to grow . . . .”
These words are as compelling as they are illustrative of
how strategic writing, published in influential venues, can
build a base of adherents. But there is a tipping point in all
motivational or manifesto-like writing where newly coined
terms fall into jargon territory. For example, here is where
the buzzwords, such as innovate, empathetic, and T-shaped
people, are introduced:
“Regardless of whether your goal is to innovate around a prod-
uct, service, or business opportunity, you get good insights by
having an observant and empathetic view of the world. You can’t
just stand in your own shoes; you’ve got to be able to stand in
the shoes of others. Empathy allows you to have original insights
about the world. It also enables you to build better teams . . . .
“We look for people who are so inquisitive about the world
that they’re willing to try to do what you do. We call them
‘T-shaped people.’ They have a principal skill that describes the
vertical leg of the T—they’re mechanical engineers or indus-
trial designers. But they are so empathetic that they can branch
out into other skills, such as anthropology, and do them as
well. They are able to explore insights from many different
perspectives and recognize patterns of behavior that point to a
universal human need. That’s what you’re after at this point —
patterns that yield ideas.”
Don’t misunderstand me, Brown’s logic is impeccable and
his voice is clear. Whether or not I like the buzzwords, they
have strategic muscle. I have long been suspicious of the term
design thinking, believing that all designers think, so to separate
it from quotidian matters is basically marketing-speak. But
Brown explains the term in such a clear way that it does not
sound like it is being used as a substitute for real thinking.
“Design thinking is inherently a prototyping process,” he
wrote. “Once you spot a promising idea, you build it. The
prototype is typically a drawing, model, or film that describes a
product, system, or service. We build these models very quickly;
To write strategically, it is important for the writer
to read the reader.
part tWo : WrItIng
(Ray)
(Fogra 29_WF)Job:08-28858 Title:RP-Writing & Research for Graphic Designers
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