(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
#175 Dtp:225 Page:35
018-055_28858.indd 35 8/30/12 4:42 PM
Writing & research for graphic designers
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34
they’re rough, ready, and not at all elegant, but they work. The
goal isn’t to create a close approximation of the finished product or
process; the goal is to elicit feedback that helps us work through
the problem we’re trying to solve. In a sense, we build to think.”
I have not excerpted Brown’s words simply to caution
against using them, but rather to use them as an example of
how to write well in this tricky strategic genre. Buzz must
be balanced with intelligence. To write strategically, it is
important for the writer to read the reader. Jargon only works
when everyone is on the same page. The purpose of strategic
writing is to get people to that page—and then up to speed.
Targeting an Audience
Before writing your first sentence, know exactly whom you are
writing for. I am writing for designers, design students, and a
growing number of design writers—some trained as designers,
and others not. You are my core audience. So I presume that
some of what I have to say is known to you already. The rest
is what you are interested in. I know we have some common
ground: the design language. So, as I write these words and
reprint other authors’ writing about design, I am confident
that you will be able to grasp, with luck, enjoy, and most
hopefully, learn from the content offered to you.
Knowing your audience is not a Sphinx-like riddle. When set-
ting out to write anything from a business letter to journalism
to promotion, you must have the receiver in mind. You may
not know the specifics of that person’s reading habits, but you
have a general understanding of what your reader finds interest-
ing and will readily understand. Write to that knowledge.
If your audience is academic, they will expect a certain level of
rigor. If they are commercial, then they have their own distinct
criteria. Sometimes formality is required; other times an infor-
mal approach might be better. When I write for designers like
you, I include details that the nondesigner might find arcane,
superfluous, or worse, boring. When I write for a broader
public, I either eliminate the arcane material or make an
effort to explain that material in layman’s terms.
New writers sometimes include too much detail in their
writing. It is a function of insecurity. Hint: It is usually better
to write more than less, if only because it makes editing
easier. More makes reduction and condensation considerably
less of a chore. It allows the editor to determine what is really
important. What’s more, you should never take for granted
that the reader knows what is in your mind. Retain enough
information so that the reader feels secure that you are a con-
fident narrator. Don’t write down to your audience, but don’t
be too highbrow either. Balance is the key.
New writers also have a tendency to inflate themselves
through bloviated prose. (Just the word bloviate is a kind of
bloviating.) It is never necessary to show how smart you are in
each sentence. Your intelligence—and more importantly, your
authority—will come through sustained text that a reader will
enjoy reading because the ideas are sound and the writing flows.
If your encyclopedic mind is splattered all over your text, it will
come off as such. If you modulate your content, your audience
will learn better and retain more.
Leading your reader to the watering hole will come with
experience. You don’t want to get too far ahead of the reader,
but you don’t want to fall behind the reader’s expectations.
And remember, an audience—the reader—is not monolithic;
your target audience has different levels of understanding,
comprehension, and need. Use your voice judiciously to bring
your readers along with you.
Self-Editing
Before you finalize a manuscript for your editor(s) to review,
make certain it is everything you want it to be—take as much
time as you need to self-edit.
Use your voice judiciously to bring your readers
along with you.
(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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35
Editing and rewriting is an integral part of the process. Nothing comes
off the keyboard fully formed or spanking clean. I guarantee you will
change your lead paragraph several times over the course of reading it
back to yourself. (And it is a good idea to read it aloud to yourself to hear
the cadence.) Lead paragraphs—yes, the ones you’ve worked so hard on
and sweated over for so long—are routinely edited or eliminated. The first
thing to tell yourself—and believe it too—is that every word, thought, or
paragraph is expendable.
Self-editing is not always easy, because you have an investment in your
words. Editors exist, in part, as a mediating force. They perceive what you
cannot. But their existence does not obviate the importance of a thorough
self-edit.
When writing, there is a natural tendency, even for the veteran writer,
to include more verbiage than is necessary. For the neophyte, adding more
adjectives and adverbs is like riding a bike with training wheels. At some
point you have to balance yourself without the additional appendage.
Some writers see self-editing as a process of elimination, removing all the
extraneous matter (hopefully without losing the voice).
That precious lead paragraph you are so pleased with might really be
“throat clearing” before getting to the point. Like a preliminary sketch,
writing a lead paragraph may provide different alternatives or prove that
none of your options are all that effective. Remember, there are probably
various ways of saying the same thing. What you want is to pique the reader’s
attention. A good lead sentence or engaging lead paragraph will do that. But
then there must be follow-through. Self-editing is an opportunity to deter-
mine whether you are succeeding. It is also insurance against repetition.
When self-editing, read your text as much for enjoyment as to fine-tune
what you’ve done. Fewer acts are more satisfying than reading your own
words expressing your own ideas. Warning: Don’t allow the self-editing
process to paralyze you. It is just as easy to get bogged down in elimina-
tion and reduction that results in chaos. Be judicious. Just prune enough
to get to the point where your editor can take over.
The Editor’s Role
“In the beginning God created the seas and the mountains . . . and then He
created editors.”
I’m almost certain my editor will want to remove the previous phrase for
any number of valid reasons (one being that it is silly, arch, and strained).
Still, my insistence will trump good editing, and the editor will be forced to
leave it in (with this note left in the margin: “This is not worthy of you!”).
What is your editing process?
Writing is editing, almost all the
way from the beginning. With
digital media having replaced pen
and typewriter, the first challenge
is sequence. Concentrate on writing
from beginning to end to get the
skeleton of the story or argument.
It is dangerously tempting to simply
stack or arrange notes or comments
and hope they will simply gel—that
won’t happen. Once you have the
bones, you can add and cut. But
no one can be one’s own editor; get
readers who come fresh to the page
to give you perspective—roommates
or strangers.
What do you do when editorially
blocked?
When blocked, stop, back the
bulldozer up, take a break, and
then come back a few minutes or
hours later, from a different angle.
Walk or run or bike to let the
process of writing and thinking
go on as it will, in the background.
Dickens daily strolled tens of miles
across London while working on
his novels and couldn’t work if he
couldn’t walk.
Phil Patton Talks about
How Writing is Editing
Phil Patton writes about design
for the New York Times.
PART TWO : WRITING
(Ray)
(Fogra 29_WF)Job:08-28858 Title:RP-Writing & Research for Graphic Designers
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