Designers and writers: the perfect marriage!

I love burgers, and you’re the tapas type.
I’m all about words, you’re a sucker for pictures.
You say no, and I say go, go, go!

In many ways we can be like night and day, you the designers and we the writers, but as you design with tablets or paint and hone our craft dancing with Miss QWERTY, there comes a time when our paths cross.

You see, we need each other. We’re like Thelma and Louise, and unless we discover the vagaries of each other’s jobs, we’re headed for that cliff faster than lightning.

But let’s be precise here (and this is, of course, very slightly skewed because I’m from a writer’s point of view): it’s much easier to become a competent writer as a designer than a competent designer as a writer.

Trust me on this. I’ve trained hundreds of people on how to write for the web, and usually a few short sessions have transformed their efforts. These people come from all walks of life: librarians, butchers, schoolchildren and double glazing salesmen.

However, try showing someone like me how to visualize and create an effective brand identity, and you’ll be laughing maniacally before the end of hour 1.

It just can’t be done – I defy anyone to become at least a competent artist without a few trips to the nearest sanitarium along the way (failed).

Designers and writers work comfortably together because each knows the limitations and strengths of the other. But there comes a time when we have to do a little of the other.

You, Mr Illustrator Champion 2010, already have an eye for great design. And the big surprise is that thinking to write is very similar to the thought process involved in creating a stunning design.

We both follow a five-step plan:

1. Consider the goal. When writing stories, articles, or marketing messages, we start with a rough idea of ​​where we want to end up. The goal, whether it’s selling more, changing someone’s mind, or simply announcing a product change.

In design: You conceptualize; trace.
In writing: Use the ‘rugby’ analogy: four Ws and one H, representing five rugby players (W) sitting on the goalposts (H, just bear with me on this one):

Who
why
When
Where
What
I eat

Let’s rock in reverse order, as designers love irony:

How did you start?
As a step?
How did I come up with this crazy design?

And of course, to start off nicely:

How are you?

Next:

What is?
What possessed you?
Whats Next?

Where did you get the idea?
Where it hurts?
Where did you last see your mother?
Where can I buy it?
Where are your customers?

When will it be available?
When was the last time you saw a doctor?
When did you start the project?
When did it all start to make sense?
When did you get the financing?

Why will people want it?
Why did you make it up?
Why did you leave the back door open, anyway?
Why did you put that there?
Why didn’t you wear your mohair sweater?

Who can I talk to for more information?
Who started all this?
Who released the dogs?

Once you’ve asked all the leading questions (about yourself, a client, or whoever it takes to make your mind wobble), it’s time to take you to the bridge.

The bridge of creativity.

2. Get some inspiration. As designers, visual stimulation takes many forms. Moodboards, gallery shows, other people’s work. Would it surprise you if we writers like those things too? Visual appeal is one of the most important ways to motivate and inspire us to pick up a pen and turn a page.

In design: You take the airbrush, of the virtual or physical type.
In writing: You think of a great introductory paragraph that summarizes the work. 28 words or less is the golden rule.

Obviously, ideas can flow from anything; again, this is a similarity between the two fields. I must admit that although I do not practice plagiarism, I find refuge in the scribbles of other writers. I hang out with them, we share ideas, and people like Kelly Diels (writer of the amazing and completely safe for work Cleavage blog) can not only inspire, but totally change the way you think about a subject.

If you’re having trouble writing clearly and concisely, you may be missing the point entirely. Go back to your central objective and what it is you are trying to say. Take five, pick up a magazine you’ve never seen before, go read a blog. Sites like Inspired Magazine offer great examples of how designers find themselves doing a writer’s job, and doing it well.

Once you have your presentation, the rest will flow. It’s natural. Every design you create tells a story. Imagine having to describe one of your colorful creations. You start with the BAM! and then move through the elements to create a word image of your image in Paint.

Do you want to know what is the most effective way to become a great grammar teacher and word wizard? Start your own blog. It’s incredibly simple: head over to WordPress.com, create your own home on the web, and flood your monitor with whatever comes to mind. About your work, about your latest project, about anything you don’t mind sharing with other people.

I started writing with – gasp – a pencil. One with graphite peeking out of the end. But now that we’re all eco-friendly (right?!), it makes sense to reduce everything to pixels rather than pages. A week, a month later, you’ll look back and see how your writing has evolved. The results, I guarantee, will be nothing short of spectacular.

The key to becoming a great writer and becoming comfortable with your skill is repetition and tenacity. While I don’t expect you’ll need 10,000 hours to master writing, you certainly need to start now.

3. Get constructive feedback. This is a vital element of any project, and you’ll know exactly where I’m coming from.

Indesign: customer review
In writing: The editor tears up his copy and insists on a total rewrite (speaking purely from personal experience).

The best feedback of all comes from an unbiased source. Don’t ask your designer friends – they’ll just say nice things that are useless, or mock/ridicule you for jumping the fence to the ‘other side’. Do not ask the client: he will think that you do not know your work. Customers want to be sent, that’s a fact. They love authority. Having been both an agent and a client, I abhor anything approaching insecurity, as do my associates. And sometimes queries about style and content, as innocuous as they may seem, are disguised as exactly that.

So get feedback from people you wouldn’t normally chat with. The receptionist. The guy who serves you coffee in the morning. Someone who is linked to the target of your writing, but indirectly. Collect all the ideas, sit down with a refreshing beer, and enjoy those amendments.

4. Edit, edit, edit. So you’ve got something in the ballpark of ‘done’ on your desk. But it is not finished, because the second most important part of the task lies ahead. You may have a workpiece on your hands, but it needs careful attention and a hacksaw.

In the design: the final flourish, the swoosh in the serif, the framing of the photo.
In writing: Chop time. For all the right reasons, especially your reader and his short attention span.

It’s a delicate balance, it’s this editing joke. For one, you could probably lose most of it and still have lucid, energetic writing. Alternatively, you need to know your audience: Any technical complexity in a youth report and you’ll lose them in the first ballpark.

When writing, you should think of each piece of work as an inverted pyramid. He gets all the facts at the top, those are the first few sentences from him, and then gradually builds them up. The thinking behind this is that sub-editors, often called “sleepy monkeys” by their well-known journalists, can reduce the word count by cutting the end of stories. It’s not a terribly sophisticated way to work with quality writing, but you’d be surprised how many practice this dark art. But try it on your own material and see how easy it is to cut the length of your work in half without compromising quality.

5. The rewards. In design and writing: The salary. Congratulations, you’ve earned it.

So we’re not really that different after all, are we?