Some Random Dude » writing http://www.somerandomdude.com Some Random Dude is a blog by P.J. Onori that covers design & technology in the broadest sense possible. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:37:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Write Like You Design http://www.somerandomdude.com/2011/11/29/write-like-you-design/ http://www.somerandomdude.com/2011/11/29/write-like-you-design/#comments Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:00:58 +0000 P.J. Onori http://www.somerandomdude.com/?p=11656 I have long held the opinion that writing was part of design. I simply did not practice it. Writing was not given much priority while I attended art school. Writing continued to be of secondary concern during the early years of my career. Evidence of this can be seen on this blog. I started taking my writing more seriously after my wife, who has her master’s degree in English, started editing my posts. It progressed further while working at Adaptive Path, where it was clear that how we communicated our work could be as important to our job as the work itself. Currently, the attention given to language in the work at Seabright solidifies a dedication to the writing process in my practice.

I am not suggesting that the design community considers writing unimportant. However, I have often experienced it treated as something else. I consider the short list of well-written design blogs to be proof of that. Yes, they exist, but they are the minority. As long as writing is treated as something else by designers, there will be a disconnect between the aesthetics of the visual and the textual. I am suggesting that there needs to be a shift towards considering writing as a required skill of designers. Writing is design. There is no separation.

Designers devote endless hours to make their solutions more elegant. They understand the importance of detail. Clarity and simplicity are cherished. The same is often not said about their craftsmanship of words. Dieter Ram published the 10 principles of design which have served as a guide to some and a set of commandments for others. While I have no right to act as an example to follow, I can propose ways to look at writing so that it is integrated into how one thinks about design. Below are 10 principles of good writing, derived from Dieter Ram’s list intended to illustrate how writing and design are often one in the same.

1. Good writing is reader-focused
The style of writing, the content provided and its format of delivery should be executed for the benefit of its readers. Writing that is published to fit a schedule, prop up traffic or unproductively rant wastes readers’ time.
2. Good writing is trustworthy
Readers need to trust that what they read is honest, genuine and fair. Writing that lacks any of those attributes erodes credibility and lead readers towards poor decisions.
3. Good writing makes its subject useful
Writing will have a limited impact if the reader does not understand how the subject relates to them or how they can move forward. Informing is prerequisite, empowering is ideal.
4. Good writing is unobtrusive
Writing does not need to be verbose to be smart. If a concept can be accurately communicated with simple words, use them.
5. Good writing is focused
A good piece of writing clearly articulates the subject it is covering. The end. Tangents dilute and create confusion.
6. Good writing provides novel information and perspectives
Writing should have something new and useful to say. Piling on a subject with nothing new to share helps no one. Better to direct readers to a well-written piece than duplicate it.
7. Good writing is aesthetically pleasing
The rhythm and composition of words can and should be aesthetic. The meaning of words should carry as much beauty as their visual representation. Well executed typography without well executed writing is missing the point.
8. Good writing is well-crafted
Typos and grammatical errors are unacceptable. Writers should strive for a technically flawless reading experience.
9. Good writing is as little writing as possible
Every word written should count. Any paragraph, sentence or word that lacks significance wastes the writer’s and the readers’ time.
10. Good writing is long-lasting
Our subject matter and language may be impacted by current trends, but our ideas should not have a short expiration date.

Communicating ideas has been and continues to be a primary goal of design. Considerable effort is spent by designers to convey complex emotions, processes and concepts through visual abstractions. These endeavors have merit and provide results. However, sometimes a simple, well-written sentence may prove more effective.

]]> http://www.somerandomdude.com/2011/11/29/write-like-you-design/feed/ 2 The Blogs I Read (and outright envy) http://www.somerandomdude.com/2007/03/20/the-blogs-i-read-and-outright-envy/ http://www.somerandomdude.com/2007/03/20/the-blogs-i-read-and-outright-envy/#comments Wed, 21 Mar 2007 01:40:33 +0000 P.J. Onori http://www.somerandomdude.net/blog/current-events/the-blogs-i-read-and-outright-envy/ I have been writing this blog for close to two years now and reading blogs for nearly twice as long. There is no shortage of great writers and great blogs on the internet, but to me, these either represent my favorite content or are special to me for other reasons. Either way, I highly suggest all of the blogs below – not a day goes by where I do not wish I could incorporate the quality of writing or type of content in each of these sites. I do not spend enough time on this site giving my respect to what I consider good work, I thought now was as good of a time as ever. If I were to list all of my favorite blogs, the list would be in the hundreds and it would literally take me weeks to finish the article. Perhaps I will begin briefly talking about my favorite blogs on a monthly basis, but for now I will leave the list at this.

Here is the list in no particular order:

Design Observer

The writing for this blog is amazingly poignant and intelligent. While most of the web is dumbing itself down with top-10 lists, Design Observer continues to publish well-written exhaustive articles on all aspects of design. It is well worth your time to subscribe and thoroughly read through the articles.

Monday By Noon

Easily, the best domain name I have come across – and that is saying a lot since I have quite the affinity towards my own. What other domain name do you know that lets you know when each article will be published? Seriously, the blog deserved to be on this list just for that. However, this blog is not just about a clever name – the content is very well thought out, each article is a great learning experience and the topics are always very important (in the realm of web design). I do not have much time to read many web design/dev blogs anymore, but I make sure to read Monday By Noon every week.

Steve Tucker

Keep an eye out for this guy, because he is definitely on the way up in the web community. Steve is another web design/dev blogger that brings great content on a continual basis. What is nice about his blog is that the personal tidbits of life are scattered through the collection of articles as well. Some may not appreciate such things, but I really enjoy the human experience being a topic in any blog – and Steve does it very well.

TreeHugger

I am a bit of a green-nut, if you visit this site even semi-regularly it becomes quite apparent. From my surfing, TreeHugger is the best environmental blog on the net, period. TreeHugger is one of the few blogs I frequent on a daily basis – not one day goes by without me visiting at least once. The topics are on the environment are very diverse and are always very insightful. I become a complete jabber-box when the environment becomes a topic of discussion – a lot of what I talk about in those conversations are things I learn from TreeHugger.

INHABITAT

This blog definitely lives in a niche, but it just ends up being my absolute favorite topic – design that aids the world community. From my view, INHABITAT should be in every designer’s RSS reader, regardless of the type they are. Graphic designers, web designers, industrial designers, architects and all other forms of designers can learn from the amazing work this blog promotes. The content on this site is a constant stream of inspiration on how design really can make a difference in the world.

SnarkMarket

Easily the king of wit in my list of blogs. I personally know one of the writers for this blog and brilliant is an understatement for him. The topics are extremely diverse and seemingly dug out of nowhere – I absolutely love it. If I am looking for a topic that I know I could not find anywhere else, I turn to SnarkMarket.

Paradyme Solutions

The folks at Paradyme are amazingly intelligent – I should know since I worked with them for a year. The blog covers the extremely uncrowded topic of information architecture an experience design. You can find a million sites showing you how to use CSS to round corners – not too many delve into subjects such as intelligent navigation structures and real-life usability studies. IA is far too overlooked, even by the web community. We all could use a little more reading in the subject and Paradyme’s blog is a great place to start.

The Blog Bit Me

My wife started this blog about 6 months ago. I keep telling my wife, that if she would write just a little more often, she would have a lot of readers. Sure, I may be a little biased, but if you read her blog as well, I think you will have the same opinion. I am always surprised by the subjects that come up and the perspective taken on them. She is definitely the writer in the couple and her domain name kicks quite a lot of ass as well…

Once again, I highly suggest spending some serious time with each of these blogs – regardless of your particular interests – I really think you will enjoy them. By all means, please drop a comment of your favorite blog(s), I would love to add to the list.

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