Without words, apps would be an unusable jumble of shapes and icons, while voice interfaces and chatbots wouldn't even exist. Words make software human–centered, and require just as much thought as the branding and code. This book will show you how to give your users clarity, test your words, and collaborate with your team. You'll see that writing is designing.
For designers, writing and research skills are more necessary than ever before, from the basic business compositions to critical writing. In this competitive climate, designers are routinely called upon to make words about the images and designs they create for clients. Writing about design is not just "trade" writing, but should be accessible to everyone with an interest in design. This book is a complete, introductory guide to various forms of research and writing in design—and how they explain visuals and can be visualized. These pages address communication on various levels and to all audiences: - Designers to Designers - Designers to Clients - Designers to the Design-literate - Designers to the Design-agnostic Being able to express the issues and concerns of the design practice demands facts, data, and research. With Writing and Research for Graphic Designers, you’ll learn how to turn information into a valuable asset— one of the key talents of the design researcher.
When you depend on users to perform specific actions—like buying tickets, playing a game, or riding public transit—well-placed words are most effective. But how do you choose the right words? And how do you know if they work? With this practical book, you’ll learn how to write strategically for UX, using tools to build foundational pieces for UI text and UX voice strategy. UX content strategist Torrey Podmajersky provides strategies for converting, engaging, supporting, and re-attracting users. You’ll use frameworks and patterns for content, methods to measure the content’s effectiveness, and processes to create the collaboration necessary for success. You’ll also structure your voice throughout so that the brand is easily recognizable to its audience. Learn how UX content works with the software development lifecycle Use a framework to align the UX content with product principles Explore content-first design to root UX text in conversation Learn how UX text patterns work with different voices Produce text that’s purposeful, concise, conversational, and clear
Sitting down to write -- The writer's material -- Words -- Phrase to clause to sentence -- A dash through punctuation -- Thinking in diagrams -- Writing is argument -- Convincing -- Tone and voice -- Academic writing -- Writing long -- How to write to a person in admiration -- Business proposals and reports -- Copywriting -- Writing for social media
Writing can be a special challenge for artists and designers, who tend to be more visual than verbal. Writing for Visual Thinkers is designed to help people who think in pictures gain skills and confidence in their writing abilities. Andrea Marks approaches the craft of writing from many directions, all with the ultimate goal of unlocking the reader's verbal potential. This new and expanded edition introduces brainstorming techniques that focus on writing and explores the various connections between verbal and visual thinking. Writing for Visual Thinkers includes a companion CD with an ebook containing hundreds of links to articles, books, websites, blogs, wikis, video, and audio podcasts by writers and designers including Ellen Lupton, Steven Heller, and Jessica Helfand.
From product documentation to menu labels to marketing emails, writing for the web can feel challenging-even insurmountable. But it doesn't have to be that way! Whether you're new to writing or looking to hone your skills, Scott Kubie's guide will empower you to get organized and get going. Learn to scope and articulate writing assignments, build a repeatable workflow, and develop methods for productive editing, collaboration, version control, and delivery. Don't struggle with writing-get the writing done.
Within every picture is a hidden language that conveys a message, whether it is intended or not. This language is based on the ways people perceive and process visual information. By understanding visual language as the interface between a graphic and a viewer, designers and illustrators can learn to inform with accuracy and power. In a time of unprecedented competition for audience attention and with an increasing demand for complex graphics, Visual Language for Designers explains how to achieve quick and effective communications. New in paperback, this book presents ways to design for the strengths of our innate mental capacities and to compensate for our cognitive limitations. Visual Language for Designers includes: —How to organize graphics for quick perception —How to direct the eyes to essential information —How to use visual shorthand for efficient communication —How to make abstract ideas concrete —How to best express visual complexity —How to charge a graphic with energy and emotion
Now in its second edition—updated and expanded to address such issues as email etiquette and Web-based marketing, communication, and job searches—the best-selling Writing for Design Professionals is the standard guide for mastering the complexities of effective writing in professional practice. Stephen A. Kliment explains the principles of clear writing, from the formal “Dear Ms. Jones: I recently visited Polk Street Elementary School, and I agree the facility urgently needs to be modernized to make way for the progressive teaching techniques you have planned for your school district.... I believe that my firm, Izumi Associates, can make this happen” to the punchy remarks of the late William Caudill, “Say ‘frog,’ we’ll jump.” Dozens of sample letters, proposals, brochures, reports, book reviews, oral presentations, staff communications, and more—all drawn from the world of practice, and in both print and electronic formats—guide readers through the ins and outs of composing the end-products of writing. Writing for Design Professionals is organized for easy reference, and includes the following topics:• marketing: Web sites, correspondence, brochures and portfolios, proposals, newsletters, and other promotional tools• project writing• writing in school• job applications and Web-based job boards• writing in academe• writing for the media• writing as a career• public speaking plus: how to avoid jargon and gender-specific language, tailor your writing to your audience, enhance your writing with appropriate graphics, write to international clients, write as a product manufacturer, and measure the impact of what you write. Resources include lists of design media.Like a trustworthy desk-side consultant, Writing for Design Professionals, Second Edition, should be next to the computer of every architect, planner, interior designer, engineer, and student who wishes to present a polished, professional image through effective written communication.
"Becoming a designer takes a huge amount of time and education. With so many skills to learn, many people never get the chance to master the one skill that can give them a real advantage in business or academia: They never learn to write well.” In Writing for the Design Mind author, designer and educator Natalia Ilyin offers clear, concise, and humorous writing tips, techniques and strategies to people who have spent their lives mastering design rather than learning to write. Ilyin's book helps designers approach writing in the same ways they approach designing – teaching skills and methods through encouragement, practical exercises and visual advice. Writing well is a skill, like any other, and with this book you can learn to do it with confidence. //Winner in the 50 Books | 50 Covers award 2019 from the AIGA//
