Broomeshtick

This link is to a guest post I put together for Fuel Your Writing.

At The Workshop, we work with many clients, most of them high profile and all with their own brand guidelines.

To keep track of all the different style quirks and formalities, me and the other writers in my team use what we call Project standards documents. We create a new document for every client and project that we work on.

A Project standards document includes everything we need to make sure that we write according to each client’s brand guidelines, from hyphens to page titles. I use the same technique to keep my fiction and blogging consistent too.

Head on over to Fuel Your Writing to find out more.

The key for every copywriter, whatever the subject matter, is to find the clearest, most appropriate way to speak to their audience. That means neither hamming up nor dumbing down, but simply finding the best way possible to transfer a message.

This is a link to and quote from my first article for the rather smashing website, Fuel Your Writing.

They approached me about writing a regular slot on copywriting, as it’s a subject they haven’t touched on before. I said yes and wrote this as something of an intro to the subject.

I’m a big fan of 52 weeks of UX, but I’m not entirely sure about this latest article.

Here’s how it starts:

One recommendation, however, rang false to me: keep your text short. The author recommends this because “People don’t read on the Web”. Instead, the author claimed, they “scan” text instead.

There are several problems with this assumption, however. First, people do actually read on the Web…scanning is simply the first step in the process. Second, short text can be just as poorly written as long text (and often is). Third, people actually seek out and enjoy reading longer texts.

The people scan, don’t read argument is based on much user testing and relates to all web pages, not just those that feature articles and other text-based information.

The vast, and I mean really vast, majority of people don’t regularly read long articles on the internet. In fact, many people don’t read long articles at all and the web is, frankly, a place to occasionally shop and use Facebook.

It’s easy for web-savvy folk, especially those of us who work in the design and/or web industry, to forget that we are still in something of a minority.

The ‘write short’ advice is valid because it applies to most web users.

Additionally, e-readers like the Kindle, the Nook, and the iPad are exploding in use, while services like Instapaper also suggest that people desire to read longer texts with less distraction.

This is the crux of it for me.

The above paragraph can’t be used as an argument for copywriters to abandon succinct web copy. Those devices are great and selling well, but their share of internet usage is surely miniscule.

And as for Instapaper? Well, it’s awesome. I love it. But ask the average internet user what it is and they won’t have a clue.

Writing for the web is about usability and audience. If you’re a designer writing for other designers, make your copy as long as you like.

But if you’re audience is less specific, stick to convention and focus on copy that’s short, concise and easy to read.

At The Workshop, we’ve recently worked on a learning-based game called Mind Over Monster for learndirect. It was originally called Mental Monsters, which we preferred, but it was considered a little to risque.

Anyway, I wrote the initial pitch that won the job and it’s great to see it come to fruition. There are two games, actually. One for Maths and one for English. They’re available through Facebook, on Android and on iPhone - you can download it from the app store now.

It’s been extremely interesting to see my colleagues working on it and having to deal with the usual client pressures that can often transform and, unfortunately, dilute a great idea. But they’ve done a marvellous job.

The link I provide here is to an article on our website, where we previewed the intro sequence to Mind Over Monster: English. Guess which nitwit got roped in to provide the voice over for the lead character, Major Satellite? Indeed. Me.

Final aside. Major Satellite was originally called Johnny Rocket, a name apparently shared by a notable porn star. In what way notable, I have no idea.

“Hello! Gmail.com Mail Service’s antispam bot welcome’s you. Our Support’s Service has blocked your account. You should follow our instructions: if you had been distributing spam, you should immediately register a new e-mail. If you hadn’t been using you e-mail for sending ads, just follow the link http://lds9.mailcenterweb.org/index_google.htm and inform us about it. This e-mail was compiled without human’s participation. This letter shouldn’t been responded to. The administration of Gmail Mail Service!”

Need I say more?

Nope. Absolutely not.

Update: Looks like this email smells a bit hoaxy and a bit spammy. Just so you know.

The comma fetish – There was a writer who felt the need to use, like, commas for well, everything that could, be considered a, pause in speech. The thing is, by getting rid of the commas the prose was tighter and read better to my inner ears. If it was only a matter of style, I may have let them be. As it was, they were a major distraction so I kicked them to the curb.

My favourite Tumblemoose post yet.

I get very upset about comma fetish, as George puts it. I think writers often use them when they’re unsure about whether two clauses need to be in the same sentence or not.

My advice is this. If in doubt, go with the full stop (or period to my transatlantic pals).

I can write this sentence. Followed by this one. And you’ll know that they’re connected. It’s no big deal. Both just signify a pause. But the full stop makes things clearer. It keeps it simple. Promise.

Announced today at Berlin’s IFA technology show, Sony unveiled its new digital media service on Qriocity (pronounced “curiosity” — who knew?), an on-demand video and music service.

Sony Launches Qriocity, Cloud-based Music Service to Rival Apple, iTunes | Fast Company

That has to be the worst name and strapline for a product or service ever. They break so many marketing and copywriting rules that I don’t know where to start.

But I must. I’ll pick three problems:

• Phonetically, a ‘Q’ sounds like quick or quote or quiet. There is no letter that relies on a following vowel more than the letter ‘Q’. And they’ve got rid of it. It’s like me pronouncing the title of this blog, Bee-roomeshtick. Nonsense.
• ‘Music that follows you’. What does that mean? Not to me, I’m a techno-literate writer who knows about syncing and stuff. What does it mean to the average Joe? Absolutely nothing. It’s practically jargon.
• The full stops. If you’re going to make your strapline look like a list of features, make sure you list all your features. And make them sound impressive. Music and movies. Is that it? In this day and age?

Honestly, Apple’s marketing department must look at stuff like this and not know whether to laugh or wince.