Learn Layout And Design

Following from yesterday's post, I feel compelled to further discuss layout and design. Every single writer should know basic layout and design. It is an entire set of skills that are easily overlooked or ignored, but which can make a massive impact on how your writing is received.

For the sake of defining my terms, I consider "layout" to be formatting text to attain a desired visual aesthetic, and "design" is the creation of nontextual visual elements. I usually put the two terms back to back because they go hand-in-hand.

I have mentioned before that there are a great many aspects to writing which people are not conscious of, but which they are unconsciously affected by. Layout and design are two of those aspects. Every time you end a paragraph with one or two words on the last line, or your last page only has two or three lines on it, or you have a paragraph where one line happens to stick out further than the other, you are bothering your readers. It is a visually ugly thing. By the same token, if you ever put yellow text on a white background, or bright red text on a bright green background (God help you), then nobody even cares what your words say because their very existence is offensive to the senses.

Learn your shapes and your colors. Right angles are strong and formal. Straight lines (including invisible margins) are clean and attractive. It is better to put darker text on lighter backgrounds than vice versa. Learn what complementary colors are and never lay them on top of each other.

I am not saying that you need to become a professional designer. I am saying that you need to know the absolute basics. You need to be able to make documents that don't suck. You should be able to make documents that look attractive, even if people might say that they look like a first-year design student. That is a thousand times better than being told that it looks like a fifth grader laid it out (or that it was a fifth-grader's cat).

Being a great writer is valuable. Being a great writer who can also lay out and design a decent document is invaluable.

What Is This Document Supposed To Do?

Copywriting is some serious stuff. "Copy" is basically the industry term for words, so a copywriter can be asked to write potentially anything for a company. Often, they write "print materials" like brochures, flyers, pamphlets, etc. They may also be writing the web-based materials, too.

A good copywriter should also have a strong sense of design. As such, they should know at least the basics of actually making those materials, including the software used to lay everything out (no, Microsoft Word is not the answer).

There are countless design books out there. I got my first taste of it from The Non-Designer's Design Book by Robin Williams (no, not that one). Once you get a feel for the principles and the basics of layout and design, you can derive a lot of what is and isn't acceptable.

But the point of this post is to cover an intersection of copywriting and layout/design that is often missed by both sides: intent.

When you make any document, the absolute first question you must always ask is: What is this document supposed to do?

The words you choose to put down must serve a purpose. If you don't know what that purpose is, you cannot write a successful document.

And the answer is very unlikely to be "informing people". Written materials are supposed to make people do things. Consider the classic 3-panel brochure. Let's say it is one for a tour company based in Niagara Falls. What is the brochure supposed to do? It is supposed to entice tourists to go take a tour of the falls after lunch. Because of that, the brochure needs to have certain information: times, prices, starting location. It will need a good pitch, flashy descriptive writing, and some attractive pictures, too, but if they don't know the basic information, then your brochure is malfunctioning.

Now consider a month-long summer camp. There will be way more information about the camp, its activities and offerings, and its various pricing options. The only way to really tell them everything they need to know is by having interested parents check out the camp's website. Therefore, the brochure is supposed to intrigue people and compel them to look online to satisfy their curiosity. This brochure also needs good pictures and flashy text, but it now it needs to tell you a little bit about all of the different aspects of the camp (eligibility, activities, history), always suggesting they check out the website to get the full story. This brochure is not supposed to get kids to register right away; it is supposed to make them do more research.

It seems really simple and obvious, but that's because I just told it to you. I constantly find this overlooked (yes, I am a big enough nerd that if I'm waiting around somewhere, I will read the brochures and tear them apart both as a writer and a designer). If you want to get into copywriting or design and layout, never forget that question; it will solve far more problems than any other piece of advice you will come across.

Derive The Rules

I often claim that the best way to learn about the mechanics of English (grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.) is through exposure. Surround yourself with words. If every time you ever see the written word, it is flawless, you will only understand it in its flawless form (it scares me how much more difficult that becomes in the digital age).

The problem with sheer exposure is that you will learn the mechanics, but you won't understand them. You may know when a comma feels natural or a semicolon fits, but you don't know why. Fortunately, a minimal amount of studying will be enough to figure it all out.

If you have been immersed enough in standard written English that you know when to use the right mechanics, then you are already good at noticing patterns. If you learn about English structures like dependent and independent clauses, prepositional phrases, parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, etc.), then you will be able to see more of the patterns.

In fact, with exposure to correct mechanics and a basic knowledge of the language, you can literally derive the usage rule for any mechanic just by seeing how it's used and explaining the pattern with the proper terminology.

I really do recommend actually learning the rules for English grammar. Just because you can get by doesn't mean you're going to get it right all the time. When I was very young, I remember solving the "then/than" issue by saying the sentence out loud and listening to if the word sounded more like an 'a' or an 'e'. I'm sure I got it wrong a lot. Once I actually learned what the rule was, I never made that mistake again.

I will say that you will feel like a genius and a badass if somebody ever asks you about some rule of English and you can write a sentence with an example of it, stare at it, and then solve it and explain it to them. It's awesome realizing that you know even more than you realized you did.

Your Viewpoint Affects Your Reception

X-rated pasta is stupid. It's an amusing concept when you first come to the realization that "if people can shape pasta into anything, why could shape it into genitals." And if you are looking around a novelty shop, you may see a package of it and giggle enough to try it out. But expectations are usually much higher than reality.

You cook up the pasta, it saturates in certain parts, breaks away in others, and will all be piled on top of another. I admit that, considering talking about this stuff, it might continue to sound amusing, but the actual experience is probably less hilarious.

Novelty food is usually not very high in quality. So when you end up giggling all the way home, and then having a bowl of subpar pasta whose shapes you don't even recognize anymore, who's laughing then?

But I ask a different question. I ask why you would bother to make x-rated pasta in the first place. It's a silly idea that is moderately executed and not worthy enough for individuals to purchase more than once.

Did you do it because you wanted to be famous for making phallic foods? Did you do it because you thought you could sell enough to make some money? Did you do it just because you could?

As a notorious planner, I tend to question people who do things just because they can. You should have a greater idea of what you will get from your actions. But I understand that people with a different belief system will see x-rated pasta in a completely different manner.

If you simply had the idea to make x-rated pasta and did it for laughs, then found out you could make some money and also get some giggles out of people, then everything you accomplished was a rousing success.

Not surprisingly, writing works all the same way. I largely prefer to have a plan for my writing. I lately don't put words down until I have a decent structure for the whole story in my head. I prefer it, but others may rather just make a scene and go on from there.

Sometimes, results speak for themselves. If your method gets you to write something you enjoyed, you did good. The more people who enjoy it, the nicer it is (assuming it's something you plan to share with others). Your viewpoint affects your reception of anything, whether it be your work or others. Approach things with a mindset that works best.

We Need More Brodowns

Of the recent fads that have come and gone, my favorite is probably bro-words. This is when you take a regular word and replace a part of it with "bro". It is generally done with words that have an o-sound, so that everybody gets what the original was.

Examples can go from the mundane to the ludicrous. Some of my favorite examples include: brotato, Brohan, Brosef Stalin, and Broseidon, King of the Brocean.

Sometimes people would throw down a bro-word, and it would become a challenge to go back and forth with the most awesome ones they could come up with. It was a bro-word showdown. It was a brodown,

Tonight I had one with a friend just based on remaking movies for bros. Examples included Bronnochio, Brocahontas, Bro White, and Bromancing the Stone.

I love brodowns. They're one of the most amusing and engaging word games to me. There is a certain simplicity in that no matter what set of words you are familiar with, you can find some o-sounds to turn them into bro-sounds. But there is actually a good challenge find them when you're put on the spot.

You can also play a game to find a way to introduce bro-words into conversations. "Jesus was so cool, he told people that he was the alpha and the bromega." You ought to get either some solid laughs or some sustained groans.

Sadly, I find the fad of it wearing off. People have a couple standalones they pull out from time to time, but people aren't throwing down anymore. I think that it is a worthwhile activity in general. Next time you find yourself playing with words or just staring into space, start coming up with bro-words. Get a friend to do it too and see who can win your brodowns.

You Can't Plan For Life

The idea of having designated writing time in your designated writing space is awesome. It keeps you consistently writing, which should aid in your creativity and productivity. But let's be real: you can't plan for life.

Things happen. People may need your attention. You may have a long day which saps your energy. When this happens, kiss your writing time goodbye.

Lost time might be able to be reclaimed. If you end up shifting your designated writing time by an hour or two in either direction, you can still get your writing time in, even if it's not the exact same time as usual.

Keep in mind that this is a pendulum which can swing in either direction. You may be ready to close your eyes and fall asleep when inspiration strikes you. You have he best idea for finally getting your story idea off the ground and running. And not only that, you may actually have the energy to go out and write it for several hours. Make use of this valuable present! It may not be your designated writing time or your designated writing space, but when the spirit strikes you, roll with the punches.

Copse

I was driving a friend of mine home after adventures, and I heard him tell me, "that's the fourth cops we've driven by on tonight." It made no sense to me because I was certain we had seen far more police officers than that, plus I didn't see any when he said it. Then I thought that maybe he said "copse", but that didn't make sense because the road had tons of trees already (plus there was no way in hell he knew that word).

When I looked to my side, I saw that he was saying Tops, the supermarket. I had a good laugh about it, then decided to let him know that there was a word spelled c-o-p-s-e, but is pronounced the same as "cops". He asked me what it was and I explained that it was basically like a small amount of trees in an area.

After thinking about it, I then said that it was a word that you basically never needed to know. We can explain something as a "small forest" or a "thicket" and that the word is used so rarely that you shouldn't be expected to simply know it.

When I got into his neighborhood, it was pitch black outside, so I was carefully driving down the road looking for his house. He told me that his is the first one after the line of trees, which instantly jogged my memory (because that is how I also remember which house is his).

We said our goodbyes and goodnights, and I got in my car and drove off. About 100 feet down the road, I pulled over and pulled out my phone to send my friend a message.

"That treeline you mentioned...that's a copse."