Week 5

Writing masterclass

Ben:

• Writing is not an exercise after doing a project; it is weaving it in as part of the creative process. Changing the mindset of it being documentation, but rather informing the process
• Synthesis, structure, strategy
• PDF as part of creative process as per above

Synthesising:
• Everyone has different ways of synthesising information; a good example is to write down the structure on cards and lay them out on the table. When you can see the narrative it’s easier to picture work.
• Another is to sit and write the headers; a headline for each slide. If someone was to just read the headlines would they understand what I am trying to say?

Structure:
• Browns 8 questions;
– What is the research context and who is the audience?
– What is my research question?
– What did I do?
– Why did I do it?
– What happened?
– What do the results mean in theory? And in practice?
– What is the key benefit? (The benefit of the research relating to the question)
– What remains unresolved?

Strategy:
• You don’t need to put everything in the PDF, use links, use images
• Give the reader motivation to understand context. Key information
• Do I need 70 pages in the document etc. condense it and make it relevant, but interesting

• Good writers write with the authors in mind
• Think about how you would write a cook book, versus a design book, versus a fashion magazine
• Don’t assume the reader knows what you know

“I think there are two types of writers, the architects and the gardeners. The architects plan everything ahead of time, like an architect building a house. They know how many rooms are going to be in the house, what kind of roof they’re going to have, where the wires are going to run, what kind of plumbing there’s going to be. They have the whole thing designed and blueprinted out before they even nail the first board up. The gardeners dig a hole, drop in a seed and water it. They kind of know what seed it is, they know if planted a fantasy seed or mystery seed or whatever. But as the plant comes up and they water it, they don’t know how many branches it’s going to have, they find out as it grows. And I’m much more a gardener than an architect.”

George R R Martin

James:

• Writing should be a topic you are interested in
• Designers make things look invisible. George Orwell quotes “Good writing is like a window pane” which is extremely relative to design as we present messages through design (often subliminally)
• 1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. 2. Never use a long word where a short one will do. 3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. 4. Never use the passive where you can use the active “The students attacked their tutor” not “The tutor was attacked by the students”.
• Don’t lose your reader, let them stay with you
• 5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. (i.e. jargon!). 6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous (i.e. if these rules create something clunky, not “me”, a mess, abandon immediately!).
• Writer’s block: DO
– Ask how would I have written this?
– Pace around the room
– Read your progress
– Doodle with your non-dominant hand
– Get some fresh air
– Eat fruit
– Remember ‘why’ you have written it