The Style Files
My thoughts on design, writing and entrepreneurship.
Photo credit (background): www.pexels.com
Photo credit (background): www.pexels.com
"i've been blogging for six years, and in that time i've noticed something — anyone can do it." -Jeff Goins of copyblogger.com (https://copyblogger.com/mediocre-blogging/) And so it begins: my laundry list of complaints about the poor quality of writing in design content. What a topic! Why would I bash my own people, you might ask? Photo credit: www.pexels.com The truth is I worked in translation for many years but left in part because quality in that industry is practically nonexistent. It was totally maddening especially as someone who wanted to uphold high standards for my deserving clients! Suffice it to say that if your life is made of words, bad writing is a daily dose of bad news. In fairness to copywriters, the aim is often very specific. Grammar rules which apply elsewhere to writing are all but ignored in copy. Still, quality writing reflects a level of sophistication in your business. Let's dive into some of the most common mistakes you can spot in interior design blogs and other creative content. This information may shock you! You've been warned. Photo credit: www.pexels.com 1. Sentences are followed by ONE space, not two. Yes, we're jumping right into grammar. If you write for a living, there are some basic things you need to know. Like NEED to know. One of them is that two spaces formerly used between sentences is now just one. Every. Single. Time. Yes, it's completely noticeable and no, you can't say no one told you. 2. Don't completely throw away commas. Some people write like this. It's okay for short sentences. It's not okay for longer ones. Do you see how ridiculous this is if I keep writing and writing and change ideas and want tiles hardwood and doorknobs the glass kind but smash them all together? Please don't. You need commas in your life, that I can promise you. 3. Don't overdo it with commas, either Other times I see people write, with commas, lots, and lots, and lots, of commas, even, if they're not making, a list. They make no sense, they ruin the flow and they look like a hot mess. Please don't! Alternatively, writers may know their way around a comma except when they use them in place of periods. You wouldn't use wall paint to do your nails, would you? Use commas correctly and please, be prudent! So... not this many. Photo credit: www.pexels.com 4. Get to know the difference between a hyphen, an en-dash and an em-dash Public service announcement: the hyphen (-), en-dash (–) and em-dash (—) are three different punctuation marks with their own uses. One thing I see all the time is people who use hyphens for EVERYTHING. Nope. For more guidance on this topic, check out one of my favorite people for writing tips, Grammar Girl! www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/when-to-use-and-not-use-an-em-dash Pro tip: if you're not going to bother reading all about it, refrain from using hyphens absolutely everywhere. The em-dash is your pal—and a little extra! 5. Proofreading is required Everyone makes mistakes! That's okay. The difference is pros go back and correct them. If you want to be taken seriously in your writing, then proofread your work or have someone do it for you. I'll break it down for you. Photo credit: www.pexels.com Here's an example of a sentence from a prominent design website in need of some proofreading. In the interest of being gracious, let's keep it anonymous. "I haven't always been a morning person, waking up does not come easily to me, and I am guilty of pushing snooze, but once I'm up I'm up and very chipper!" Now let's take a look at what it should be: "I haven't always been a morning person. Waking up doesn't come easily to me and I'm guilty of pushing snooze. Once I'm up, though, I'm up and very chipper!" Do you see how this was an example of a few of the mistakes we covered so far? In some places, it had too many commas and there were too few commas in others. These mistakes contributed to a sentence which was difficult to understand and completely threw the flow. Looks like this guy hit the snooze button, too. Photo credit: www.pexels.com 6. Visual people can also read There's a stereotype that creative people aren't always good with details in other professions. In my experience, that's sometimes true. (Sorry.) Don't be a part of the problem! Here's the deal: people may love your website because it's all kinds of gorgeous. Good for you for killing it on the creative front! That doesn't mean they don't judge you for your writing mistakes. Whether or not it was an honest mistake, writing errors make a sensational website okay and a gifted designer kind of a flake. This reader is as cute as a button! Photo credit: www.pexels.com 7. Messed up capitalization Capitalization can be tricky in titles especially if you decide to keep less important words lowercase. The problem with capitalizing some words and not others is it tends to look accidental and mismatched. It's consistency and professionalism you're after so let your words reflect that. 8. Foreign language mistakes Chances are you know that it's important to write well in English if your audience speaks English. You probably also realize it's possible for designers to speak languages other than English and that their design acumen is what's most important to their profession. However, I have to be real with you in saying that you can almost always tell if something's written by a non-native speaker. There's no shame in being multilingual! Just play to your strengths and have a native speaker of your published language write or proofread your work. For the record, anyone who claims to speak other languages as well as their mother tongue is either misguided or one in a million. That's really a unicorn of situations so please don't fall for it. Leave translating or native-language editing to the pros. Photo credit: www.pexels.com 9. Treat your writing like a visual component This one might surprise you: some designers are so focused on images that they forget to treat text like a building block on the screen. I've seen sentences end abruptly when they were covered up by images and words crammed into a tiny corner or awkward space. Yikes! Don't forget that we still see text as blocks and forms! Make your text deliberate and beautiful. I hate to say it but it's time to go! Photo credit: www.pexels.com The bottom line
Sloppiness is going to cost you no matter which way you slice it! If there's one thing to take away from this blog, it's that 1) quality matters and 2) writing requires attention to detail. If writing bores you or you're too caught up in the other details of your business, don't sweat it! I can write on your behalf. Do you have any thoughts on this? Comments? Suggestions about this blog or ideas for future topics? Let me know! I'd love to hear from you and hope to catch you again later.
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AuthorHi, my name is Martha Oschwald and I'm a content writer focused on design. This page is meant to give you a taste of my writing style and latest musings. Archives
April 2022
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