Quite a lot of the second year articles I read recently were really interesting, and like in previous years two things hit me: firstly the number of students who write really well, and should be writing lots more; and secondly the number of students who write quite well and, if they wrote more would soon learn to write really well.
Yet the number of design students over the past 10 years that I've been teaching who've come up to me and said "I can't write" is pretty depressing. Can't write? Of course you can.
Worse - the number of students who say "I can't write because I'm creative". Ohhhkaaay... I never thought that people who write aren't being creative but whatever.
The key to being a good writer is having something to say. It could be an opinion, a thought, a link to something you've seen, or anything.
The second key is just doing it. Actually, that's quite important. I've written Pulitzer Prize-winning stuff in my head but it ain't gonna get any accolades there, is it?
Blogging is easy. Some would say too easy. But it's good practice for writing and, if that's not a good enough incentive (I know, it isn't) it's certainly one of the best ways of meeting people and networking. Just about every important designer alive today keeps a blog, or contributes to one. And how do I define "every important designer"? They're the ones who blog.
In fact, I think blogging has become the number one way of networking and breaking out of the London-centric cycle that works against anyone who lives in the nice bits of the world. Twitter is number two, in case you were wondering.
The idea that writing and design are somehow mutually exclusive is the sort of crap that really should be challenged. Designers write. End of story. So if you're not writing, you should be.
Over Christmas I read The Huffington Post Guide To Blogging (see link above) and I really recommend it for its advice on setting up and running a blog. I also recommend listening to this entertaining series of podcasts from Merlin Mann on the subject. He breaks down blogging in to a few key steps and sets little tasks to get you going. He also, like the Huffington book, talks about how to get people to notice you're out there. Write something interesting, link to someone else, and before long you'll get noticed.
You can set up a blog really easily, for free. Visit blogger.com to find out one way. Now. Go on!
So what do you think? Do you blog already? If so, post a link. And if not, why not?
3 comments:
Absolutely! And not only does it improve your writing skills but also your understanding of everything. If you can write it down you know that you have understood it! Sometimes if you are not certain of something, you should write it down, that way when you come to explain it your thoughts will be very clear and will make sense. A nit like composing yourself before you talk!
"The key to being a good writer is having something to say." I completely agree Jonathan.
It's quite unbelievable how many graduates I speak with who claim they can't write. I then read their dissertations, for example, and have to spend ages convincing them otherwise.
I've recently written a short essay on design writing and criticism, which was the unedited (note to Teal and Anna) submission for the end of term one of my MA. Notably, Lauren Tan also picked up on the design/writing discussion too.
Lauren C mentioned Lauren T's post today - I'll go and check it out!
I actually rarely edit what I write. Maybe I should!
Richard Harper, speaking in Dundee the other night, pointed out how computers, by giving us copy/paste, have forced us to write in non-natural ways - we couldn't do that if we had a quill, ink and expensive parchment. I can't imagine Henry Fielding copying and pasting. And it used to be the job of editors to edit anyway - let the writers get on and write, I say!
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