Ever since I won the weekly Vocabulary Bee four weeks running in fourth grade, I’ve been pretty smug about my conversance with lexical arcana. So, I was impressed when *Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus introduced me to a new and tasty word, velleity: Wishy-Washy Word of the Day: velleity You know all those things that you’ve always [...]
Archive for January, 2012
Ear Training for Copywriters, Courtesy Uncle Walt and Aunt Emily
Many writers cite Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson as the mother and father of contemporary poetry – or perhaps more accurately, as its queer, brilliant aunt and uncle. The two writers may at first seem to have little in common—Whitman is as expansive as Dickinson is compressed, as wild as she is precise. But they [...]
Four Simple New Year’s Resolutions for Marcommers
Blech. It’s already late-mid-January and you still haven’t made a New Year’s resolution. I think I know why: if you’re older than, say, 25, it’s probably impossible to think of a single personal flaw you haven’t already overcome by way of a previous New Year’s resolution. But if you work in marcomm, you can always [...]
Why Infographics Work
Infographics are a powerful design tool. They soar into a realm where bar charts, pie charts, and raw data can never travel: instantaneous emotional connection. Let’s look at an example from USAID (below). At first glance, the poster’s strong symbols and clear typography lead us in and boldly declare the theme of the story. The [...]
