Communications writing and design : the integrated manual for marketing, advertising, and public relations

205 Pages·2017·85.39 MB·English

by  DiMarco

CommunicationsWritingandDesign
Communications Writing and Design
TheIntegratedManualforMarketing,
Advertising,andPublicRelations
JohnDiMarco, Ph.D.
Thiseditionfirstpublished2017
©2017JohnDiMarco
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
v
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Foreword ix
Preface xi
 TheConnectivitybetweenResearch,Writing,andDesign 1
 WritingTechnical,Persuasive,andNewsCommunication 9
 CommunicationDesign 45
 CreativeResearchMethods 83
 DesignTools 103
 MarketingProjects 123
 AdvertisingProjects 145
 PublicRelationsProjects 163
 SocialMediaforMarketing,Advertising,andPublicRelations 191
Index 199
vii
Acknowledgements
Mysincereloveandthanksgotomyfamily,Kim,David,andJack,whoareeverythingtome.
Mysinceregratitudegoesouttomymentoranddearfriend,professorandNewYorkTimesBest
Selling Author Dr. Frank Brady. Frank took time to review my ideas and proposals and graciously
wrotetheopeningforeword.Hiskind,thoughtfulencouragementandadvicehavebeeninstrumental
inmygrowthasascholarandauthoroverthepastdecade.
MycolleaguesandstudentsatSt.John’sUniversityaredeartome.Theymotivatemetotirelessly
pursueknowledge,truth,andunderstanding.
MysincereappreciationgoesouttotheteamatWileyforcollaboratingwithmeonanotheraca-
demic work. A hearty thank you must go to my editor at Wiley, Haze Humbert, and the editorial
teamofMaddieKoufogazos,KariCapone,andDhanashreePhadateforbeingsoverypatient,gra-
cious,andsupportiveduringtheprojectandthepeerreview.Theyreallyhelpedmeconstructmy
ideas into a valuable learning product that will benefit students and professionals in the creative
industries.
I am blessed and grateful to present the work of my students, as well as the most celebrated,
thoughtful, and iconic designers in the world in this textbook. The firms that contributed major
workforthisprojectincludePentagram,TurnStyle,andMiltonGlaser,Inc.Aswell,othercolleagues,
archivists, and students provided their assistance along with photographs and designs. I am very
thankful to the people who put their heart, soul, and creativity into these projects as I try to give
themfurtherbreathaseducationalexamples.
Thankyoutoallwhocontributed…
ClaireBanks PaulaScher
MichaelBierut DJStout
MichaelCalandra LisaStrausfeld
DianaColapietro BrianWallace
KristenCrawford StevenWatson
EliseCruz ArtiannaWynder
MichaelGericke
MiltonGlaser
LukeHayman
AngusHyland
NickHeller
NatashaJen
MeganMonfiston
ix
Foreword
Althoughitmightsoundlikehyperbole,thisbookistrulymeantforallwritersanddesigners:pro-
fessionalsandbeginners,academicsandstudents,journalistsandcopywriters,marketingandadver-
tisingcreators,speechwritersandpublicrelationsspecialists,authorsandessayists.
RedSmith,theSocratesofsportswriterswhowroteadailycolumnfordecades,wasonceasked
whether writing was difficult. “Why, no,” he said laconically. “You simply sit down at a typewriter,
openyourveinsandbleed.”Thepointisthatifyoufindwritingeasy,youareprobablydoingitwrong.
IfyoustudyorevendipintoDr.DiMarco’sbook,youwillfinditenormouslyhelpfulasitwillease
anyproblemsyoumayhaveinputtingpenorcomputertopaperorscreen.
JohnDiMarcoknowshowdifficultwritingcanbe:hehashadspentdecadessolvingproblemsasa
writeranddesignerforcorporationsandforhisownbusinessesandprojects,andhasincorporated
everythinghehaslearnedandexperiencedintoCommunicationsWritingandDesign.Hismethods
havebeensuccessfulnotonlyamongprofessionalsbutalsoinacademewherehehastaughtstudents
whoaspiretobewritersanddesigners,andtothousandsofothersatconferencesandseminars.
Youwillfindinthisbooksuchdiscussionsastheelementsofstyle,thegraceofrhetoric,thedetails
of how to create a press release. You’ll learn how to construct and design copy for an advertise-
ment,thekeystohowtostructureanannualreport,thecompositionoffactsheetsandmediaback-
grounders, in addition to a myriad of other strategies and techniques that professional corporate
copywriters need to know. DiMarco populates the book with real life examples, and includes fully
illustratedsolutionsthatyoucanapplytoyourownwork.Hisexplanationofresearchandconcep-
tualizationaloneisworththepriceofadmission.
Thisisabook–acompletemanualreally–thatbelongsnexttoyourcomputerandcreativeteam.
Overtheyears,Iguaranteeyouwillbeearmarkingit,highlightingpassages,andwritinginitsmargins
allthethingsyouwillhavelearned.Plantowearitoutfromconstantandinevitableuse.
Dr.FrankBrady
xi
Preface
Objectives
Incommunications,writinganddesigneducates,informs,persuades,andentertainsaudiences.With
anincreasedneedforcontentacrossdisciplines,creative,perceptivestudentsandindustryprofes-
sionalsinmarketing,advertising,andpublicrelationspromptedthecreationofthisbook.Themain
goal is to help readers learn by fostering a valuable, directed approach to building knowledge and
skills through theory, technique, and practice, using an array of industry-standard projects in the
integratedcommunicationsfieldsofmarketing,advertising,andpublicrelations.
Marketing,advertising,andpublicrelationsrelyonpersuasive,technical,andnewswritingcoupled
withgraphicdesigntocreatecontent.Today’smostvaluedcommunicationsgeneralistsmustbecome
writers who design, and designers who write, with a keen eye for aesthetics and a strong hand for
prose,allinthepursuitofcontentcreation.
Afterreadingthisbookandfollowingtheexercises,youshouldbeableto:
– Understandbasicandimportantaspectsofgraphicdesignandpersuasivewriting.
– Evaluatevitalaspectsofdesignthinkingandvisualcomposition.
– Applywritinganddesignproblemsolvingtechniques.
– Synthesizevisualdesignandwrittencommunicationbetterduringcreativesituations.
– Createsuccessfulcommunicationpiecesacrossmarketing,advertising,andpublicrelations.
Method
Takingaprimerandprojectbasedapproach;thebookprescribesmemorableproblem-solvingframe-
worksthatteachbothwritinganddesigntostudentsandprofessionals.Sourcingoveronehundred
referencesandimages,thisbookservesasabeautifullyusefuldesksidetoolfortheneworcontinuing
marcomprofessional.
Themainfeaturesofthebookare:
(cid:2)
Chapterlearningobjectives–RootedinthedomainsofBlooms’RevisedTaxonomy(akaBloom’s
DigitalTaxonomy)
(cid:2)
MnemonicLearning(BANGPP,GACMIST,GROWN,WWCCRR)–Helpsyourememberhow
(cid:2)
Smallrelevantchunks–Givesreferencedsnippetsoftheoryandappliedknowledgethatcanbe
absorbedquickly
xii Preface
(cid:2)
ExplodedVisualexamples–Over100professionallywrittenanddesignedprojectsamplessatiate
your appetite for beautiful, unique images that are captioned with analysis of text, images, and
designprinciples.
(cid:2)
RealLifeProjectsandApplication–Illustratessolutionsthatcanbeusedrightawayinyourown
work.
(cid:2)
Playbookstyleapproach–Offersaquickreferenceresourceandreferenceforfutureknowledge
cravings.
(cid:2)
Chapterreferences–Providesapathforfurtherexplorationandlearningwithover70references
tocriticalworks.
(cid:2)
Chapter exercises and creative assignments – Reinforces learning with objectives-driven
assignments
(cid:2)
Instructorwebsite–providesarestrictedaccessinstructorexambankwithchapterslidedecksand
examsforeasyadoptionintocourses.
(cid:2)
Studentwebsite–provideschapterslidesande-learningvideosthathelpteachprojectdesignand
developmentinsideandoutsideoftheclassroom.


TheConnectivitybetweenResearch,Writing,andDesign
Bylimitingandfilteringthevisible,structureenablesittobetranscribedintolanguage.
MichelFoucault1994
Chapterobjectives
Aftercompletingthischapter,youshouldbeableto:
(cid:2)
understanddifferencesandconnectionsbetweenatext,adocument,andawork.
(cid:2)
analyzehowresearchandwritinguniteswithdesign.
(cid:2)
evaluatesignstodeterminetheirvalueoncommunication.
(cid:2)
createasemioticsignsystemtocommunicateanidea.
. Theanatomyofatext,adocument,andawork
Let us begin by establishing a simple view of how research, writing, and design collide in creating
communicationformassaudiencesbyrelatingthecollectiveanalyticalthoughtsofsociologists,lin-
guists,writers,designers,informationscientists,andphilosophers.
Frenchresearcher,sociologist,andauthorRolandBarthes(BarthesandMiller1975,64)calledtext
“tissue”, which he explains as “a product, a ready-made veil, behind which lies, more or less hid-
denmeaning(truth)”andhepurportsthat“textismade,isworkedoutinaperpetualinterweaving”.
Theperpetualinterweavingoftextinmodernmasscommunicationrepresentstheendless,interde-
pendentrelationshipbetweenresearch,writing,anddesign.Intheinformationscienceworld,three
mainitemsrepresentthethingsweresearch,writeanddesign;theyareatext,adocument,and“a
work”.Thetextisthesetsofwordsthatcreatewriting.Thedocumentisthephysicalcontainerwhere
the text is recorded, and “a work” is the set of ideas embedded “into a document using text with
theintentionofbeingcommunicatedtoareceiver”(Smiraglia2001,3–4).Inadvertising,forexam-
ple, we see this in writing lines of copy (text), that then go into individual advertisements (docu-
ment),whichthengointoacampaign(awork).Inbookpublishing,thelinesofwordsbecomethe
text,whilethetextbecomesthedocumentsintheformofchaptersandsidebars,andthechapters,
frontmatterandindexesbecometheworkintheformofacompletedbookthatcommunicatesaset
ofideas.
CommunicationsWritingandDesign:TheIntegratedManualforMarketing,Advertising,andPublicRelations,
FirstEdition.JohnDiMarco.
©2017JohnDiMarco.Published2017byJohnWiley&Sons,Ltd.
 CommunicationsWritingandDesign
Figure. From
Complextosimple.Text,
document,andworkare
theresultofresearch,
writing,anddesign.
IllustrationbyJohn
DiMarco.
. Research
Researchoffersmethodstoperforminquiryandobservationthatyieldquestions,data,andtheories.
Itbecomesthestartingpointformakingmeaningaboutsomethingandspawnsadesiretodefinea
problem,getideas,andthenultimatelycreateform(LuptonandPhillips2011).Researchcanbefor-
mal(structuredandsystematic)orinformal(looseanddivergent)andscholarly,buildingknowledge
forknowledge’ssake,orcorporate,buildingknowledgeforcommerce’ssake.Regardlessofthetypeof
researchweuse,oncewecanmakemeaningandbuilddata,thenwecanbegintorepresentourideas
inwrittenform.Researchoffersmorethanjustdatagatheringonaformallevel.Itignitesinspira-
tionofnewconceptsormagnifiesclarificationofwhatwethinkweknow,especiallywhenideasswirl
aroundinsideourheads.Incommunicationdesign,researchgeneratesdata(text)anddatabecomes
foodforgeneratingcontent(document),thusdesignedintoafinalcommunicationproduct(awork)
foradvertising,marketing,andpublicrelations.
Figure. Datadrivescampaigns.The“Truth”campaignusesharddataintheformofstatisticstopersuadeyoung
adultstostopsmoking.Thewebsiteandadsencouragemillennialstobethegenerationthatdisavowssmokingby
showingastatisticaltrendleaningtosuccessandfeasibility,thusempoweringthemasgrouptobeseenasmakinga
historicalcontributiontosociety.www.truth.com.