One Little Hole – a Loss of Credibility

If you have ever had printing done, have you ever noticed how your eyes go straight to the typo? The spelling error that you should have noticed when you proofed the artwork three times? After handing my little newsletter to a friend years ago, he handed it back after a minute pointing to the one mistake ... the one little hole that let all the air out of the balloon. It wasn't even spelling. It was PUNCTUATION. I have learned that proofing things three times, or three people proofing, is the only safe bet. You know! One digit in the phone number is wrong and the whole lot goes in the bin.

For me, the perfect publication is one that is free of text errors, uses text in a natural way and employs graphics that bolster the message without stealing the show.

What Bugs Me

Having been in graphic design and typesetting for over 10 years, it doesn't take me long to evaluate someone else's work. Personal taste does play a part in graphic design, so I can appreciate something even if I don't like it. What really annoys me is bad text, or a mishandling of it in the design.

Bad Language

At the cost of being hopeless when it comes to numbers (a statistic might startle me, then I will report it with the wrong number of zeros on the end!), my language skills are fairly sharp. When you pick a designer, or design team, you need to know there is someone there who has a good grasp of English. I don't care what kind of cyborg English people use in chat rooms or in SMS messages. Printed commercial material still has to have some semblance of traditional language... at least for now.

Noice

All style and faulty content robs your message of credibility. A perfect magazine or brochure cover with a typo is like Halle Berry with the voice of Kath or Kim. You don’t want to look like an Iron Man but have the voice of a jockey. People notice as soon as you open your mouth. It distracts the mind from the message.

All of the above assumes that you have well-written text to start with. You might need some professional help in rewriting what you want to say in a form that is logical, easy to understand and also commercial. And not longwinded! Every word must earn its place in the text.

Text Sells

A brochure I worked on had text written by the company's MD. It was our first job for them, but I couldn't help myself and rewrote the entire thing as I keyed it in. I expected him to call my manager and have a whinge, but he only changed one word. And the rep got their entire advertising account. Value added service! Of course, real professional copywriters amaze me. I can certainly smarten up your text, but they start from scratch!

Old School

A less obvious factor is how the text is used in the document. I find that I'm nudging things a tiny bit up or down, left or right until the page looks like it just grew that way. Of course this is a pain when the client wants something added or deleted! I had good training in my first design job - someone from the old school where briefs were all scribbled out with a pencil (a what?) But they knew their trade. Language is divine, and design should reflect that as much as possible. It doesn't mean you can't break the rules. Like any great musician or artist, the art is in knowing when you can break them and actually obtain more beauty - or a stronger message. It also doesn't mean you can't be hip and use buzzwords. I love buzzwords! They are a hundred connotations packed into one naptha flash of thought that entices people into your story. But you must have the story as well.

Spell Cheque

About 20 students have spent time with me for work experience. Some were studying design at college and were amazing artists whose work sometimes made me green with envy. But they couldn't spell. They'd be okay if they were part of a team and had a copywriter and an editor in charge of the text. But they were unlikely to spot something that someone else missed. The ones that go to the top usually have a good grasp of language, or their dad owns the business and they have staff.

If you are not good with text, I guess the scariest part is that you don't always know if the text is up to scratch. My advice - seek professional help. It’s worth the cost. If it’s promotional text you may be using it for years, so you need to get it royt.