Content Strategy: Uniting Disciplines
Published on Nov 18, 2015
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MORE DECKS TO EXPLORE
PRESENTATION OUTLINE
James Callan
@SCAREQUOTES
... AND EDITED INFORMATIONAL BROCHURES
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EUREKA!
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"Content strategy
is to copywriting as
information architecture
is to design."
— Rachel Lovinger
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WHO AMONG YOU HAS WORKED ON A COPY STYLE GUIDE?
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EDITORIAL POWER
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THIS IS A DUTCH OVEN.
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what's the difference?
"FRENCH OVEN" IS LE CREUSET FOR "DUTCH OVEN"
You want to serve salt at your table.
Not in a shaker.
What do you look for?
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MOST POPULAR?
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SALT CELLAR
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Manufacturers don't agree.
Dictionaries don't agree.
It's salty anarchy.
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Solution
IN OUR THESAURUS, THEY ARE ALL EQUAL
Same with "skillet" and "frying pan."
And "double boiler" and "bain-marie."
And "double boiler" and "bain-marie."
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WE CALL IT A TURNER. (INDUSTRY TERM.)
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AND SO DO CUSTOMERS!
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FIVE MINUTES OF FRUSTRATION!
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So we combined categories. Spatulas and turners will live together.
(We also updated the internal search thesaurus.)
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Tips
- Look for contested words or insider knowledge
- Define your in-house terms
- Don't expect customers to know them
- Fulfill the spirit of their inquiry, not just the letter
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OXFORD COMMA!
Most of us who write or edit for a living have an opinion about serial commas — it's a sign that you care, man!
But I have yet to see any proof that customers or other users notice which way you go, unless you blindly follow a style guide and end up with something like the Kennedy/Stalin stripper example.
But I have yet to see any proof that customers or other users notice which way you go, unless you blindly follow a style guide and end up with something like the Kennedy/Stalin stripper example.
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best practices
no match for a good blaster at your side
But a lot of editing practices get handed down like old recipes, or the way "best practices" are passed around. We all know how useful "best practices" are.
Better than nothing, but no match for a good blaster at your side. Or actual user data and experience.
Better than nothing, but no match for a good blaster at your side. Or actual user data and experience.
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So ... why edit things
that aren't confusing?
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Eliminating widows & orphans wasted copyeditors' time.
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"No reader had any problem
with 'bad breaks.'
We had been laboring on
an imaginary improvement."
— John McIntyre
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"New to the Stylebook:
over, as well as more than,
is acceptable to indicate
greater numerical value."
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Why spend time making edits that don't matter to users?
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Spend time on details that matter.
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Spend time figuring out which details those are.
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Ideally, both
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finish line!
final thought
Styles change. That's what makes them style.
Guides help make choices, they don't choose for you.
Guides help make choices, they don't choose for you.
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QUESTIONS?
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