The better you write, the higher you go in Ogilvy & Mather. People who think well, write well. Woolly minded people write woolly memos, woolly letters and woolly speeches. Good writing is not a natural gift. You have to learn to write well. Here are 10 hints:

1. Read the Roman-Raphaelson book on writing*. Read it three times.

2. Write the way you talk. Naturally.

3. Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.

4. Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of pretension.

5. Never write more than two pages on any subject.

6. Check your quotations.

7. Never send a letter or a memo on the day you write it. Read it aloud the next morning—and then edit it.

8. If it is something important, get a colleague to improve it.

9. Before you send your letter or your memo, make sure it is crystal clear what you want the recipient to do.

10. If you want ACTION, don’t write. Go and tell the guy what you want.

David

Number 4, 7 and 10 really jump out at me. Good things to remember.

From the book: The Unpublished David Ogilvy: A Selection of His Writings from the Files of His Partners
Image credit

Whether it’s a long copywriting project, a web layout, or a new visual identity, every project reaches a point where you just need to stop and take a break. This is so important in a project’s development. A good night’s sleep, or even just a short 20 minutes cat nap, can make all the difference in the quality and progress of a project. Oftentimes, I find myself working to a stopping point late at night, and then forcing myself to stop and go to sleep. Then, I wake early, look at the piece with fresh eyes, and almost always solve the problem I had, or improve my design in some way. This is a huge time saver, and ultimately produces better work.

Some of the most productive people in the world take a short nap every day. Why? Because it’s a change of pace, a chance for your mind to wander in dreams, and for your body to rest. If you keep a healthy work/life/sleep ratio in mind, you may just find your best ideas come when your eyes pop open after needed rest.

How many other examples of circles, rings, hoops etc. are going through your mind right now? Makes you think, doesn’t it? I’m going to try and apply this principle in future work I do. It’s obvious that really great things come from looking at, and thinking about something in an entirely new way.

Credit to Felix Heyes, Josh King and Ben West for their work on the ad. Spot on, sirs.

Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring nblo.gs/tRmsh

— Jordan Butler (@jordanmbutler) February 12, 2012

More people than you think, if you’re working at it. If you’re consistent, and putting things out there, people will see it. I think it’s that simple. People can’t see what isn’t live, but you’ll be pleasantly surprised when you get an email that says something like:

“Hi, I was just surfing the web for a designer to work on
a new project with me and your site came up…”

These are good messages to get. It’s easy to feel like a new blog, portfolio or site isn’t getting seen by anybody, but you really will be surprised at who’s listening. Analytics can tell you a lot about numbers, but what they don’t tell you is the impression your content made on the visitor. This is a stat that comes full circle, through interaction. Someday, that person will let you know they’ve been listening, or, in the case of my previous example, you’ll get connected, start working on something awesome, have more great content to put up, have more people listening, and around it goes.

Who’s listening? nblo.gs/tPXKZ

— Jordan Butler (@jordanmbutler) February 11, 2012

I had a great opportunity to work on a project in 2011 with Gourmet Fruit Bouquets. They make edible fruit bouquets, chocolate dipped strawberries, awesome dipped apples and more. They came to me before any design had been done, and asked that I design the identity, website, and assist with all art direction to establish the company’s image and collateral. Their doors just opened in Johannesburg, South Africa. Yep, South Africa.

Being kind of a nut about logo and identity design, I was naturally pumped when I had the chance to work on this mark from the ground up. Most identity projects will go through many revisions before it’s “just right”. I thought it would be fun to post some of the logo iterations that didn’t make the cut, but still show good direction. Ultimately it was all of the “failures” that got us where we ended up.

Here is the logo that the client ultimately decided on:

And here are a few of the other previous iterations:

What lesson do we learn? Just because a logo looks “good” doesn’t mean it accomplishes the objective completely. Everything from audience, to product, to price point, to location and more have to be taken into account. If the mark isn’t feeling like it fits into all of those critique points well, it doesn’t matter how pretty it is.

See the full portfolio entry here

So often, creatives are on a quest for perfection. Ultimately, this only serves as a roadblock to launching something great. You see, there is always more than one great, creative solution. Brainstorm a few ideas, pick a palette, pick a layout, choose a tagline, adjust the shadows and gradients, and send it out. Solve the problem. The trouble is that we end up in a never ending circle of tweaking, re-doing, reviewing, discussing, pretending that we can achieve a “perfect” solution. There is no perfect solution for any project, but there are many “right” ways, and “great” ways to finish the project and get it out the door.

I believe that great ideas turn to great products/solutions when one works hard on a few possible solutions, lays them out, picks one, and sends it out. Not when those solutions are laid out, rearranged, thrown out, and the process begins all over again. Having something out there is almost always better than having nothing out there.

Don’t let the frustrating quest for perfection stop you from doing something really great.

Food for thought.
]]> http://jordanbutlerdesign.com/the-quest-for-perfection/feed/ 3 http://jordanbutlerdesign.com/the-start-of-something-new/ http://jordanbutlerdesign.com/the-start-of-something-new/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 05:31:01 +0000 JB http://wpdev.jordanbutlerdesign.com/?p=1 Taking a leap. Jumping in. Putting it out there.

All common expressions for that moment when you make the decision to start something new. With this redesign of my design portfolio, I’m also implementing a blog which I hope will help do a few things.

First, I want to learn consistency in publishing content. Second, I want to contribute. I love reading what other creatives willingly contribute. I’d like to take my chance to offer what I know, and how I see things.

Finally, I want to try something new. I want to take the leap, jump in, and put it out there. So here goes.