Writing for the Design Mind

Natalia Ilyin is Professor of Design at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, USA, where she teaches design history and criticism, design for social activism, and transition design. In 2012- and again in 2015 - she earned Cornish's Award for Teaching Excellence. Natalia is also Founding Faculty for the MFA in Graphic Design at Vermont College of Fine Arts, has taught at Rhode Island School of Design, Yale University, The Cooper Union and the University of Washington, and has acted as Critic for the MFA in Graphic Design at Yale University and at Rhode Island School of Design.

Every designer will have to write in her career. Some will find it more painful than others. Funny, direct, wise and clear, design educator Natalia Ilyin has come to the rescue.

• PrefaceAcknowledgementsIntroduction1: Sitting Down to WriteBeware the Journaling Roommate Ten Things About WritingHow to Begin2: The Writer’s MatérielMaking Marks Marks into SignsSigns into Sign Bundles Bundling Bundles Alphabets Are Systems Letters into Type Coding and Decoding3: WordsDenotation and Connotation Focusing InExercise 1—Seven Beautiful Words4: Phrase to Clause to SentenceFirst, Phrases Now, ClausesExercise 2—Seven Beautiful ClausesFinally, Sentences Stop the WanderingThree Sentence WritersExercise 3—Seven Beautiful Sentences5: A Dash Through PunctuationAltering Meaning with Dots and Lines The Art of the Pause: ParagraphingExercise 4—Building a ParagraphBrush Up on Your Use of Articles6: Thinking in DiagramsA Third Way of CommunicatingImitate the Way Your Brain Thinks: Nodal MappingExercise 5—Trying Out Mapping7: Writing Is ArgumentWhat “Expository” MeansIf You Missed Learning How to Write a Five-Paragraph Essay The Rooted TreeA Five-Paragraph Essay, Line by LineExercise 6—Master the Five-Paragraph Essay How to Move Past Five ParagraphsExercise 7—Flip the TreeOn to the SemilatticeDeploying the Semilattice: Rooms Make the HouseExercise 8—Eight Paragraphs of HouseA Tiny House CaravanExercise 9—Structure the Caravan EssayExercise 10—Write the Caravan EssayA Note On Conclusions8: ConvincingEthos: Convincing by Inspiring TrustPathos: Convincing by Appealing to EmotionLogos: Convincing by Appealing to Logic9: Tone & VoiceToneThe Differences Between Formal and Informal Writing A Personal ToneExercise 11—Tone Warm-UpA Professional ToneExercise 12—A Short Professional PieceThe Traditional Academic Voice Voice10: Academic WritingWhat is an Academic Critique?Exercise 13—An Eight-Page Academic CritiqueStructuring the Complex Think Piece Various and Oppositional ArgumentsExercise 14—Balancing Opposing ArgumentsWhat Academic Research Is and Is Not How to Begin Your ResearchA Note on Research Databases The Rules of Fair Use PlagiarismWhat Design Research Is and Is Not Structuring Design Research Documentation What is the Peer Review Process?11: Writing LongBibliographies, Research Papers, BFA Documents, Master’s ThesesInvisible Argument: The Art of the Annotated Bibliography If You’ve Just Been Assigned an Annotated BibliographyExercise 15—Build an Annotated BibliographyIn Defense of the Term Paper Structuring and Writing Research PapersExercise 16—Create a “Process Machine”The Design Master’s Thesis: I Hear a SymphonyExercise 17—Three Basic QuestionsExercise 18—Getting to a Thesis Statement12: Writing to PeopleIn AdmirationExercise 19—Write a NoteBecause You Want Something—Like a JobExercise 20—Write a Convincing EmailBecause You Don’t Want Something—Like a Clientexercise 21—Write a Client-Firing EmailLetters on Paper13: Business Proposals & ReportsA Word on Business-SpeakA Simple Proposal for Getting New BusinessExercise 22—Map, Diagram, & Write a Simple ProposalResponding to the RFPExercise 23—Map, Diagram, & Write a Response to an RFP14: CopywritingWhat Kind of Copy Is It? First, TargetsBrush Off Your Poetry Hat Be Wise About Copy Okays Write AloneExercise 24—Exercise Your Inner Colette15: Writing for Social MediaWriting for Websites Is Its Own Thing Creating a Cohesive Identity OnlineKeep the Music PlayingExercise 25—Create a Social Media PlanWriting TipsEleven Errors of DeathHow to Get It All ReadLast ThoughtsIllustration Notes