Good Writing and Editing As a Part of Great Web Design

Good Writing and Editing As a Part of Great Web Design Good writing is perhaps the most crucial component of a design project. Copy that’s boring or full of mistakes will mess up a project. Great copywriting will make a design stand out.

When you write and edit properly, your project comes out perfect, polished, and refined. Good writing and editing are similar to the icing on a cake. A good web design starts with content. How can you know the best way to come up with something if you do not comprehend the message? Although you may not require all the words to get started, having a good idea of them is crucial.

Most journalists make use of something known as the inverted pyramid when writing. With this concept, the most vital information comes first in the copy, and then less vital information follows it. This is a great way to approach web design. Capture your readers’ attention with the most important things first.

When it comes to the actual writing and language, you need to consider the following:

Consistency in Writing and Design Style

An important step is to create text and visuals that work together. In most cases, the designer works in one room while the copywriter works in the other. The best projects are created when these two elements work in tandem. For instance, you’re designing a website for a rap group. The images you incorporate show the group at a concert, attending a party and signing autographs. However, the text that you use is quite formal. Immediately there’s a disconnect between what you read and what you see. If you rewrite the text using a casual tone, words and images used will match.

Begin with the outline. The design and writing teams should talk about text and visuals during each stage of the project. If one team starts to change a particular course of action, everyone needs to be on the same page. If you look at most of your favorite web design projects, you’ll notice that the overall look has a distinct tone. The images, words, and even colors all work in tandem to create a certain feel.

Your Audience

Whenever you are dealing with any project, you have to think about your audience. You’ll need to create text that will grab the attention of this group of people. This includes the tone and the use of casual words or phrases.

Although most of the content on the internet is written for English speakers, this may not be true for all your web design projects. No matter the language used, have a native speaker go through the copy. The small mistakes can be the difference between an easy to read website and one which seems unprofessional. Your web design projects should be kept simple and to the point.

Don’t use a lot of jargon. One general rule is that a copy ought to be written in a way so that any person with an 8^th grade reading level can easily understand the text. Ensure that you abide by spelling and grammar regulations. Vary paragraph and sentence lengths.

Hire a Professional

If you’re not a confident writer, hire a professional, especially if you’re handling a complex project or there’s no writer amongst your personnel. You can also hire a copyeditor to assist with any changes and suggestions.

You can choose to hire someone on a permanent basis or even a freelancer. If you want to hire a professional, try to get a good feel for the writer’s style and ensure that it goes with your work. Moreover, you can visit EssayWriterSite for professional writing services.

Don’t Forget to Edit

Nothing makes a copy stand out like a good edit. Go over the finished project and strive to make it more on point. Then give it to someone else to go through as well. Work on any segments that give the other reader pause. During the editing process, if it is unclear at any given point, it’s likely that other people will stumble over it as well.

After you’ve gone through it twice, leave it aside for a while and then go back to it a few days later. Edit it again several times. Each time you make any change, ensure that you spell-check the text and let another person look at it. When you edit yourself, it is usually difficult to find your errors.

Moreover, when you’re editing, remember to check crucial points like lists, prices or numbers in the text. Consider ways of including subheadings to make your work easier to read. Also, consider breaking down long blocks of text into smaller elements such as bullet points or lists. Furthermore, when you’re editing a copy for online and web applications, make sure that you edit it for SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Making Words Fit

Ensure that all words fit. As soon as your final text is placed in the design, work with the words so that they are arranged in a readable and logical way. Look out for odd breaks in phrases or sentences that make them hard to comprehend. For some of your projects, strive to keep the line breaks in subheadings or headings to a single line.

Check for consistency in the style of your project text so that the body text can be formatted with a universal size and typeface. This should also be done for headings. Ensure that navigation elements are similar in size, context, and number of words. Calls to action should be clear and easy to comprehend.

The following is a list of simple tips that can assist you in coming up with a clean copy for your project:

• Don’t forget to spell-check
• Use plain language
• To break up long chunks of texts, you need to include various elements
• Steer clear of jargon
• Be consistent with your tone

Conclusion

Any great copy changes throughout the project designing process. Rarely are words written and remain like that from the word go until the project is finished. Planning, cooperation, and teamwork are essential in writing effectively for any design project.

The words that you use ought to match your web design project mission and vision. Whenever you have doubts, go ahead and revise, edit and plan again.

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by Chris London of Pixel Productions Inc. The Everything Design Company