A Web Designer’s Guide to Writing Well

January 8, 2008 · by Joanna Paterson · in

There are important writing lessons that we can learn from the principles of web design. These were the 10 lessons that I learned from a recent site redesign.

10 writing lessons learned from web design

  • Love white space We love sites that offer white space – readers love it on the written page too. It makes your work easier to read, easier on the eye, and is the perfect backdrop for your words.
  • Create movement There’s a ton of research going into eye-tracking on web-sites, including the way readers scan text on a screen. You want to create hooks and anchors that allow readers to zig-zag quickly and easily over the page, that draw their eye down.
  • Cut the clutter I had way too much stuff on my sidebar. Many people have way too much stuff in their writing – too many ideas, too many words, too much clutter. Cut it out and your message will come over louder, clearer, less confusing.
  • Drop your attachment Cutting the clutter whether sidebars, words or physical stuff means letting go of your attachment to it. Words are easier to cut than real stuff because you can still store them some place digital for a rainy day. Just make sure you cut what’s excess from the piece you’re working on now.
  • Structure your work A website redesign forces you to think about the order that things should come in, what your readers should come across first, where you want them to go next, and where they should end up. Accepting what’s redundant material (and what you’d prefer well hidden!) Apply the same discipline to your writing and your readers will thank you.
  • Frame your words I only know a little bit of code but it’s enough to know there’s something deeply satisfying about opening a bracket to create an effect, then closing it again. Something rewarding about going on the hunt for the bit of code grammar you’ve missed, fixing it, and seeing the immediate impact. It’s less of a science in writing but we should still be framing – opening, closing, leading – all the time. Contain your words in <frames> for a more powerful impact.
  • Use signposts You’re thinking navigation all the time in a web design – making the most of that navigation bar at the top, the space at the side, using all the tools at your disposal to help your reader navigate with ease. The same principle works in your writing – from the physical signposts (headers, numbers, bullet points) to words, phrases and expressions that signal a shift from one section to another.
  • Know your purpose Maybe you’d call this meta-design, it’s what Ben Yoskovitz talks about in a piece on his recent blog design – knowing your own brand, boiling it down to a bunch of words that describe what your blog is about. It’s worth doing the same thing with your writing – it’ll help you to be more focused, sharper, crisper.
  • Know your blind spots I was quite startled to realize how hard it was for me to ‘see’ what Cat could see on a web-page, whether mine or another site we were learning from. She could spot white space, eye movement, clutter, clarity, confusion whereas I was drawn instinctively to the writing: the pattern of the words, the sound of the author’s voice. This was a powerful reminder of the way we filter differently – I can see clutter in writing, not in design. You might be the other way round. It’s worth knowing where your blind spots are.
  • Get help when you need it There’s no way I could have changed the design without help – it wasn’t just a question of needing the design skills, experience and expertise, I couldn’t even ‘see’ what needed to be done (though I can admire the end result). A second opinion, a fresh perspective, a critique of your work can open your eyes to what’s good and what needs to change – to create the impact your words warrant.

If you’re a designer who writes or a writer who designs… how could we add to this list? Are there are other design principles we could adopt for more powerful writing?

This post was inspired by the recent redesign of Confident Writing, with grateful thanks to Cat Morley who forgave my blind spots, helped me let go of the clutter and transformed the look of this site.