Writing for the Design Mind

"Becoming a designer takes a huge amount of time and education. With so many skills to learn, many people never get the chance to master the one skill that can give them a real advantage in business or academia: They never learn to write well."
In Writing for the Design Mind author, designer and educator Natalia Ilyin offers clear, concise, and humorous writing tips, techniques and strategies to people who have spent their lives mastering design rather than learning to write.
Ilyin's book helps designers approach writing in the same ways they approach designing - teaching skills and methods through encouragement, practical exercises and visual advice.
Writing well is a skill, like any other, and with this book you can learn to do it with confidence.
Winner in the 50 Books | 50 Covers award 2019 from the AIGA

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.

Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1: Sitting Down to Write
Beware the Journaling Roommate Ten Things About Writing
How to Begin
2: The Writer's Matériel
Making Marks Marks into Signs
Signs into Sign Bundles Bundling Bundles Alphabets Are Systems Letters into Type Coding and Decoding
3: Words
Denotation and Connotation Focusing In
Exercise 1-Seven Beautiful Words
4: Phrase to Clause to Sentence
First, Phrases Now, Clauses
Exercise 2-Seven Beautiful Clauses
Finally, Sentences Stop the Wandering
Three Sentence Writers
Exercise 3-Seven Beautiful Sentences
5: A Dash Through Punctuation
Altering Meaning with Dots and Lines The Art of the Pause: Paragraphing
Exercise 4-Building a Paragraph
Brush Up on Your Use of Articles
6: Thinking in Diagrams
A Third Way of Communicating
Imitate the Way Your Brain Thinks: Nodal Mapping
Exercise 5-Trying Out Mapping
7: Writing Is Argument
What "Expository" Means
If You Missed Learning How to Write a Five-Paragraph Essay The Rooted Tree
A Five-Paragraph Essay, Line by Line
Exercise 6-Master the Five-Paragraph Essay How to Move Past Five Paragraphs
Exercise 7-Flip the Tree
On to the Semilattice
Deploying the Semilattice: Rooms Make the House
Exercise 8-Eight Paragraphs of House
A Tiny House Caravan
Exercise 9-Structure the Caravan Essay
Exercise 10-Write the Caravan Essay
A Note On Conclusions
8: Convincing
Ethos: Convincing by Inspiring Trust
Pathos: Convincing by Appealing to Emotion
Logos: Convincing by Appealing to Logic
9: Tone & Voice
Tone
The Differences Between Formal and Informal Writing A Personal Tone
Exercise 11-Tone Warm-Up
A Professional Tone
Exercise 12-A Short Professional Piece
The Traditional Academic Voice Voice
10: Academic Writing
What is an Academic Critique?
Exercise 13-An Eight-Page Academic Critique
Structuring the Complex Think Piece Various and Oppositional Arguments
Exercise 14-Balancing Opposing Arguments
What Academic Research Is and Is Not How to Begin Your Research
A Note on Research Databases The Rules of Fair Use Plagiarism
What Design Research Is and Is Not Structuring Design Research Documentation What is the Peer Review Process?
11: Writing Long
Bibliographies, Research Papers, BFA Documents, Master's Theses
Invisible Argument: The Art of the Annotated Bibliography If You've Just Been Assigned an Annotated Bibliography
Exercise 15-Build an Annotated Bibliography
In Defense of the Term Paper Structuring and Writing Research Papers
Exercise 16-Create a "Process Machine"
The Design Master's Thesis: I Hear a Symphony
Exercise 17-Three Basic Questions
Exercise 18-Getting to a Thesis Statement
12: Writing to People
In Admiration
Exercise 19-Write a Note
Because You Want Something-Like a Job
Exercise 20-Write a Convincing Email
Because You Don't Want Something-Like a Client
exercise 21-Write a Client-Firing Email
Letters on Paper
13: Business Proposals & Reports
A Word on Business-Speak
A Simple Proposal for Getting New Business
Exercise 22-Map, Diagram, & Write a Simple Proposal
Responding to the RFP
Exercise 23-Map, Diagram, & Write a Response to an RFP
14: Copywriting
What Kind of Copy Is It? First, Targets
Brush Off Your Poetry Hat Be Wise About Copy Okays Write Alone
Exercise 24-Exercise Your Inner Colette
15: Writing for Social Media
Writing for Websites Is Its Own Thing Creating a Cohesive Identity Online
Keep the Music Playing
Exercise 25-Create a Social Media Plan
Writing Tips
Eleven Errors of Death
How to Get It All Read
Last Thoughts
Illustration Notes