Editing by Design

The Classic Guide to Word-and-Picture Communication for Art Directors, Editors, Designers, and Students

Jan V. White, Alex W. White

• Publisher: Allworth
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781621537618
• Edition: 4
• Topic: Design
• Subtopic: Design History & Criticism

An Industry Classic, Revised for the Modern Age This classic guide to winning readers for designers, art directors, and editors, has been completely updated to be applicable to both online and print publication design. Because it has truths about effective visual communication that transcend ever-changing technology, this book has been in continuous publication since 1974. Revised with the careful attention of widely respected author and professor of graphic design Alex W. White, Editing by Design, Fourth Edition, describes how both word people and design people have the same task: to reveal the true core of each message as plainly and compellingly as possible. It is a book vital to creators of today's online and print media. Readers will find ways to marry content and form, helping story and design to reinforce each other, and create pages that are irresistible. Brimming with three hundred illustrations, chapters cover a wealth of design and editing matters, including:

• How to think about "editing" and "design" as a word person and a design person
• Teamwork and collaboration for story clarity
• Originality and inducement for the reader
• Columns and grids for organization and consistency
• Covers and content listings as tools for deeper reader involvement
• How to use type hierarchy to catch and lure readers
• Representational and non-representational imagery
• Using color as a branding device

Readers will learn how editor-designer collaboration can achieve maximum creative impact through the effective use of words, images, and space. Full of practical examples, this book is equally for designers looking for a deeper understanding of how to design better and for writers and editors wanting to communicate more vividly with the utmost impact, as well as for editorial directors and publishers seeking a competitive advantage.

CHAPTER 1

HOW TO THINK ABOUT EDITING

SERVICE TO THE MESSAGE

What is editing? Editing is a verb, an action word. It describes a process of sifting and clarification. The thesaurus gives these similes: “polish, adapt, improve.” Wikipedia says, “Editing is the process of selecting and preparing … information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate and complete work.”

This is the outdated attitude (and attire) about writing and publication making.

Editing is properly done in service to the message. It is ordinarily thought of as a word-centric activity, but nothing in the first paragraph suggests that word people have exclusive ownership to the editing process. Indeed, “polishing, adapting, and improving” is the task for anyone and everyone in the business of communication.

What is designing? Design is the way a page is written, organized, structured, and presented. To succeed, every document must: 1) have its own personality so it is recognized in the marketplace at first glance… 2) give service efficiently… 3) be immediate and to the point… 4) reserve emphasis for the elements that matter. If this sounds like “editing,” it is equally “design,” because presentation is an inseparable part of editing. Looking good is great, but it is far less important than looking clear.

Editing adds value by selecting out that which is most useful to the reader.

Use the acid test and ask: “What’s in it for me, the reader?” If useful ideas jump off the page, then nobody cares what the page looks like. The valuable message has been delivered and the document has fulfilled its prime function. It is therefore essential to understand and control the full spectrum of design’s responsibilities:

Design as business strategy Establish an individual look, first-glance identification, simplicity, consistency, and disciplined repetition.

Design as practical tactics Profit by a parade of impressions, build excitement, anticipation, and surprise.

Design as psychology Use curiosity to keep readers engaged, let captions lead from pictures to the most valuable words.

Design as service Organize information for ease, think for the reader, use lists and infographics.

Design as interpreter Apply type contrasts and color functionally, create emphasis where it is deserved.

The strategy of editing/designing We must respond to today’s realities: people don’t want to read or study, they are lazy and in a hurry. They buy our product as investors, expecting a return on their money, time, and effort. They start as searchers, scrollers, flipping, looking for what might interest them. If they find it, they may turn into readers but they are always weighing the cost/benefit ratio: am I interested enough in this? If it looks too long they’ll say to hell with it I’ll come back to it later. If it is too skimpy they’ll scoff at it: I want more story. If it is bland they won’t notice it. And it always has to be fast: where does it begin and where does it end, how much of it is there?

Lookers (readers before they become committed to text) subconsciously weigh time and effort with their interest in the content.

We hook the uninvolved by using irresistibly fascinating material as bait: self-interest. The What’s In It For Me Factor that must be defined in each story and designers must display visually so it cannot be missed. The Reason For Publishing has to jump out at them at first glance because people examine a page or screen for, at most, 2½ seconds before they turn it or click through, unless something intrigues them and they stop. It must be immediate, obvious, and need no analysis.

Stories must be presented for instant interest and value.

How do you know what will intrigue them? If you don’t know that, you are in the wrong business. Our products are a personal conversation one-to-one with members of our community of interest. We are their friend, their trusted guide. We are the conduit who understands the subject on the one end, and its importance to them as individuals on the other end. The validity and utility of our product to them is precisely how we process the material: we report it and interpret it for them so they get it fast and clearly. That’s the service they value so highly that they spend time with it.

To make it appeal and be wanted we have to edit and design differently. We must exploit the same old material, examining it from the audience’s viewpoint, and manipulating it so it works on their special curiosity, “Wow, I gotta read this now.”

We ask our customers to invest their money and, even more valuable, their time, in our product. Customers are investors, not readers. First they are searchers, scrollers, skimming, scanning. They are lookers, hunting for what’s in it for them. We persuade them to pay attention with worthwhile material. When convinced, they will finally become readers. They will become subscribers when they have confidence that we’ll deliver on our promise issue after issue.

Editing and design meet where revealing the meaning of the story is shown, as in this article’s opening spread and breakout on a subsequent page describing secret government reports.

Gail Bichler

How can aspirin be improved? By coating it to make it easier to swallow. In a publication, the coating is not visual fireworks but clarity and efficiency. Blending service-oriented editing with smart designing produces coherent products greater than the sum of their parts.

Despite the fierce competition for attention, thriving publications study their readers’ interests and service their needs. They realize that the audience is not captive and can turn to the competition at any time. They know that only editorial quality can hold them. Therefore they make themselves indispensable by custom-picking the information targeted to their audience, and displaying it in such a way that its usefulness is appreciated.

Just making an article pretty and throwing a bunch of stories together is not good enough. Publication-making, whether digital or print, must be far more deliberate. The vibr...