We have created every conceivable communications mechanism. We tend to look upon them by their relative position in a chain of descending complexity.
At the top are the high-profile, ‘heavyweight’ delivery devices, such as executive speeches, strategy-driving documents and annual reports. They are characterised by the need to be powerful yet accessible, logical and navigable, memorable and impressive.
Around the middle of this chain sit the communications media that are of complex construction but whose content must be transparently accessible. In this category we place the likes of websites, brochures, think-pieces and business proposals. They tend to be characterised by requiring a longer narrative stream to set out their case while sacrificing nothing to understanding and recall.
At the base of the chain lie the deceptively simple, where concise language is a necessity. It looks easy, but sucking out complexity is hard. Streamlining, extraction of text, simplicity of message – all harmonise to deliver a customer, a contact, an ally. Here we find all marketing communications, from ads to sales letters. But we also find the internal e-mail or circular that must be long enough to explain, short enough to be read. And here also sits the greatest challenge: naming, be it a business, a product, a service, a project. Capturing its essence in a word and a line. The quintessence of theWord. |
