Sentence level benefits

Good copy tells readers how something will benefit them, rather than the ins and outs of using it. Apply this knowledge whenever you’re updating web pages and you’ll make your meaning clearer. Here’s an example of a sentence I changed today. It describes a service: Information about support and services to help you get on [...]

HHhH and the value of print

But in the Sudetenland, news of the Anschluss provokes an extraordinary enthusiasm. Suddenly people talk only of their ultimate fantasy: being reunited with the Reich… Beneš will write in his memoirs that he was stunned by this mystical romanticism that seemed to suddenly seize all the Germans of Bohemia. He [Hitler] was reportedly seen throwing [...]

Amusing error messages make murderous thoughts

It’s all well and good writing amusing error messages for when your visitors encounter a problem. I guess the idea is that something informal makes the error seem less machine like (and perhaps makes the visitor feel less culpable). Personally, I prefer something human and factual. It’s not really that funny when the computer messes [...]

Tschichold, democratic design and the politics of typefaces

Penguin founder Allen Lane hired Jan Tschichold to design the publisher’s book covers in 1947. Tschichold made an immediate impact: “…nothing compared to storm when Jan Tschichold arrived. Mild-mannered man with an inflexible character. Screams heard from Edinburgh to Ipswich and from Aylesbury to Bungay.” This was the result of Tschichold’s immediate effort to raise [...]

Comfortable reading

A bunch of people seem to find >20 pixel body text readable/preferable. Something weird afoot here. And… Yes, the further away from the screen you are, the bigger the text should be, but I don’t think many people read screens from 2 meters away… Joni Korpi There are two things here. Firstly, the gut reaction [...]