Link’spiration™ January 22nd – The Power of Language and Writing

Link’spiration™ – A chance to be surprised and inspired by unexpected connections

What’s in a word? A whole lot of meaning and learning—if it’s done well.

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., we’re focusing this week’s Link’spiration™ on the power of language and writing. Start by examining this video of Nancy Duarte analyzing MLK’s “I have a Dream.”

The Shape of Spectacular Speech: MLK’s “I Have a Dream”

Great writing can carry a great message, and we see this daily. A course can be designed well but if the writing is weak or lackluster, then the learning won’t be as impactful. We keep our writing skills honed, and a great place to brush up on writing basics is Purdue’s Online Writing Lab.

Purdue OWL: Writing Resources

There are quite a few former English majors roaming the halls here at Allen, and they can often be found chatting about sentence structure or word choice. But even our employees who don’t come with an English-specific background are solid wordsmiths. In fact, our hiring process includes a writing and grammar evaluation. It is that important to us. A school in New York discovered just how important writing is to learning and performance:

The Writing Revolution

Do you remember the difference between a metaphor and simile? These and other writing tools help create visual meaning in writing. But, we don’t stop at writing. Our artists frequently use metaphors in their designs.  We’ve seen that applying writing techniques to art can further enhance a whole project. Check out this read on using metaphor in graphic design.

Master the Metaphor

How does great writing impact your designs? Join our conversation below.