Typography in the news

Bydr.kim

Check out today’s US Navy ends dependence on capitalised communications from BBC News.  Michael Clarke, director of the Royal United Services Institute think tank in London, told the BBC,

The US Navy has made up its mind that not everything is a crisis and some messages are just normal.

The change appears to mean the organization has recognized the aggressive tone created by the typographic choice of all caps is inappropriate for many of the official messages in today’s military. Hurray for readability!

Photo Credit: Dunechaser via Compfight cc
Photo Credit: Dunechaser via Compfight cc

Similar Posts

Code-switching in written language
|

Code-switching in written language

Bydr.kim

We naturally adapt our language based on our social surroundings: we choose different words to describe the same thing when addressing our pals in a pub, our professor at a pub, our professor in class, or our grandmother on the phone. I’ve written about this before as code-switching. When code-switching appears in written language, some folks experience…

The video tutorial on punctuation

The video tutorial on punctuation

Bydr.kim

Research has clearly established that the vast majority of US business readers notice only two punctuation infelicities — even in formal documents. Today I am sharing a video tutorial to help those amateurs who struggle with the two issues that elicit the most negative attention: comma splices: using a comma to mark a sentence boundary sentence fragments:…

Is your vision clear — or blurry?
|

Is your vision clear — or blurry?

Bydr.kim

I’m working on a post about research articles, but it’s not ready for the world yet. So I wanted to share a terrific piece on vision statements from Gavin over at Make A POWERful Point. He contrasts this vision statement attributed to Albertsons: Guided by relentless focus on our five imperatives, we will constantly strive to implement the…

What have we learned about content (and its purpose) in white papers?
|

What have we learned about content (and its purpose) in white papers?

Bydr.kim

If you’re in Pittsburgh today, come hear Jef Naidoo and me try to answer this question at IPCC 2014.  Here’s more detail than we’ll be able to cover in 20 minutes. (We have a couple of related details about white papers to share as well.) Why are we studying white papers? They’re important to organizations. Here’s some evidence from…

How to write like a (wo)man at work

How to write like a (wo)man at work

Bydr.kim

Thanks to Linguistics Research Digest for pointing me toward a recent study showing that men and women use different writing styles (word choices and sentence structures). This is significant for a couple of reasons. First, the differences have been documented in speech rather than writing prior to this research. Second, and most importantly, the female…

Leave a Reply