Design rules for writing

The other day I ran across a list of 17 questions to guide design attributed to the legendary designer Jony Ive. Anyone even remotely interested in design is likely familiar with the accomplishments of Jony Ive. However, even if you’ve never heard of the man, you’ve seen the fruits of his genius, ranging from Apple’s first brightly colored iMacs to the iPhone.

Obviously these questions can help guide the design of things like high-tech gadgets, cars, and glossy magazines and flashy websites. But what about the actual text in those publications? User manuals and documentation? Case studies and white papers? The list goes on.

Questions to guide writing

I thought about this for a minute and realized that, yes, many of these rules could easily apply to writing. Though some are more obvious than others.

Who is it for? That’s just “know your audience.”

What does it solve? That’s pretty self-explanatory too.

How is it used? Obvious on its face.

What makes it honest and does it invite trust? Writing should strive to tell the truth. Even fiction has its own kernels of truth.

What makes it simple/beautiful? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and what’s simple to one reader is no-so-simple to another.

Function? Form follows function. A short piece with bulleted points obviously has a different function than 10,000 words of flowing text.

Improving lives? That’s probably related to the problem it solves.

Guiding the user/reader? Definitely something a writer should consider.

Respecting the environment? I need to think more about this.

As little as possible? Short and crisp writing is a worthy goal.

Are you proud of it? Maybe. Sometimes you just need to hit publish.

What detail sets it apart? This is wide open, but these days being able to make something unique almost feels like a superpower.

I’ll need to think more about these questions, but I think I’ve already been applying them to writing without really knowing it.