Finished Words and a blatant bit of promotion
4th September 2010
In a departure from my usual blog observations (blogservations? blobservations?) this is a brief but belated apology for the absence of writing samples and the continued presence of that annoying ‘updating’ message. I’ve been busy, but will try and sort a few appropriate bits to post soon. In the mean time, please contact me to request specific work samples or to view some of my latest stuff. This has worked well for recent enquiries, as I’ve been able to tailor samples to suit sectors and needs.
The last few months have seen me working on a disparate bunch of briefs from 2012 Olympic sponsorship programmes to corporate brochures, websites, tenders, news pieces and film reviews. I’ve been working for designers, brand agencies, charities, marketing consultants, local government, production companies, small business and FMCG manufacturers. I’ve also been training and continue to develop bespoke writing and tendering workshops for business. So if any of that sounds interesting, useful or relevant, please get in touch.
As you were.
Fab Twaggies
22nd August 2010
A clever combination: Twitticisms + great illustration = Twags. From Kiersten Essenpreis at Twaggies.
Squawk
19th July 2010
Whenever there’s a significant break in blogging, you can assume:
1. I’m really busy producing wonderful stuff for lovely clients. So busy, that to blog would be like hurling metaphorical blancmange in their faces. So instead, my silence sends out a message of productiveness: “I am so focused on your project, I have no time to blog. Not a single second. I don’t want to blog in fact. I am loving this project.”
My Own Private Ardagh-o
25th June 2010
I took a guinea pig to the vets this morning. Before I tell you what the receptionist said to me when I walked in, I’m going to point out that the guinea pig in question was named by my daughter when she was five. It might also help to picture the receptionist as an extremely efficient, quite scary, very loud, immaculately turned out, rather posh middle-aged woman who looked like she holidays in John Lewis. Oh and depending on how well you know me, you may or may not be aware that whilst I write as Kate Starling, my real surname is Treen.
Right, so, there I am struggling to get in the door carrying a cardboard box that’s lurching wildly from side to side when I hear: “Pebbles Treen?” I had an instant need to laugh out loud. Which I know is quite childish, but I find the application of human surname to animal alias, really, really funny. I don’t know why. I just do.
Perfect Propaganda
17th June 2010
I’ve been a fan of propaganda art for years and have the beginnings of a poster collection that one day will require its own mini museum. Aesthetically, the combination of knock-out design, typography and (much-mimicked) text just enthralls.
Copywriter not required
11th June 2010
A rather heated debate today with design friends resulted in my conceding to the view that a copywriter isn’t always necessary. I should point out that I was outnumbered by five to one for the entire duration of the debate and we were only talking about magazine ads. However, I’ve been presented with some great proof which, despite the obvious career suicide, I’m happy to share.
Saatchi’s copy claptrap
9th June 2010
I know it’s not nice to slam other people’s copy efforts, but this one really is screaming out for a virtual red pen. Charles Saatchi’s new show British Art Now has an accompanying catalogue which honestly defies belief. Here’s an excerpt all about the artists:
“Articulated as doublespeak, they hand-make the virtual, cite history in fugue fervour, and find the poetic and enduring in the cacophony of pop cultural din.”
Great isn’t it?
The real McCoy
9th June 2010
Quote of the day from the hugely talented Rich McCoy:
“I think the whole world needs copywriters. The more I work with them, the more important I think they are in the mix.”
Perfect.
Rich’s quote is an extract from a brief online exchange we had earlier today about Saatchi. Saatchi and his quite gob-smackingly incomprehensible British Art Now catalogue. I shan’t sully this post with the details. It really needs separate treatment. Which I’m going to give it in just a minute. In the mean time, here’s that quote again:
“I think the whole world needs copywriters. The more I work with them, the more important I think they are in the mix.”
Did you get that?
Tinker, tailor: Writing to your niche
7th June 2010
Generally speaking, I try to avoid re-blogging anything to do with blogging – especially when the post is blatant corporate selling. So, it’s with a not-insignificant amount of knuckle-chewing that I pass this on. This is a post from Hubspot about how blogs are using more complicated language than traditional media. This shouldn’t be a surprise: old media = well-trained journalists who can write; blogs = anyone. Plus a few good copywriters. *Cough*
Self Publish, Be Happy
3rd June 2010
Photography and self-publishing, what could be nicer?
This weekend, The Photographer’s Gallery hosts an exhibition of 50 contemporary, self-published photography books. Meet the authors, have your book signed and buy another in the Gallery Bookshop.
What JR shot
20th May 2010
Back to photography for a moment.
A few years ago, I ran a photography project in a primary school where I took pictures of every single child in school. Using black and white film and focussing each image on just part of their face, we posted all 200 of them as a ‘wall of faces’ covering the entire back wall of the school hall. The kids (and happily the teachers) loved the process and the impact of the final result.
My inspiration for the project was JR, a Parisian photographer and street artist who has been changing landscapes and attitudes for some years now. His work on the Face 2 Face project pastes wonderful images of Palestinian and Israeli citizens side by side in prominent locations on both sides of the wall.
JR’s project ‘Women are Heroes,’ uses the same large-scale format to paste images of Women from Africa, Asia and South America in their own neighbourhoods.
Maths minus boredom
8th May 2010
I absolutely love this. New Math by Craig Damrauer – a wry approach to maths for word and language lovers. An addictive site – review at leisure.
365 word girl
4th May 2010
This is fun. A com
bination of photography, words and self-portraiture delivered with a little help from visitors.
Melissa King’s 365 Word Girl site was launched recently and showcases the results of her new collaborative project as they happen. King, from Sydney Australia, invites you to submit random words to her site. Then, taking 7 words in order for that week, she builds a mini story that in turn directs each weekly self-portrait. So, for example, Week 10 on King’s word schedule shows: Headphone; Smudge; Shrunk; Sepia; Revolutionary; Idealistic; Up. These words will build a short narrative to dictate a new self-portrait (should be interesting) and, if I’ve understood the schedule correctly, Week 10 will be launched this week.
As the name suggests, King intends for this to be a year-long project producing 52 unique and off-beat portraits. Add your own word before the schedule fills up and be a part of the art.
This post is about posters.
27th April 2010
With only a week to go, this is just irresistible. Jonathan Jones introduces a feature in today’s Culture Guardian showcasing alternative takes on the political campaign poster from some of Britain’s leading artists. You can see their work here plus more detailed commentary from each artist (and Jonathan’s introduction) here.
I agree with the article tone that official campaign offerings are more than unimpressive, but I’ve really enjoyed the unofficial and not so underground stuff like My David Cameron. If anyone can teach the big parties a thing or two about clear copy, it’s the creators of some of these gems.
Very early comments on the Guardian site suggest there is a big gap between fine art and graphic design when it comes to posters. My own take – unsurprisingly – is it comes down to the copy and the connection the copy has with the design. Hence my favourite of the lot is this one by Goshka Macuga. Clear, clever, totally connected to its purpose and comes with a back-story.
The Fantastic Dr Lakra
19th April 2010
If you happen to be in Boston this summer, go and see this guy’s exhibition at the ICA. Jerónimo López Ramírez (aka Dr Lakra) is an artist and tattooist based in Mexico. I really like his process – the way he invalidates what he’s chosen to paint on and the slightly subverted tone. You can see a slideshow of some of his work here.
Converse Presents Dr. Lakra from Highsnobiety on Vimeo.
New friends
17th April 2010
A busy few weeks in the Kate Starling copy room have kept me away from my blog for too long. *Imagine doleful, semi-troubled and slightly sheepish emoticon here. If only English punctuation could cut it.*
Anyway.
On the non-doleful side of things, I’ve got a stack of new stuff to share which I shall slowly nourish you with in the coming days. And even better than that… Net result of busy few weeks is a big Hello and Welcome to two new Kate Starling copy converts: Ferrier Pearce a rather lovely and talented bunch of designers from the South East and moving north: Beach Marketing an equally creative and technically clever team from Northampton.
Delighted to have them both on-board and looking forward to posting some of the results of our ventures on here.
Back sooner than I was last time.
Eye Drops Off Shelf – the wonder of headline writing
25th March 2010
I spent part of yesterday advising on sales copy. My client felt their existing copy wasn’t punchy enough and was – in parts – ambiguous. We talked a bit about ambiguity and then got onto the inevitable conversation about ambiguity in newspaper headlines, like this: “Stolen Painting Found by Tree.” Clever tree. And these: “Miners Refuse to Work after Death” and “Police Found Safe Under Bed.” Lovely.
From ambiguous to apparent, it’s always possible to swing too far the other way. Two cherished but quite hopeless headlines from the States: “Official: Only Rain Will Cure Drought.” And this one from the Collinsville Herald-Journal in Illinois: “Economist Uses Theory to Explain Economy.” Great!
Finally, from apparent to accomplished, my all-time favourite headline from Private Eye – on the library strike in Essex: “Book Lack in Ongar.”
Talent.
St Patrick’s and The Secret of Kells
17th March 2010
St Patrick’s Day gives me the perfect excuse to share this enchanting f
ilm from Ireland with you. The Secret of Kells was nominated for an Academy Award last month and has won many other awards at festivals world-wide. You illustrators are going to love it. All hand-drawn and gorgeous to watch. Happy St Patrick’s Day.
Ferry clear thinking
16th March 2010
Joe Ferry – head of design and service design at Virgin Atlantic – spoke eloquently in yesterday’s Media Guardian about innovation in service design. What he said was so sensible, it’s the kind of thinking we all secretly hope goes on in the heads of our clients:
“We often work with external agencies. They work with so many different companies that they can bring you totally new ideas from other industries.” He goes on to say that “…the objective in service design is to define exactly what it is you want the experience to be and then work back to establish how you can navigate the constraints you have – and actually deliver that.”
Feedback
16th March 2010
I was asked yesterday what the theme of my blog is. I thought I’d share my answer: I don’t have a theme. I write about things that interest me in the hope that you might:
a. Find it interesting
b. Discover how I write
c. Discover something new
d. Laugh
That’s it really. I’ll write about copywriting only if I think I’ve got something useful to share with you. Otherwise, you’ll see all sorts of comment from design and photography to innovation and (cough) dancing.
I’ll be making the comment function a little easier soon, but in the mean time, keep emailing me.
Breaking the rules – Elvis style
15th March 2010
I love this extract from Vanity Fair’s ‘The First of Elvis’ article – a profile of photographer Al Wertheimer who followed Elvis in 1956:
“He dared to move,” says Wertheimer. “Singers just did not move onstage in those days. You stood there like Frank Sinatra or Perry Como, and you sang from the waist up. Elvis broke all the rules. He moved his hips. He charged the microphone. He was introducing something that was just not acceptable to grown-ups and the more conservative groups. I have the William Morris guys getting him into a corner, and they’re giving him advice: ‘Now, Elvis, look, you get up there, you sing your song, but don’t move too much.’ Elvis dutifully listened. He wouldn’t argue with them. But once he got onstage he did what he wanted. And it created such a sensation. Not because you could hear him sing—there was too much screaming going on. The kids loved it. And the kids were the ones who bought the 45s.”
Nothing quite like ignoring the William Morris guys.
Hikari
8th March 2010
I’m fast becoming addicted to photoblogs. Here’s one of my favourites at colourblindeyes from Japan-based Spaniard Alex Vargas. Use the translate button all non-Spanish speakers.
Wireworks
8th March 2010
I’ve just finished an enjoyable time working on copy for the new Wireworks site. Very cool stuff for kitchens and bathrooms and inspiring design from Lincoln Rivers. Loved it. Keep an eye out for the new site and follow the link coming soon in Finished Words.
Boogie Mama
2nd March 2010
I went dancing last night. When I say dancing, I really mean just moving around to music. When I say moving around, I really mean shuffling. When I say shuffling, I really mean transferring weight from left foot to right foot in an ill-advised attempt to ‘get-down.’ Quite what I thought was going to happen once I’d ‘got-down,’ I don’t know. Discover the inability to ‘get-back-up’ no doubt.
I’m at the age – obviously – when the words ‘get-down’ can still refer to dancing rather than canine instruction. Which also explains my chosen style of strutting – see above. But once the novelty of musical movement had worn off and the pitiful glances tipped into hostile glares, my prancing partner and I amused ourselves by producing a mental Venn diagram of dancing style and age. What we realised is this:
If you’re under 20 you can pretty much do anything you like on the dance floor and get away with it.
If you’re between 20 and 30 and female, you’ll spend most of your floor-time with your arms above your head.
If you’re between 30 and 40 and male, you’ll dance like you did at your school discos. Thirty years ago.
If you’re over 40 and dancing like Beyoncé, you should go home.
If you’re over 40 and dancing like Ashley Banjo from Diversity, you should be ashamed of yourself.
If you’re over 40 and dancing like Fred Astaire, congratulations.
Who’s in the house. Etc.