Category: Creative Writing

The Role of Emotion in Writing

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I have had a great day today, and I am now sitting doing something I love, writing. Do these two things affect how I construct this blog and the feeling you get from it? I think so. Emotion is a powerful influencer, especially when it comes to anything creative. Think of how you tailor your music choices to fit your mood, the colours you choose to design with if you are feeling excited or even the clothes you wear when you are feeling a little blue. Emotion can impact how we experience our day and in turn how the world experiences us.

And it works both ways, think of the things that can change you mood, perhaps your favourite song, a familiar smell, a beautiful picture or a great book. Our senses can invoke powerful emotions and the beauty of it (or perhaps the difficulty if you are in the creative industry) is that, that emotion being invoked could be different for each of us. When it comes to putting pen to paper, what is more important,  the emotional input or the desired emotional output?

Add to this the topic area being discussed and you enter a very complex arena. Of course, it is easier to write about a topic you are passionate about when you are feeling great, but does that mean it produces a better piece for someone to read. To what extent does that emotional connection follow through to the reader, or is the emotional response they give purely based on their own mental state and beliefs at that moment.

Take political subjects, for example, if I write something from my point of view that I think is positive and I am very passionate about, to what level can I influence the reader to feel the same. Obviously, not everyone is going to share my political views and therefore how will they react to my text, will they feel the positive emotions that I have put into the piece, but not agree, or will they have a negative reaction at a potentially very conflicting view. I am not going to change their mind politically, nor do I want to, but I would like the reader to understand my viewpoint and to sense how I feel about it.

Writing in the business world is a slightly different predicament, and when it comes to your brand the aim is to only invoke positive emotions. As a business owner I am sure you would always hope that anything you put in front of  your current and potential customers is engaging and invites them in. You are always going to be your brands biggest fan, and you need to make sure that anyone writing your content loves your brand as much as you.

Your brand should have a personality. Think of how you want your customers to feel, how you want people to relate to your brand. Make sure everyone facing customers whether in person or via your content is part of the bigger persona. Get them involved and passionate about your brand, get them feeling positive and producing a positive output. You cannot influence the way the reader feels at the time they engage with your brand but you can influence that what you put in front of them does everything it can to produce the desired emotional response.

Next time you look at your website, your brochures or your proposals think about what they are aiming to achieve and the emotion that you want people to feel from them. Your brand is a constantly evolving entity, make sure your content and client touch points  evolve with it. If you would like to discuss any element of your client facing content get in touch with us now and see how we can help.

 

 

The Power of Imagery

The Power of Imagery

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Word vs image, it is always a challenge when designing anything that you want to attract people with. What made you click on this blog? Was it the title or was it the image we chose at the top? Perhaps the words persuaded you to click through but more than likely it was the image that caught your attention in the first place.

Think of the things that attract you throughout the day, we are drawn in by our senses. An amazing smell, an intriguing sound or a striking visual, all have the ability to grab our attention in an instant. With such a stimulating world around us, it takes something special to really engage us. When it comes to a brand, website, article or blog it is important to strike the right balance between great content and visually impactful imagery.

Have a think about the brands that you know and love? How many of those are identifiable purely by an image or even a colour? The orange of EasyJet or the red of Virgin, the golden arches of McDonalds or the colonel of KFC. These brands have made their visuals iconic, they stand alone as a brand identifier with no words required. However, it is important to note, it took these brands a lot of time (and money) to get to where they are. For the smaller brands out there the imagery is important but they have to be backed up by text to inform and engage your audience.

For websites and blogs the written content is what your audience has visited for, unless you are an artist of course. So make sure you are writing interesting copy that people will want to read. Great content is what will keep people engaged, it will position you as an authority and most importantly it will keep visitors coming back. However, bear in mind that the great copy alone is unlikely to drawn them in in the first place.

So, think carefully about the images you use, go for impact, for intrigue, for the image that is going to get your audience thinking and get them through to your content. You know they will love it when they get there, you just need to help them find it.

If you would like more information about content and imagery get in touch with us now to discuss.

Is Creativity Dying?

Is Creativity Dying?

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Today is Cyber Monday, following a hectic Black Friday weekend, where the whole world goes mad for a bargain before Christmas. It’s great, you get to stock up on everything you wanted to get, at a fraction of the price. Whilst doing my own shopping in the sale madness, I was struck but how the gifts I was buying lacked real creativity. No longer do I have the time to personalise gifts or make my Christmas cards. This lead me to thinking is creativity dying?

In an age where we are surrounded by tech and convenience, it seems the far easier option to go with the pre-made. pre-prepared and unoriginal. Even the image at the top of this blog, I am afraid to tell you, is a stock image (I hear your horrified gasps!). Would the image have been better if I had taken the time to think of the image I wanted and set it up and taken my own photo? Possibly. Did I have the time to do this? No. Would this blog have been made better for it? I don’t think so.

Creativity is changing! It is becoming more advanced, more intelligent and more integrated into life. So much so that we often do not see it. In some case, it is more convenient, we are able to use someone else’s creativity to support our own. We rely on those with strengths in certain areas to provide us with their creative ideas. Whilst others rely on our creativity to support and inspire their own. The tech around us is becoming ever more creative, allowing us to do things we would have only ever dreamed of before.

Yes, creativity is becoming less hands on for the majority of us. But, this does not mean it is no longer there. It is in fact all around us, in our new gadgets, in the way we prepare our food, in our wardrobes and on our screens. Whilst of course our children need to sit and stick and cut and cover everything in glitter, they will also learn to code and cook and design. It is the way of the future, we should all appreciate the creativity that is all around us.

The creativity of others has given me the time to write this blog, my own creative outlet. It has allowed me to be creative with my clients website, and build an amazing Lego structure with my little boy. Have a think about the creative things around you today, and think about what your creative outlet is?