To grammar enthusiasts, Weird Al’s new parody, “Word Crimes” (which plays on Robin Thike’s “Blurred Lines”) nails just about every writing pet peeve on the head. Those who don’t like grammar, however, may feel insulted. Or, just thoroughly confused. After all, if you’re not sure what an Oxford comma is
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Need to use an image but not sure if you have the legal and ethical right to do so? Understanding the laws for using images can be a bit tricky, especially because there is wiggle room within the laws. And, with the mass distribution of images on the internet, it’s
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Infographics, it seems, have taken the media by storm. Because they are visually attractive, eye-catching, accessible, fun, and–if done well–quickly and effectively informative, people are drawn to them. And businesses have caught wind of this. We see infographics in magazines, on blogs, and even on corporate “About Us” pages in
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At the college where I teach, professors have the unique opportunity every May to develop a course outside of their typical curriculum. Teachers get to explore their interests in new courses as diverse as “The Chemistry of Cooking” and “Writing a Film Short.” Students are offered a wide variety of
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One of the most fundamental components to making a document visually appealing (and readable) is to make sure the text is designed well. And while there are infinite possibilities for what you can do with your fonts and sizes and organization, if you follow these eighteen rules, your text can
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There are hundreds of important design terms that graphic and visual designers need to know to be good at their professions. But for the average writer/designer, you can probably get away with knowing fewer than that. At the very least, you’ll want to know come of the most important terms
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I often get asked: what makes a really good résumé? Truth is, that is a loaded question with no real good answer. Every employer is different and every job description is different and every applicants’s qualification’s are different. In fact, there is no perfect, good resume example. The only right
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If you look at the visual complexity of advertisements over the past century (how many different things there are to look at and keep the eyes and brain busy), you’ll observe a noticeable trend: by and large, visual designs have significantly become simpler, decade by decade. As a case in
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As a college professor by trade (if I dare call my profession as such), I’m frequently asked a very compelling question: can creativity be taught? I’ve mulled this one over and over (and over some more) because it seems that in the answer to that question comes a very powerful
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Ever wonder why you can’t figure out when and where to stick a comma? It’s probably because commas, by far, have more rules and applications than any other punctuation mark. But why do so many people use the semicolon incorrectly? Comparatively, it should be one of the easiest punctuation marks
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