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We strive for clarity in writing

It sounds easy doesn’t it? It’s not. Just look at professional writing: Writers try to make their ideas seem impressive and confuse readers in the process. They may adapt to the voice that predominates in the field (and not all fields advocate clear writing.) Or they may not have the time it takes to plan and write understandable documents.

But writing can be clear. It can be focused on the reader. It can be stripped down to its barest components, and it can be transformed into vivid prose.

We believe in user-focused writing

Info.Design teaches a user-centered approach to writing. We believe that if we envision how users encounter documents, we can structure the information to help them out. Do you know what happens as readers scan a page?

Each reader "experiences" words on a page, paints a picture based on this information, and constructs new knowledge based on this mental model. Readers who can easily envision what the writer is trying to convey are apt to say, "that’s clear writing."

For professional and Web writing, we believe in helping the user out by applying an "user-expectation-driven structure" to the contents of information on the page.

We believe in simplicity

"Clutter is the disease of American writing," writes William Zinsser, author of On Writing Well, a standard text for nonfiction writers. He tells us that the secret of good writing is to strip each sentence to its cleanest components, that there are "thousands of adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence." In our teaching, we provide techniques for reducing verbose text. Clear writing does not require "Dick and Jane" sentences. The objective is not curtness; it is understanding.

We believe in vivid prose

Effective information architecture uses narrative to transform lifeless data into information that we can see. As professional writers, we incorporate the key elements of narrative—character, action, scene, and plot—to capture readers’ attention and help them understand contexts, causes, and connections. We believe that narrative helps both organizations and users.