APRIL 2024 HEARTBEAT

HMG’s designers make magic for our clients. Their skills enliven and attract the best kind of attention whether creating displays, table covers, social media posts, or emails. What they do depends on the content they have to work with. And this is where size, length, and width matter a great deal.

Use your favorite search engine to ask, “Optimum paragraph length?” and you will get a host of answers from a variety of experts. Boiled down, it seems 100 to 200 words is ideal. In addition to number of words, line length is mentioned repeatedly, too. It’s hard to keep readers’ attention when their heads sway excessively following the text!

One piece of advice we follow as much as possible is to never have a section of unbroken text larger than a dollar bill on a page or screen. Unbroken text describes paragraphs without any “…headlines, decks, subheads, links, lists, bold-faced lead-ins and other display copy,” per writing guru Ann Wylie. These are the special sauce to make any communications more palatable.

And here’s another homespun guideline we apply whenever we can – make your copy approachable and digestible. Taking a look at a page or screen with unbroken paragraphs, few illustrations, and no special sauce will result in one thing. TL;DR. Yes, the dreaded too long; didn’t read determination.

A writer, like a designer, crafts their prose for the audience being addressed, the desired mood/impression to be set, and consumption. And both types of creatives find inspiration by seeing both good and bad examples of their craft. We want to share one of the best seen in recent memory.

We’re in the midst of March Madness with buttons busting over all the Iowa-based teams participating in both the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments, NIT, too. In the build up to the Iowa Hawkeye women’s run, extraordinary attention is being paid to the indomitable Caitlyn Clark. ESPN senior writer Wright Thompson crafted a brilliant profile on Clark. The piece is long and SO worth the read. And please do. Read it.

As you dive into the piece, you will find revealing, intimate, and unvarnished insight into the phenom. You will also find the work of a skilled author. Pay attention to the style, the short paragraphs – some single sentences, and message delivery. Watch with fresh eyes, having learned more about her, her teammates, coaches, and family.

At HMG, we do our best to work within the parameters set by our clients, the medium being used, and the desired goal. We pay attention to size, length, and width. We hope you will, too.