I'm Disappointed in You.

[Plate 285]

I read a lot of VHL media spots. I think they're fun, creative, and it's the backbone of activity in the VHL. It makes them important to be interesting to read. And that's what I'm disappointed in. There are so many good articles that would be great if they implemented a couple of tips. Think of it as a hearty meal. You wouldn't eat corn on the cob without butter, salt and pepper would you? Then why would you write an article without all the extra flavours and spices? Sure, corn on the cob alone is a treat. But it is much better with all the nuts and bolts. I'm gonna be throwing down my top tips on how to make your article way better!

 

We can use that first paragraph as our control. At the end of a tip, I'll rewrite it and you can judge for yourself if it's worth doing or not. 

 

Tip 1: Use Colour

Please, please, please. Please, oh please, use colour in your articles. There’s nothing for your eyes to grab onto when all you see is black and white. You may be thinking to yourself “Well, books are black and white, and those aren’t a problem”. Yes, because coloured ink is way more expensive than black ink for starters. We have access to technology that lets us use hex codes! Now, I'm not saying that every word should be cooloured and to heck with any black on an article. That would be way too much. But knowing when to use colour and what colour to use can really tip an article over the edge. This is used to emphasize a word, but more importantly an idea. 

 

When choosing your colour, play into stereotypes. 

Red: Use red when something is bad. It's a passionate colour and brings a lot of emotion out of us. Use it to prove a point. To directly show your reader "HEY MAN THIS THING HERE, IT'S NOT GREAT CHIEF."

Green: The opposite of red. It's a soothing colour to look at. When a reader see's green, it's a good sign. A sign of wholesomeness and positivity. Use it when you want your reader to understand that what you're telling them is a good thing. 

Yellow: Yellow is a neutral colour. It doesn't mean anything to anyone. The only thing it does it get our attention. Even as your reading this far in you can still see it out the corner of your eye screaming at you. Don't abuse it. 
Blue: This is a fantastic colour. iPhone users know it as sending an iMessage over the internet, whereas green is through whatever cell network they use, but I digress. Blue is intelligence, when you want to sound smart use this. Or when you're having an interview, make the interviewr's name blue. It will make your reader thing they're smarter, wise, have more authority. 

 

I read a lot of VHL media spots. I think they're fun, creative, and it's the backbone of activity in the VHL. It makes them important to be interesting to read. And that's what I'm disappointed in. There are so many good articles that would be great if they implemented a couple of tips. Think of it as a hearty meal. You wouldn't eat corn on the cob without butter, salt and pepper would you? Then why would you write an article without all the extra flavours and spices? Sure, corn on the cob alone is a treat. But it is much better with all the nuts and bolts. I'm gonna be throwing down my top tips on how to make your article way better!

 

Tip 2: Bolding, Italicizing, and Underlying

 

These are three simple things that we can do as writers to totally change how our article looks and feels reading. Using these increase average read time, content more scannable, and you can bold instead of using a header in certain cases. And don't you dare bold, italicize or underline an entire paragraph. Nothing gets emphasized.

 

Underlining: The weakest of the three, so we'll start here. Sometimes it can be too hard to differentiate between links and when something is just underlined. You can use it more on print, but on the web just avoid it all together. I want to click on it right now actually...

 

Italicizing: Commonly we use italics for highlighting quotes, conversations, or dialogue. You can use them to emphasize a word in a sentence. A little bit of kick to reinforce your idea.

 

Bolding: You bold when you want to capture your readers' attention. Use it to highlight keywords and important phrases. Only use bold when italics do not emphasize your point enough. This is the last resort. 

 

I read a lot of VHL media spots. I think they're fun, creative, and it's the backbone of activity in the VHL. It makes them important to be interesting to read. And that's what I'm disappointed in. There are so many good articles that would be great if they implemented a couple of tips. Think of it as a hearty meal. You wouldn't eat corn on the cob without butter, salt and pepper would you? Then why would you write an article without all the extra flavours and spices? Sure, corn on the cob alone is a treat. But it is much better with all the nuts and bolts. I'm gonna be throwing down my top tips on how to make your article way better!

 

These are just my recommendations for people going forward with their media spots. As if finding something interesting to write about isn't enough, I have to come in here and set a standard. That's life I guess. Thanks for reading and I hope to be proud of you guys when soon! 

(713 words, excluding the copy/pasting to prove points.)

 

I read a lot of VHL media spots. I think they're fun, creative, and it's the backbone of activity in the VHL. It makes them important to be interesting to read. And that's what I'm disappointed in. There are so many good articles that would be great if they implemented a couple of tips. Think of it as a hearty meal. You wouldn't eat corn on the cob without butter, salt and pepper would you? Then why would you write an article without all the extra flavours and spices? Sure, corn on the cob alone is a treat. But it is much better with all the nuts and bolts. I'm gonna be throwing down my top tips on how to make your article way better!

 

 

Edited August 22, 2020 by Plate

[Berocka 2,186]

1 hour ago, Plate said:

You wouldn't eat corn on the cob without butter, salt and pepper would you?

Yeah 100% I would corn doesn't need anything.

[Banackock 7,630]

Shut up, plate. 

[FrostBeard 1,974]

I pretty much agree except when we talk about colourings.. That just looks wrong. 

[Victor 10,526]

@diamond_ace

[Garsh 1,079]

I read this and wow I'm not sure you are the one who should be giving advise honestly.  I've tried to break down some of the issues, but there were so many I probably missed some.  Hopefully others can pick up where i leave off.

 

Quote

I read a lot of VHL media spots.   

#Humblebrag

  

Quote

You wouldn't eat corn on the cob 

This is correct, I wouldn't eat corn on the cob.  End statement.

 

Quote

Sure, corn on the cob alone is a treat. But it is much better with all the nuts and bolts. 

You are putting nuts and bolts on corn on the cob???  This just doesn't make sense.  You should see a doctor

 

Quote

Tip 1: Use Colour

 colour coloured  cooloured  colour  colour 

It's color my dude, I'm looking at all these red squiggles  

 

Quote

When choosing your colour, play into stereotypes. 

I'm pretty sure this is racist.

 

Quote

Underlying: The weakest of the three, so we'll start here. Sometimes it can be too hard to differentiate between links and when something is just underlined. You can use it more on print, but on the web just avoid it all together. I want to click on it right now actually...

 

I don't think Underlying means what you think it does. I'll help you out
Underlying : present participle of underlie.

I believe the word you are looking for is underlining

 

Please get off your soapbox and seriously reflect on what I've written.

Edited August 22, 2020 by Garsh

[BladeMaiden 1,807]

@Plate There is more to the psychology of color than the very simplified parameters you outlined in the article above. That being said I agree that color is a powerful tool that can be used to enhance writing  and really drive a point home.

 

"Life is too short to just live in shades of grey"

[diamond_ace 3,106]

10 hours ago, Plate said:

I read a lot of VHL media spots. I think they're fun, creative, and it's the backbone of activity in the VHL. It makes them important to be interesting to read. And that's what I'm disappointed in. There are so many good articles that would be great if they implemented a couple of tips. Think of it as a hearty meal. You wouldn't eat corn on the cob without butter, salt and pepper would you? Then why would you write an article without all the extra flavours and spices? Sure, corn on the cob alone is a treat. But it is much better with all the nuts and bolts. I'm gonna be throwing down my top tips on how to make your article way better!

 

 

The only good, professional looking paragraph in the article. When's the last time you saw words colorized in a newspaper? For that matter, the only ones that even regularly get pictures are the cover stories. Throwing a bunch of bells and whistles into your article means it can't stand on its own merit. Color, especially, makes the article objectively worse.

[diamond_ace 3,106]

2 hours ago, Garsh said:

I read this and wow I'm not sure you are the one who should be giving advise honestly. 

He definitely shouldn't. My $39,000 piece of paper says he shouldn't.

[Motzaburger 1,590]

This sounds like a "make work" project for anyone writing...

[Plate 285]

6 hours ago, Garsh said:

It's color my dude, I'm looking at all these red squiggles  

I'm Canadian. Colour and color are both correct. 
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/color-colour/

 

6 hours ago, Garsh said:

Underlying : present participle of underlie.

I fixed it, thanks for pointing that out for me. 

 

6 hours ago, Garsh said:

You are putting nuts and bolts on corn on the cob???

It's a saying. I'm sorry you didn't understand it, I'll use simpler language next time around to avoid confusion. 
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nuts and bolts

I didn't know that eating corn with butter, salt and pepper would be such a hot take. Bad example, I get it. Whenever I eat corn on the cob I always have it that way no questions asked. Pardon my ignorance. 

 

3 hours ago, diamond_ace said:

The only good, professional looking paragraph in the article.

I went overboard because I was trying to show off the ideas. It is way cheaper for printing presses to print out hundreds of thousands of black text because sourcing the ink is cheaper. I wouldn't use four different coloured words in a paragraph normally. So it was a bad example. 

 

[Garsh 1,079]

10 minutes ago, Plate said:

I'm Canadian. Colour and color are both correct. 
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/color-colour/

 

I'm aware, I invite you to shed the yoke of commonwealth oppression and drop the u.  Just try it, I'm sure you will love it!

[Victor 10,526]

10 minutes ago, Garsh said:

I'm aware, I invite you to shed the yoke of commonwealth oppression and drop the u.  Just try it, I'm sure you will love it!

y'all should find a new language to speak if you don't like the one you've got

[Garsh 1,079]

9 minutes ago, Victor said:

y'all should find a new language to speak if you don't like the one you've got

Wow didn't realize we had a Commonwealth apologist here.  #RoyalBootLicker

[Victor 10,526]

11 minutes ago, Garsh said:

Wow didn't realize we had a Commonwealth apologist here.  #RoyalBootLicker

I'm part of the empire itself bitch

[Garsh 1,079]

7 minutes ago, Victor said:

I'm part of the empire itself bitch