The Design of Blogging

A helping hand

I’ve always been an artist, never a writer. I’ve also always loved a challenge, and being incredibly stubborn (and perhaps being required), I knew this was a hill I’d have to conquer. I sat down and started and deleted countless paragraphs and sentences trying to find the right voice, the right topic, the right way to do something I am so uncomfortable doing. Then it hit me - why am I trying to do this ‘right’? I’ve pivoted my career to product design from a background in theatre design, 2 areas where there is absolutely never a right answer, why was I so obsessed with what was right?

"reaching for an idea" or "one of my many procrastination collages"

In design there are countless options and answers to every problem - I decided to look at blogging the same way. I’m being presented with a problem (the blank page) and I need to find a way to get to the solution (fill that page with words). I tackled it the same way that I start every design challenge - I googled my competition. I read over 10 articles on how to write the best design blog and get the most views. I read other peoples design blogs, I noted all their different voices and how the ones I found more interesting were the articles that had a unique voice and outlook. There were series’, there were one offs, there were blogs full of pictures and blogs that were mini case studies on a design solution, but none of them were blogs written by anyone with my background or in a voice I 100% resonated with.

Duh, Charlotte, of course no one has your unique background - that’s what makes you unique! Yeah, well, sometimes you need a little kick in the ass to get out of the mind spiral that tells you no one wants to hear what you have to say. So weekly, I’m going to be attacking this blog with my voice, my design, and my outlook. There will be some that are better than others and there certainly will be some that should have never been published at all. I'm also going to challenge myself to add a creative portion to my blogging like the collage above. Something to work my creative muscles while building some writing ones. I'm not sure how successful I'll be, but if 6 months of a design bootcamp and 10 years in theatre will teach you anything - it’s that you’re always never sometimes right.