Online: Writing = Design: Creative Copy Writing Workshop

Learn about writing as a design tool. Get to know your creative potential in dealing with words, which often seems to be a field of insecurity for visual designers. Make words work for you! Create your own verbal personality and make your visual identity even more convincing.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this course will be facilitated online using a mixture of daily live-sessions and guided tasks to be completed.

A profound introduction to creative copywriting: Learn about writing as a design tool. Get to know your creative potential in dealing with words that often seem to be a field of insecurity for visual designers. No need to be afraid. I will provide you with techniques that will make it easy for you to get started. Fun little exercises, both orally and in writing, are my main method. Learn how to condense your thoughts with words. Learn to grasp your ideas and observations by describing them to an audience. Learn how to speak about yourself and the offer you make for professional markets. Make words work for you! The best thing: get instant feedback from the group you learn with plus professional assessment. I will support you in finding your verbal personality, thus adding to your visual identity and making it even more convincing.

Here are the elements of professional copywriting you will get to know: the functions of a headline, how to develop a name, a claim, text hierarchy, guiding your reader, target groups, short vs. longer texts, different verbal styles, tonality. Please feel free to bring your topics – we will try to include them in our schedule.

SCHEDULE

Day 1 / Monday
Exploration

• Get to know each other: background, expectations, topics
• Get started: exercise 1 (description, self presentation)

Day 2 / Tuesday
Essence

• Lecture by Sonja: what is text, why is it needed/useful
• Learn: exercise 2 (headline, text hierarchy, structure)

Day 3 / Wednesday
Experience

• Lecture by Christoph: why and how do I write as a designer
• Learn: exercise 3 (style/tonality, short vs. longer texts)

Day 4 / Thursday
Effects

• Present your work: who am I? (naming, claim, authorship)
• Get response and discuss: do I reach my target audience?

GUESTS
Christoph Rauscher, art director at ZEIT ONLINE

Sonja Knecht was born in Indonesia, grew up in Venezuela, and is deep-rooted in Deutsch. She studied languages and humanities; explorations as a graphic artist led her to what she loves most: typography and text – text as language, designed. She was Edenspiekermann’s Director Text and established their corporate blog. Today, she supports companies and cultural institutions as a brand and communication strategist. Since 2016, Sonja is a lecturer at Berlin University of the Arts’ Institute of Transmedia Design in their Visual Communication program, plus a guest lecturer at other art and design schools and conferences. For TYPO International Design Talks she built up a 30-people editorial team and served as their moderator.

txet.de

Christoph Rauscher is a designer who writes. After studying interface design (B.A.) and design and media theory (M.A.) in Berlin and Potsdam, he worked as a designer and design director at Edenspiekermann. There, he developed new ideas for digital journalism with publishing houses from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Until 2020, Christoph served as the art director of ZEIT ONLINE, one of Germany’s most prestigious news sites. He collaborates with companies, agencies, and publishing houses, using design and text as tools to make ideas more tangible. Also, he writes a monthly newsletter on personal observations and a quarterly column on technology in Germany’s renowned Form design magazine.

christophrauscher.de