The Multifaceted Writer: Writing Visually

By Jessica Quillin

This past week saw the launch of my new company website. While I am thrilled with the results and am extremely grateful to my designers for their work, the website required a lot more time and direction on my part than I ever could have imagined.

Despite the discussion in my column about a month ago concerning the time I spent pouring through initial page mockups, these early stages for the website design were nothing in comparison with the final stages leading up to the site launch. For my part, I found it challenging to maintain (and remember) my creative vision for the website project over the course of the relatively long preparation timeframe (it took about six weeks), while balancing a dozen other projects.

For one, the site development process happened mostly behind-the-scenes, requiring input from me only at select periods in time. Like many projects, as the main writer, I played a major role in the initial design phase but then was only mainly needed in the end to review, revise, and approve the site draft. However, as the company owner, I also was the editorial manager, so I needed to pay attention to the back-and-forth discussion over email between my graphic designer and web designer to make sure things kept running smoothly and maintained the creative vision that I had set forth in the beginning.

This project oversight, as it turned out, proved critical. At points, the graphic designer and I had different conceptions for the site, which became clear in relation to image selection. As someone who is more comfortable with the art of words than that of images, I initially felt slightly uncomfortable in communicating my opinions. After all, he’s the design expert; and I’m the writer. But, in this case, it was my own business, so I felt forced to hold my ground to achieve the look I was after.

Maybe it’s my own lack of confidence in relation to the entire concept of visual design. After all, my husband says that I get lost in shopping malls. Yet, I devour fashion and think that I possess a good instinct for the visual when it comes to clothing (and shopping, my husband would say). Indeed, one of the driving forces of my business model is to marry my shoe collection with my communications experience to do work in fashion marketing and advertising. While I am making strides toward this goal, I nevertheless feel that I am more comfortable, and thus more creative, with language, rather than with imagery.

It’s funny that I am finalizing a book about the relations between words and music in poetry. Words and sound are dimensions of language that I can handle. After fifteen years of classical piano and many years of research, my aural imagination is well-tuned in terms of language, if you will. Yet, my visual imagination in relation to words is only now developing.

Despite my admiration for a well-crafted enjambment or John Hollander’s visual experimentation in poetry, until recently, I’ve never had much of a chance to explore the visual aspect of writing. As I wrote a few weeks ago, in terms of the inherent multi-dimensionality of writing for the web, I
think that most writers will sympathize with the challenge of thinking holistically in terms of how
your writing will be presented. Indeed, I find myself so pre-occupied most days with words and the organization of my ideas in words that I can scarcely add in the extra stress of images to this equation.

Yet, now that I am now completely entrenched in the delight and self-torture of writing, I find myself more attentive than ever to the importance of the visual. Presentation is the essential element of a first impression, which is so critical when trying to show what you can do as a writer in order to win and retain clients.

I think that the crux in finalizing my website was the sudden realization of its metonymical function to represent me and my new business. That stereotypical dream of delivering a speech in front of your entire high school class only to discover that you’re wearing something completely ridiculous or indeed nothing at all suddenly comes rushing back with all its anxiety and self-doubt. Writing articles for print publications or various websites is one thing. Having an entire professional site devoted to one’s own work is entirely another matter.

Brand management is a concept that I frequently tout to clients as a central element of any basic communications strategy. Yet, I think that it is perhaps doubly important for writers, particularly those who write for multiple platforms in print and on the web. Thinking visually and holistically suddenly becomes essential, as you have to determine that what you’re writing is appropriate and appropriately designed to represent you and your work as a writer.

In all, my website exists as a lovely, though by no means complete, representation of my own creative brand as a writer and business owner. It provides a comprehensive way for potential clients to take a quick look at my work in order to determine if my services are right for their content needs. The website also takes the pressure off my blog, on which I can now focus with greater energy. Now to tackle my blog and figure out how cultivate it into an arts/style magazine…

Jessica Quillin owns Quillin Consulting, LLC, a consultancy in Washington, DC, focused on content development, research, and strategy for the public and private sectors. She holds a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Cambridge.