The 7 Cs of Communication

Twitter is my new favourite resource for articles, by following design related tweeters I am linked to close to 50 articles each day. While I don’t read them all, I do read all the titles. Depending if I have a lot of time or not I either read the article or send myself an email with a link. Most recently I emailed myself a link to “The 7 Cs of Communication.”

The article discusses how being clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete and courteous can greatly improve productivity. It is important to make sure that presentations, emails, conference calls, reports and meetings are well constructed to ensure the audience understands the message.

The article had some great tips, but what I found humorous was the inclusion of correct. Initially I thought they meant that you tell the truth when communicating, but they had a different focus. In the article the author discuss the importance using language that the audience will understand; try to avoid jargon. They also spoke about the importance of checking over grammar, spelling and names. I thought that all of these suggestions were valuable and that these errors are often overlooked.

Overall the article was a good read, and definitely brought up things to keep in mind the next time I write an email, make a phone call or attend a meeting.

Paper Type

I've been trying to catch up on some reading the past couple weeks, the magazines are piling up and my inbox is full of eblasts. My favourite read this morning was once again from The Daily Heller. Jerome Corgier, a graphic designer from Paris, spends his time cutting and pasting pieces of paper to create intricate three-dimensional letters. When asked why he chose to use paper as his medium he said that it is easy to manipulate. Corgier offered that the worst thing that can happen is to realize the colours are wrong once the piece is completed. Below are my favourites, take a look around his blog or website for more examples.