Plan Your Project
When planning your writing project, consider the following two key factors:
What is the Purpose of Your Writing Project?
- Are you summarizing information, informing stakeholders, offering solutions to a problem or pursuing another objective?
- Knowing the answer to this question will guide your choice of words, tone, and the project's length.
- For instance, decide if a formal tone is necessary, or if a less formal approach will suffice, provided it remains professional and, where necessary, authoritative.
Focus on the Audience
- Identify your readers and their characteristics. Think about who would be interested in the information you are sharing. Are they likely to be individuals/families, small business owners, pedestrians, environmentalists? Is there a particular age range of your audience? Might they be tech savvy or do they have little expert knowledge of the subjects you are writing about?
- Think about "what does my audience need to know?" rather than "this is what I want to say" about the subject.
- If you have identified several target audiences, how will you communicate your message to make sure all stakeholders receive the information that they need? We are happy to work with you about different ways to present the same message to different kinds of audiences.
Need help with planning a writing project? Involve the Publications, Graphics, and Web Development Section. We can assist you in the following areas:
- Content editing (documents, web pages, infographics, presentations, etc.) to check for errors, consistency, style, and branding. BYOC (bring your own content)!
- We create images, infographics, charts, tables, and other data visualization that make your documents more readable and engaging.
- We can draft background content for your project's webpage such as historical and purpose information, timelines, boundary maps, and contact details.
- Create and implement a social media plan to publicize your message on various social media platforms.
- Consultant onboarding - we provide publications specifications for consultant RFPs when you are outsourcing projects to inform the consultant of Planning Department requirements.
The Publications, Graphics, and Web Development Section also ensures that your events are professional, well-publicized, and properly documented by:
- Creating posters, flyers, postcards, banners, and other promotional materials, and
- Taking professional photos and videos (including aerial drone images).