Chapter 3 : Creating Effective Messages

Creating Effective Messages (Summary )

Effective messages are not the same as talking to someone face-to-face or even over the telephone. When we talk face-to-face, we pick up meaning from facial expressions, body language, specific gestures, and, of course, tone of voice. Even telephone conversations preserve the meanings conveyed by tone of voice. But messages lose these extra ways of conveying meaning as we exchange messages, and so writers need to take care when writing email messages, even though they seem impromptu or off-the-cuff. The best general advice: What you include in your email message depends on why you are writing and to whom. Effective messages are short and to the point. Receivers don't want to scroll through two or more screens of text to get your message. On the other hand, don't make your messages so short that the receiver doesn't understand you. Provide enough information so that the receiver understands both the context and the details of the message. As with any email message, make your message clear and direct. But especially as you write to specific individuals, anticipate what that particular reader will want or need to know about you and your request or your information.

There are eight steps of communication design and they are map out message goals, evaluate your audience, shape message content, select channel, acquire resources, generate social creditability, eliminate design flaws and send message. Outcome that we want to achieve and the reason we are communicating is a goal. There are two types of Goal and they are primary goal which means outcome that we want to achieve and secondary goal is one which helps us to achieve primary goal. While we map our message goal we have to know whether our goal is feasibility or not, what is my intention, what response do I want etc.We also have to evaluate the audience (individual or group who receive message).While we shape our message we have to take care about main idea, theme. There are different channel through which the message can be delivered through different medium such as sight, sound, smell, taste and touch....
I think one of the best things designers can do is teach, inspire; help others to realize the designing capabilities within themselves in places or times when those skills would go unfortunately undiscovered or uncultivated.’ Communication design is the purposeful use of words and images to transform information into understanding. My experience is that nobody communicating cannot determine another's understanding.