RE: Can style trump grammar rules?

Subject: RE: Can style trump grammar rules?
From: "Janoff, Steven" <Steven -dot- Janoff -at- ga -dot- com>
To: "techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 09:03:32 -0700

And just to keep the home ec theme going, these folks switch it up on their web site, but their overall theme, and certainly their product name, is all lowercase:

http://methodhome.com/

And btw, Shawn, I missed that misspelling of "grammar" in your last note -- so the eye does tend to gloss over things and fill in the blanks of what it's used to. I might have caught that if it were an editing pass, but not 100% sure.

Steve

PS - OT: I'm researching spray cleaners, and the method stuff ranked high. I've also used some of the philosophy products in the past, and it's good stuff. Both companies do a nice job. But the lowercase branding does seem to add a little something in these cases, maybe the "natural" emphasis. Maybe it suggests humble, subdued, earth-friendly. That's just a guess. Certainly the opposite of all caps, which is snake oil salesman.


On Wednesday, July 30, 2014 7:22 PM, Steve Janoff wrote:

Just to show that it's an acknowledged idea, but it's more of a design and marketing/branding decision.

http://www.philosophy.com/
http://www.philosophy.com/about-us/about-us,en_US,pg.html

Note that on the About page, the style is continued even with the founder's proper name and "u.s.a."

And under "our heritage," note this:

"our lowercase writing and children's photos remind us to live life with curiosity, wisdom and abundant joy."

If you want to experiment, great, but be prepared for pushback. And if you don't get it, then enjoy it. :)

Steve


On Wednesday, July 30, 2014 6:41 PM, Gene Kim-Eng wrote:

My wife used to be a legal secretary. She would have been grinding her teeth and grabbing one hand with the other a la Dr Strangelove to hold herself back from choking the life out of your GF.

It's not just technical writer thinking.

Gene Kim-Eng


On 7/30/2014 9:07 AM, Kyle Simmons wrote:
> She was doing all the addressing, and I noticed that she was writing
> in all lowercase. Lowercase names. Lowercase street addresses.
> Lowercase state abbreviations. I was horrified.


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Follow-Ups:

References:
Re: Can style trump grammar rules?: From: Kyle Simmons
Re: Can style trump grammar rules?: From: Gene Kim-Eng
RE: Can style trump grammar rules?: From: Janoff, Steven

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