http://www.spokes.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/B125-centre-all.pdf
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Cycling News
"Cycling and Health supplement to Spokes Bulletin 125"
(9 posts)-
Posted 9 years ago #
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I read the Spokes bulletin over lunch at Summerhall yesterday (white tomato, smoked mozarella and lime risotto with chips yes chips for heathens quoth la serveuse but don't tell the chef who is Italian). I haven't read it for a while, years probably.
It was this leaflet that made me aware, decades ago, of the existence of the idea of cycle campaigning. It's a good thing.
However...the layout and editing really let it down. I've used it in the past at work as an example of how a positive and welcome message can be subverted or even destroyed by poor presentation.
There are way too many words. Three or four times too many words. Reading it leaves you gasping for white space.
Detail is well and good. Punitive detail less so.
The images are soul-crushingly dull. We all know what a cyclist looks like by now.
'Search some website for particular free text' is not a useful way of communicating anything.
I'd love this leaflet to be more effective. I don't want to upset anyone too much, but please if the editor reads this can you have a think about presentation and readability? There are many guides on the internet. (Search textmatters.com for 'designing business documents using a suitable search engine e.g. Google, ixquick or Bing)
Posted 9 years ago # -
Changes in layout, different fonts, different font sizes, and seemingly random moves between regular, bold and italics make it quite jarring to look at as well. Same with the (old fashioned?) indent to start a paragraph, and no space before the next paragraph starts.
I think there's maybe a 'less is more' approach needed. The messages are good, but does all of that need to be said in a short document?
Feels churlish being critical when it's all aimed at improving things for all, but it's not that difficult these days to produce something 'glossy'.
Posted 9 years ago # -
"I'd love this leaflet to be more effective."
Like the actual Spokes bulletins 'it's always been like that'...
One BIG problem is the tiny print! (Ironic now that many who have been following Spokes 'for ever' are oldish...)
Next year Spokes is FORTY.
Perhaps it could rebrand as Cycling ED (that is not a serious suggestion or a dig at Spokes...)
Spokes works and has survived this long because of the way it works.
(I am not 'part of' Spokes - I have always taken photos for them and worked on some projects. I did its first website - I think the current one is the third.)
Spokes could be different and perhaps more effective. It is now an institution (which means good and bad things).
It has made real differences in Edinburgh and with Governments in Scotland. The fact that the SNP Gov doesn't appear to 'get it' (according to 'us') is no reflection on the Spokes message or its means of getting it across.
The rise of PoP and WalkCycleVote aren't because 'Spokes isn't good enough'/'living in the past'/any other criticism - and not intended to replace it. (Spokes is involved in both.)
Spokes has never sought mass membership or had a joining fee or wanted staff. This makes it fairly unusual in the 'voluntary sector' - certainly for an organisation that has maintained its presence and purpose for so long.
Too many words in the Internet, dumbed down, age!
Posted 9 years ago # -
"There are way too many words. Three or four times too many words. Reading it leaves you gasping for white space."
Its also often written in a cryptic, insider-speak way, which is not at all welcoming to many.
I should know, I write that way myself...
Posted 9 years ago # -
There are logistics of space and costs for the bulletin. We want as much info in as possible.
But agree that there's a lot of reasonable criticism to be made about SPOKES's public face.
Posted 9 years ago # -
"We want as much info in as possible."
but that's exactly the problem...
Just like the links that take you to the whole page of newsletters, when actually you just want to open the RIGHT one.
Posted 9 years ago # -
"Just like the links that take you to the whole page of newsletters, when actually you just want to open the RIGHT one."
YES, had that conversation a few times.
'We want people to see all the newsletters'.
That's not how the internet works.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Its also often written in a cryptic, insider-speak way, which is not at all welcoming to many.
What I was thinking, but hob-nail-tip-toed round.
Posted 9 years ago #
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