Condensing your message

Create more succinct, powerful ways of framing ideas and messages.

Branding and communications

Clear, concise, and impactful language is critical in capturing people's attention and ensuring they understand you and your initiative.

Ask anyone to talk about their project and they will likely fill minutes or pages with explanation. Some formats and contexts allow this sort of long-form communication, however, more often than not simpler, shorter, more powerful language is needed.

But, as Shakespeare famously quoted in Hamlet "Brevity is the soul of wit". Condensing complex ideas into brief snapshots can be challenging. It's a skill to be practiced. So, this is a quick tool to help.

A haiku is a type of traditional Japanese poem that consists of three phrases set at 5,7, and 5 syllables (not words). It's important to note that the aim here isn't to create poetry, but we will borrow the syllable format and length. For example:

This is a hai-ku. (5)

The chal-lenge is in the length. (7)

Clarity a-waits. (5)

Because of the extremely brief format, haikus force the communicator to prioritise language and articulate only the most important points that need to be understood. A haiku about 123+ might read:

E-qual-i-ty for all.

Queer com-mu-ni-ties u-nite.

Stron-ger to-ge-ther.

Jumping straight from a complex idea into a haiku can be challenging, so the canvas is a short tool to guide you from a full paragraph, to a 50 word summary, to a 25 word summary, to a haiku.

NB: Once you've created your haiku, the clarity it offers means that you'll want to go back and rewrite your paragraph. This is totally normal.

Download an A3, PDF version of the canvas by clicking on the button below:

Download the canvas now>

Tool supplied by

spur:

spur:

spur: is a strategy and design company focused on creating effective solutions and measureable outcomes for people, communities, and planet.

We work with non-profits, corporates, and governments around the world, as well as producing our own solutions through sister charity spur:org.

We move the world forward with empathy and insight across the domains of access, health, education, environment, and equity.

Learn more about them>

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