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All posts for “Art of Explanation”
Please Help Build Awareness for The Art of Explanation
Posted by: leelefever on November 27, 2012- 10:40am
Categories: Art of Explanation, book, buzz, marketing, promotion, social media
Dear Common Craft friends and fans, I’m writing to humbly ask for your help.
The Art of Explanation, my new book, recently became fully available in bookstores and online. And now, it’s up to us to get the word out - and I’m hoping you can help.
First, I hope you’ll consider buying the book. It’s meant for everyone and especially professionals. If you’ve already purchased and read it, please consider writing a quick review on Amazon or your website.
There a number of other ways you can... Continue Reading
Introducing: Explain That Sh*t - Sharable Tips from The Art of Explanation
Posted by: leelefever on November 25, 2012- 4:54pm
Categories: Art of Explanation, explainthatshit, Explanation, tips
Today we're announcing a new Common Craft website that is focused on one thing: sharing short, snarky and useful explanation tips. The site exists in two forms:
Explain That Sh*t (Not-Safe-For-Work, Language)
Explain That Idea (Work-Safe)
Along with providing a way to learn about explanation, the sites are meant for sharing explanation tips. You can click the Twitter icon on any tip and the site will copy that tip into a tweet for you.
Here's the site on computers and phones:
Backstory:
A few... Continue Reading
What is an "Enhanced" eBook?
Posted by: leelefever on November 25, 2012- 2:01pm
Categories: Art of Explanation, book, ebook, Explanation, publishing
I think we’re at the very beginning of a huge transformation that will change how we think about books. Thanks to new devices and publishing platforms, books are becoming more interactive and multimedia. One form this is taking is the "enhanced" ebook. To understand the enhanced versions, let’s start with normal ebooks.
“Normal” ebooks are essentially digital versions of regular books that are usually read on devices like the Kindle, iPad and Nook. For most of their history, ebooks have... Continue Reading
How to Explain YOUR JOB at Thanksgiving Dinner
Posted by: leelefever on November 18, 2012- 3:41pm
Categories: Art of Explanation, book, explainer tip, holiday, thanksgiving
The story below is based on ideas from my book The Art of Explanation, now out in print and ebooks. Perfect airplane reading!
You’ve been there before. You sit down to gorge yourself on turkey when the questioning starts. Sitting across from you is Uncle Henry. He’s spry at 65, but is not so knowledgeable about technology. He asks, “So tell me again what it is you do for a living?” Your Mom hears the question and tunes in. “Yes, do tell!” she says, attracting the attention of everyone at... Continue Reading
Explaining Animated GIFs - Or Not
Posted by: leelefever on November 14, 2012- 10:12am
Categories: Art of Explanation, Explanation problem, GIFs, technology
The word "GIF" is in the news recently thanks to being named the Oxford American Dictionary's word of the year. Today I saw a video that's part of the PBS series Off Book, which explores the history and usage of the animated GIF.
The video is included below, but before we get to that, I want to point out an explanation problem. At about 30 seconds into the video, Patrick Davidson of MemeFactory appears to answer the question "What is an animated GIF?"
Here's how he did that:
An animated gif... Continue Reading
Explanation Tricks from Planet Money and Chana Joffe-Walt
Posted by: leelefever on October 31, 2012- 9:58am
Categories: Art of Explanation, explainer tip, Explanation, NPR, planet money, podcast
When people ask me who is doing the best explanatory work these days, I often point to public radio and podcasts. The radio format, while not visual, can be incredibly engaging and effective in packaging complicated ideas into explanations.
One of our favorites is NPR’s Planet Money podcast which has the tagline “The Economy Explained”. The podcast got started with an episode of This American Life in May of 2008 called the Giant Pool of Money. This hour-long show explained the mortgage... Continue Reading
Amazon, eBooks, Zombies and New Videos
Posted by: leelefever on October 16, 2012- 9:57am
Categories: Art of Explanation, ebook, news, zombies
Here’s a quick update about the status of The Art of Explanation and some things we have planned over the next month.
The book is currently shipping from Amazon and making its way to other bookstores now. By October 23rd, it should be everywhere. If you have a copy, I’d love to hear your thoughts. You could be the first to write a review on Amazon!
Many of you have asked about eBooks. The Art of Explanation will be available as an eBook, and I expect it to be for sale by the end of the month... Continue Reading
Kalid's Cat - Why Initial Understanding Matters
Posted by: leelefever on October 3, 2012- 9:59am
Categories: Art of Explanation, book, curse of knowledge, explainer tip, Explanation
A few weeks back I had coffee with Kalid Azad, who runs Better Explained, a blog and book that focuses on the use of intuition to understand “gnarly” subjects like math and programming. His tagline is “Learn right, not rote”. I love that.
Kalid made a point that day that stuck with me. Here it is from a blog post called “Developing Your Intuition for Math”.
Our initial exposure to an idea shapes our intuition. And our intuition impacts how much we enjoy a subject. What do I mean?
Suppose... Continue Reading
Hands On: The Art of Explanation Book
A couple of days ago I held The Art of Explanation, my first book, in my hands for the first time. What a feeling to finally see and feel it in its final form.
Overall I'm quite pleased with the design and packaging of the final product. I wanted it to feel consumable, like something you could read on a cross-country flight. I wanted it to look inviting and interesting. I wanted it to be Common Crafty.
See what you think...
Here's the never-seen-before back cover.
The all-important spine... Continue Reading
Tools and Resources for Remarkable Explanations
Posted by: leelefever on September 24, 2012- 2:30pm
Categories: Art of Explanation, presentation, products, resources, tools
Sometimes, words are not enough. To grab an audience’s attention and make an explanation remarkable, explainers need ways to stand-out, to be interesting.
Thankfully there are a growing number of resources that can help explainers turn their ideas into experiences that captivate audiences. I've listed a few below. (Note: I am not affiliated with the services below and receive no compensation from them).
While you're thinking about these resources, consider this... These tools are helpful and... Continue Reading