Writing is not Magic, it's Design: The designer’s guide to writing and supercharging creativity

by João Batalheiro Ferreira

Genres: Nonfiction, Design

200 pages, Paperback

Published October 15, 2024

About the author

João Batalheiro Ferreira is a designer, author, and professor interested in creativity, learning, and graphic design. He is an Assistant Professor at IADE–Faculty of Design, Technology and Communication in Lisbon and holds a PhD in Design from Delft University of Technology. An expert in how designers learn, his research has been published in international journals such as The Design Journal and She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation. In 2024, he published his first book, Writing is Not Magic, It’s Design, which presents a writing method tailored to how designers think.

Reviews

[Franziska Nyffenegger · Rating 5 out of 5]

That's the book I would have written if I wasn't too lazy. Fortunately, João Batalheiro Ferreira wasn't. He did probably better than I could have since he is a designer himself, not a representative of the humanities, stained by academic rubbish talk. He brings in streetcred, experience, and, of course, desginerly wit. The graphics are helpful, the language straight forward, the typography accurate. A most helpful handbook for design students and their teachers.

[Noëlle van Dijk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant and powerful short book about writing. I found myself agreeing with almost everything in it. Some of the writing techniques I was already doing without realizing it, so it was really helpful to read why they actually work (and nice to see I was on the right track).

The Deepnote method is especially great. I’ve always had notes all over the place — on my phone, in random notebooks, on post-its — and I’d often get a bit lost in them. But as soon as I read about this method, I felt genuinely excited to try it out. It just clicked. Would recommend reading this if you’re writing non-fiction!

[strawberry robbery · Rating 4 out of 5]

helped me get over myself and start writing

[Tim Wiesner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good tips, but no revolutionary takes on writing. Although I might be a bit biased, of course.
It advertises itself as being written for desingers, but apart from two or three comparisons between the workflow of a writer and that of a designer (drafting a text is like sketching a design!), there aren't really anymore connections made between the two disciplines. That's good news if you're not a designer, but if you are, don't expect tailor-made writing tips for visual thinkers or anything.
I really liked the short last chapter though, and - as it should - the whole book teads like a charm. If you know little about sttucturing your writing process, I do recoomend this book!