Thematic
A whole idea, not a list of subjects. Something worth thinking about. Something worth keeping.
Thematic communication
Each place already speaks. Most visitors do not hear it. A drain, a foreshore, a garden, a wetland: if people can read what it is doing, they are more likely to care for it.
The living edge needs a language people can use.
Start a conversationTheme, not topic
A topic says this sign is about the wetland. A theme says this wetland takes the city’s stormwater and gives it back cleaner. One is a label. The other is a whole idea you can carry away.
Facts sit under the theme. They do not replace it. A species list may be forgotten on the walk back to the car. The idea that made the place make sense is more likely to stay. A strong theme gives people something worth thinking about. We give the place a sentence people can keep.
How we write
We use Sam Ham’s TORE method. Then the page, the sign and the talk have to do the work.
A whole idea, not a list of subjects. Something worth thinking about. Something worth keeping.
We decide what you really want them to take away, then we order the facts so they serve that idea.
Start from what the audience already cares about: money, shade, birds, a beach they use. Then join it to the place.
Enjoyable does not mean frivolous. It means worth staying with. Interesting enough that people stay with the sign, the talk, the walk.
We write to the person in front of the sign. Full sentences. Ordinary words. Analogies that land here: wet season, dry season, a bird, a bill.
What we take on
We design the message with the place. You get the copy, the structure and one idea people carry away. Not a plaque of names and dates.
Civic beaches, wetlands, gardens and reserves. We write the themes and the sequence. Fabrication stays with the maker.
Talks, panels, websites and training rooms. A brief about water or habitat, written as an idea people remember.
Field crews, households, council rooms. The same method: one strong theme, then the practice.
Bring us the site and the behaviour you need. We write the theme. You put it in the ground, on the sign, or in the room.
Start a conversation