One of my first classes in Communication Leadership at the University of Washington was Professional Short-Form writing with professor John Tomasic.
At the beginning of the course, each student developed a fictional business or organization that could be as whimsical or real-world as we liked. The goal was to create a vehicle with which we could spend the rest of the quarter writing material. This included writing content for the fictional organization’s website, newsletter, social media, and more.
The fictional business I dreamt up was “Beer, Vinyl, Coffee,” a local haunt specializing in, you guessed it, craft brews, vintage vinyl, and, well, coffee. Did I settle on this business because it’s the kind of place I’d like to hang out in real life? Absolutely yes. It seemed like a great place to spend the quarter, if only in my imagination.
It also allowed me to pursue the challenge of writing unpretentiously about topics (craft beer, vinyl collecting, fancy coffee) that historically can get very pretentious very quickly.
My other goal was to write readable, memorable content that imbued the fictional organization with personality without undercutting BVC’s products or expertise.
By the end of the quarter, we made websites to fill with copy about our organizations in order to see how our text would look on the world wide web. You can see BVC’s here: https://jonrberthiaume.wixsite.com/beeryvinylcoffee
Also included below are some social media concepts and a sample newsletter. I had some fun with it!
Besides being an engaging project, it was a part of a fabulous class and a perfect way to sharpen my skills, get creative, and kick off my time in Comm Lead.
What would YOU add to the BVC menu? Let me know below!
Jack Berthiaume 