Given I’m a designer of messages and information products, I’m willing to admit I’m a hard marker when it comes to judging the design and layout of books.
The old proverb ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover’ applies to this book by Zach Friend. On Message is much better than it’s lack lustre cover and interior pages. They’re not bad they’re just not consistent with the powerful message within the book.
One of Zach’s compelling ideas is that words alone have less impact than words plus an emotionally appealing image. And, unfortunately, this book cover, and even the interior lack any compelling images. (I’ve added my simple version of what I would have done at the top of this page – a collection of master messages…)
I suspect this is a case of lazy publishing. And, this is one of the reasons that I will only self-publish my books. I want the content of my books and their appearance to be congruent!
In this case, this lack lustre design is going to cost this book the attention it deserves. This is unfortunate as this book is one of the best I’ve read on message design.
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Zach Friend presents some highly useful frameworks and provides plenty of examples (corporate, social and political) to showcase how to apply it to your situation. And, that’s what makes this book so valuable – it’s fresh, structured and practical.
Here are a couple of big tips from Zach Friend’s On Message:
Buy this book if sharing your message is crucial to your career or business. And, dare I say it… I think that’s most of us! Use On Message as your guidebook for creating your overall narrative as the structure for all your communications.
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