Often when a writer finishes a document, there is information that the designers need to make it look like what the writer had in mind. Most often, this information has to do with what the graphic artwork looks like and its placement in the design. As with most things in this business, there are terms we use for this type of information.
The problem is that not everyone everywhere uses the same terms. As our markets become increasingly global, we must take special care to understand exactly what our customers expect. Some terms, as we’ve seen in previous Good Words, don’t always mean the same thing from place to place, even within the good old USA of A, let alone when we’re dealing across international borders.
When we got an email from a subscriber asking for a definition, I didn’t see a problem until I started asking around among other writers I know. This article is the story of my quest for clarity.
The term is go for, GO FORGo-by, gold go for, depending on who you ask. When I tried Google, I found that “the round goby, Neogobius melanostomus, is a bottom-dwelling freshwater goby in the family Gobiidae, native to central Eurasia, including the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.” Interesting, but not very helpful.
From some of the other sources I checked, I got the term writer’s rough which is sometimes used as a synonym for go-by and sometimes as something else entirely.
GO FOR
1. A sketch or illustration showing the graphics department what a finished illustration should look like.
2. A master copy used to verify formatting, graphic consistency, and a copy to compare the original with any additions or deletions.
3. A reference source for the proofreader.
4. A pictorial or verbal illustration that identifies which elements go where within a given medium.
Other terms
– draft or rough design
– Graphic script
– recruit
– eraser
– “only for position”
writer’s rough
1. A document with indications of where, on the copy, the graphics should be placed.
2. The writer’s first cut to the graphics people as to how the writer visualizes the design of the piece.
(As one writer put it: “The coarseness of writers is something that graphics people make beautiful in spite of, not because of, said coarseness.”)
The area of agreement seems to be that the writers have to let the graphics people know what kind of illustrations should be used and where they should be placed. However, they don’t exactly agree on what to call the way they do.
here comes the advice
It may sound unnecessary to tell people in this business that they should ask questions if something isn’t completely clear. But, because many of us are human in other ways, we often have a natural human desire not to appear ignorant. So the client tells us something we don’t quite understand, and instead of asking for clarification, we just nod our heads and hope we can fake it.
It is not a good idea. With so many terms and so many interpretations of what they mean, we can’t afford to be shy. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in business. Old terms change meaning and new terms are used. If you don’t know, ask. It’s better for the customer to think you’re ignorant at first than to think you’re incompetent later.
