Fun Writing Prompts

21 Writing Prompts for Design Students

by David BarringerNovember 10, 2009

Several design instructors have confessed to me, in casual conversation, their struggles to inspire students to write. Students complain about writing: always have, always will. Design students are no exception. Writing is boring. Writing is all about rules. Writing has nothing to do with me. Writing doesn’t matter. But students don’t find all writing boring or irrelevant or burdened by rules. They complain mainly about the nature of their school writing assignments. So how can design teachers make writing more interesting for their students?

It’s a great problem. I came up with 21 prompts that are dramatic, provocative, fun, urgent and personal.

Assignments that require research tempt students to copy entries from Wikipedia or other online sources. Designed to defeat that urge, these prompts depend on personal information or perspective. Some involve parodies, which promote awareness of language by demanding that the student bring one kind of language into a new and jarring context (like, say, writing about a rifle through language typically used to advertise a new baby stroller). To combat charges of irrelevant subject matter, I geared many prompts to involve popular culture, technology, and current trends and debates, but most importantly they demand the student to write persuasively—that is, engage in argument in order to persuade a specific person of some specific thing.

My intent is to get writers thinking about the uses of language, about audience and authorial intention, about jargon and slang and context and how language works or doesn’t work in different ways on different people at different times.

• Repurpose existing writing

Students already write on blogs, Facebook, Twitter and email. Most email services, such as Gmail, save all emails. This material may be selectively gathered and repurposed in a variety of ways, such as for collages, found poetry or dramatized conversations.

1. Write a found interview. Make a list of 10 questions lifted from real magazine interviews. Imagine these questions are asked of you. Answer them using only writing you have already written, such as in emails, on blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter or other online places. Edit for punctuation and grammar to fit in with the style and format of the magazine interview, but keep your answers conversational and as unaltered in substance as possible (that is, you must rely on what you have already written, and include citations to where you originally wrote your text, e.g., “email to C.B., 12/4/2007”.).
2. Explain a conversation. Find a long back-and-forth email, instant-message, or text-message conversation between you and someone else. Try to find a conversation on a single topic, if possible, such as deciding where to eat dinner, what to do over the weekend or where to go for vacation. If you can’t find one, then you may use any long conversation or series of emails or instant messages. Select only your own messages. Do not include the messages of anyone else. Copy and paste them into a new document. After each message you previously sent, write a note that explains what you meant. Define any jargon, slang or personal jokes so that a general reader may understand your meaning. Explain your intention in writing a certain message (to amuse, to persuade, to distract, to annoy, to criticize, to forgive, to clarify, etc.). And report on whether or not your writing successfully conveyed your intent and had its intended effect on the other person.

   • Repurpose existing forms

     
     Starting with existing forms is a great way to ease students into writing. Students can download real forms online, such as tax forms, police forms, accident reports, résumé templates, query letters, immigration forms, consumer-complaint forms, opt-out forms and more. Instructors can also create their own forms in order to allow greater space for certain entries. And forms as a category does not necessarily have to limit you to actual forms or templates—blogs, product reviews, holiday cards, opinion columns and letters of resignation, for example, also follow conventions. The dramatic twist, however, is for students to fill out the forms unconventionally. Students should be encouraged to write outside the lines, literally and figuratively.
3. Fill out an application for a home-equity line of credit, but as Winnie the Pooh, Dorothy, one of the three little pigs or Darth Vader.
4. Apply for life insurance, but as an immortal teen vampire.
5. File a complaint as a witness to a crime, but a crime committed by a video-game character.
6. Register a consumer-complaint form, but as a plugged-in resident of the Matrix, the owner of a misbehaving Transformer robot or a child who mistakenly believes he can return his parents and order new ones.
7. Fill out a customer-feedback form for an online dating service, but as a character from a fairy tale, such as Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, The Frog Princess,Beauty and the Beast, etc.
8. Rewrite a food or restaurant review from a local newspaper as if it pertained to a year in your own life—as if what was being reviewed was not the restaurant but this year you lived through. Replace language referring to the restaurant and the food with descriptions of your own life during that year, but keep some of the descriptive language concerning décor, flavors, dining experience, etc., so that this sensory and critical language now applies to your life or episodes during this year.
9. Write a simple log of your day—where you go, who you meet—but as if you were under surveillance. You should refer to yourself as “the suspect,” to your friends as “contacts,” to authorities as “agents,” etc.
10. Write a short blog entry for five days in a row in which you know the real world is a reality TV show; everyone around you mistakenly believes this is real life and not a show; and you are a critic charged with reviewing each day’s episode for a distant audience who wants to know which parts of the day to watch and which to skip, using their TiVos and satellite TVs.

    • Repurpose existing media

    
11. Create a product label. Choose a product: your backpack, a coat pocket, dorm room, car interior, desktop, desk drawer, box of stuff, a closet or even your own head. Name this product. Brand it. Give it a slogan. Then provide a kind of extended label in which you list ingredients, product claims, product comparisons, consumer-test results, warnings, side effects and customer endorsements. Follow-up assignment: Write a celebratory review of this product to persuade the company not to discontinue it.
12. Catalog your beliefs. Write down five of your personal beliefs. These beliefs have to relate to you personally. Express them in a single, simple sentence, such as “I believe I was born in Chicago,” “I believe I am taller than both my parents” or “I believe no one ever found out I stole a candy bar.” Next, select a mail-order catalog, such as for clothes, toys, books or computers. Imagine your beliefs as products to be sold in this mail-order catalog. Rewrite the catalog copy to apply to your beliefs as if they were products in this particular catalog. Name your beliefs. Indicate colors, sizes, a product description, instructions for use, warranties, and return and exchange policies.
13. Write an early memoir. Imagine writing your memoir at age 3 (at the end of your terrible twos) or at age 6 (after your first year of kindergarten). Find an existing, melodramatic memoir. Match the tone and mood of the existing memoir, but write the title, subtitle, blurbs, back-cover summary, author biography, dedication, author’s note, foreword (written by someone else) and acknowledgements for your memoir at age 3 or 6.
14. Remake a magazine. Identify your mania. Find one thing you obsess over, such as a type of music, a band, a designer, an art form, a product, a style, a brand, a city, a type of food, a hobby, a craft, a movie, a book or a celebrity. Then choose a real magazine that has nothing to do with your obsession. If your obsession is a rock band, then chooseField & Stream magazine. If your obsession is chocolate, then choose a political magazine like The Nation. If your obsession is chess, then choose a teen magazine likeTiger Beat. The assignment is to write about your obsession in the style of that real magazine. Write all the cover text, the table of contents, the editor’s letter, and three short reader letters in the mood and style of the existing magazine, but all content should relate to your obsession.
15. Draft your own “About” copy. (a) Select a career-placement or staffing company. Visit its website, and copy the description on the “About Us,” “Services” and/or “What We Do” pages of its website, which describe what kind of company it is and the work it does. Rewrite the text into a love letter in which you are describing your virtues to a person you wish to date. Keep as much of the jargon in your letter as possible. (b) Select a zoo. Visit its website, and copy the description on the “About Us,” “Animal Care” and/or “Educational Programs” pages of its website. Rewrite the text into a response to your previous love letter. Either reject or accept the relationship, retaining as much jargon as possible in your response.

    • Make a case using hot topics for persuasive writing

      
      A useful structure for persuasive writing is the Argument/Objection/Reply form. The writer begins by informally listing all conceivable arguments for and against a proposition. Choosing a side in the first paragraph of the essay proper, the writer begins with the strongest argument. In the second paragraph, the writer envisions an opponent’s strongest objection to that particular argument. In the third paragraph, the writer replies to that objection. The fourth paragraph begins a new, second-best argument in support of the writer’s position, and the cycle repeats. A standard essay of this form sets out the three strongest arguments in support of the writer’s position.
16. To reduce credit-card theft, a new credit card scans the thumbprint of the card owner before each transaction. Do you agree that this will reduce credit-card theft? Argue for or against this new scanning technology as a deterrent, including objections to your argument and replies to these objections.
17. Write down what a single judge says about a single contestant during one episode of a reality-TV show, such as American Idol, Project Runway or Top Chef. Disagree with the judge’s conclusions. Make your own critique of the contestant’s performance, and explain in detail why you are right and the judge is wrong.
18. A new technology allows drivers to display messages to other drivers. Using a projected light display, like a hologram of sorts that hovers above the roof of the vehicle, a driver may post a text message visible to other drivers. Argue for or against the use of this new technology. If you are for this new technology, address any restrictions you would want imposed. If you are against this new technology, address any exemptions or exceptions you can envision.
19. A new mini-projector comes standard with cellphones. Users can project text messages at great distances. They can project words that run across billboards as easily as they can project words on the clothing of passersby. Argue for or against the use of this new personal technology. If you defend this new technology, address any restrictions you would want imposed. If you oppose this new technology, address any exemptions or exceptions you can envision.
20. A new classroom rule prohibits the use of any and all personal portable electronic devices. Argue that your laptop computer should not count as a “personal portable electronic device,” and then argue that, even if it does count as that, there should be an exception for computers. Explain why.
21. Currently companies can monitor your movements online (what you click on, how you shop, what you read, what forms you fill out, what words you use in your emails), but they are now pushing for a new law that would extend this power to the real world. Should companies be able to use any and all available technology (like cellphones, GPS chips, wireless connectivity, and surveillance cameras) to monitor your movements anywhere? Argue for or against this proposition. Address whether or not you think an opt-out power would be a good defense for individuals who want to protect their privacy. Also address whether or not you would allow your parents the same, greater or less power to monitor your movements.

Taken from http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/21-writing-prompts-for-design-students

Cloning

Prompt:

There are numerous viewpoints on the subject of cloning. One side feels that the long-term benefits of cloning – primarily a search for medical cures – is worth the effort, but with some restrictions. Others argue that there is a strong potential for abuse in this era of corporate corruption, dishonesty, and misunderstanding. In your view, aside from religious and moral considerations, who should best make the determination whether cloning is legalized: doctors, politicians, or religious leaders? Carefully explain the rationale for your position.

Essay:

Cloning has long been a controversial subject. Some argue that people will misuse and abuse the power to clone. Others argue that the medical gains from cloning are extraordinary. Doctors, politicians, and religious leaders all argue different positions. Aside from religious and moral considerations, doctors will best make the determination whether cloning is legalized. Doctors have the most knowledge about the human body. Doctors are trusted by those who seek their advice. Doctors also know diseases better than politicians and religious leaders. With someone knowledgeable about the human body available, corporate corruption, dishonesty, and misunderstanding will be close to nonexistent.

When a person is sick, whether it is the flu or cancer, they go seek the professional diagnosis of their symptoms from a doctor. Doctors have studied the human body and disease. They know that a runny nose and a sore throat is more likely to be because of a cold, not a stomach infection. Because of this, doctors are able to determine whether a patient would benefit from cloning. Politicians and religious leaders were not educated in the fields of medicine or science. They are not the best decision makers when it comes to legalizing cloning.

Doctors know the most about diseases and what causes them. They are the best group of people to judge whether or not cloning is necessary and what types of cloning procedures are most beneficial. In many cases, cloning can help cure patients for the long-term.

With doctors making the decision to legalize cloning, there will also be less corporate corruption and dishonesty. Politicians argue for the people and are influenced by the people. Corporations fund a lot of political campaigns and so politicians are heavily influence by corporations. This allows corporate corruption to occur on a wider scale than with religious leaders or doctors. It is also possible for politicians to argue views that are in favor of their financial supporters. Religious leaders do not argue for the people and are uneducated in the areas of medicine and science. They don’t have the understanding of the exact affects of cloning. When patients get advice from doctors, they also have the freedom to go to multiple doctors to get different opinions. This eliminates all dishonesty and misunderstanding.

In conclusion, doctors are the best decision makers in the case of legalizing cloning. They are the most knowledgeable group of professionals in the areas of human medicine and science.

“All art is an imitation of nature.”

3. Essay Prompt:

Consider carefully the following quotation. Then read the assignment below it and plan and write your essay as directed.

“All art is an imitation of nature.”

—Seneca, Roman philosopher, c. 4 B.C.–A.D. 65

Assignment: Do you agree with this statement? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your position on this issue. Support your point of view with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Nature consists of the most beautiful creatures and scenery. We see many artists try to capture what they see in the form of sculptures, paintings, drawings, and film, as well as other various forms of media. To say that all art is an imitation of nature, though, is a mistake. Artists create as a means to express themselves. Nature sometimes inspires artistic creation, but artists do not imitate nature. There are similarities between nature and art because artists also tend to copy what they see is perfection. Also, besides nature, there are other influences of inspiration to artists, such as the events in their lives.

When you go to a museum, you can see many renderings of landscape sceneries, plants, animals, and people.

Also, when you are just learning a new task, or just starting a new job, you will require training. Who trains you? It is someone with the expertise and the knowledge. In life, there are always those people you meet that are successful in your eyes. They know more, have more experience than you. They are the greatest people to learn from. In art that applies as well. Artists imitate better artists to get to where they want to me. Mother Nature is the greatest artist of all. The world is filled with her sculptures and creations. For an artist trying to improve his work, She is the best teacher, the greatest artist to imitate. Each flower, each animal, is so unique and detailed.

Being surrounded in Mother Nature, away from the people and the city, can also have an effect on people. It can change people. In the city, it has been proven that people are less prone to obesity because they walk more and have busier lives than people who live in the country. The studies that have been done to prove this reveal the different lifestyles of different parts of the country. An artist who lives in the city, taking a vacation in the countryside, will change. That change will affect the artist's work as well.

Artists create as a means of self expression. The mediums and materials they use are all ways of expressing thought and emotion. All art is not an imitation of nature. Nature is just one form of inspiration. Artists are also inspired by their environment and events that affect their lives. Look at Salvador Dali's work. There are things in his paintings that cannot be seen in nature. It is from his imagination that those paintings were created.

“It is as difficult to start things as it is to finish things.”

Essay Prompt:

Consider carefully the following statement. Then read the assignment below it and plan and write your essay as directed.

“It is as difficult to start things as it is to finish things.”

Assignment: Do you agree with this statement? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your position on this issue. Support your point of view with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

People today are fulfilling various roles at the same time. Mothers are sisters are daughters are teachers. Managers are friends are spouses are parents. People are constantly juggling multiple jobs whether they realize it or not. Each job involved different projects with different timelines. It is as difficult to start new things as it is to finish new things because we all have multiple events going on in our lives.

To start something, you need to have the inspiration, the motivation, and the planning to be able to get the ball rolling. For example, when someone decides to lose weight, that idea came from somewhere. They saw a picture in a magazine, or they were inspired by stories of others who have achieved a goal. This initially inspires and motivates a person to decide to lose weight. Next is the difficult step. How to lose weight? To lose weight, one must plan to go to the gym or to go to a park to exercise. It is difficult for someone to start losing weight because they are so used to their current routine. Starting a new routine also takes people out of their comfort zone, out of an environment they are used to, and that makes people shy and scared.

After you have started something and gotten in the rhythm of your new routine, you have the challenge of staying focused. Most times, when people start to see results, they feel like, ok, I can stop. They haven't reached their goal yet and they want to quit because they think they have done enough. It is also challenging to continue to stay motivated while reaching your goals. For example when someone is trying to lose weight, they might slack off in the process. You exercise three times a week, so once in a while you feel like you can take a day off. Or when someone is trying to lose weight and they start to see noticeable loss, they will stop because they are content with where they are right now. They don't realize that not continuing with the new routine will just bring them back to where they were before they started exercising.

That is why it is hard to finish. When you become used to a routine, you start to see less change and more repetition. You feel like what you are doing isn't helping anymore so you want to quit. It is easier to just stop what you are doing than to continue. When you are taking classes in school, many times you just want to drop the class because it is too difficult. It is much easier to stop studying and to withdraw from the class, but anyone can do that.

You have to mentally prepare yourself when you decide to start something new. You have to be motivated and set goals for yourself. Starting something new takes you into a new environment, which makes people uncomfortable and uneasy, so that is why starting something new is difficult. Once you have started, you need to continue to motivate yourself and continue on the path towards your goal. When you start something new, you tend to see change dramatically, but when your body becomes used to the routine, the change seems almost stagnant. Perseverance is a quality not many people have. Not many people have this quality because starting and finishing things is difficult. It is challenging.