As the winter days of February drag on, I thought it would be good to switch things up with some fun. This issue explores word games, and the fascination they hold for millions of people. We look at a helpful and well-designed graphic for Scrabble fans, and peek at the popularity of the latest word game craze, Wordle.
Letters make language make meaning. Both of these games show us how a simple swap of a single letter of a word (ward? cord? lord?) can dramatically change one's intended meaning. Enjoy.
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Welcome to my digital postcard filled with 3 things related to Visual IP*. It's designed to quickly inform, then get you on your way. In each issue you'll find an inspiring quote, an image, and a link to an essay or resource.
* Visual IP (intellectual property) = proprietary frameworks, diagrams, and drawings based on your ideas, which help you explain, influence, and persuade
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"Life is more fun if you play games."
― Roald Dahl
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Image
Scrabble Two-Letter Words
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This graphic was created by Zainab Ayodimeji, a talented data scientist at Spotify and self-described data ninja. Zainab admits she's a "Scrabble nerd," and this graphic of two-letter Scrabble words confirms it. It was showcased on Tableau Public as one of its Visualizations of the Day.
The image features all of the two-letter words in Scrabble, some of the most valuable words to play on the board, particularly as tiles dwindle toward the end of the game. The darker colors represent higher-point words (QI comes in highest at 11 points).
The individual boxes mimic Scrabble tiles, and the visual display allows us to quickly scan the collection alphabetically from left to right. A quick glance shows that if you have an A, E, or O, your chances of scoring are much greater — although individual words such as AX, EX, OX, and JO will give you higher points.
If you're a Scrabble fan, I'd visit this site and print out this chart and stick it in the box with your board. Or, commit these two-letter combos to memory and hide the chart from your favorite competitor!
Thanks Zainab, for sharing your data visualization.
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Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few weeks, chances are high that you've heard of, if not played, Wordle. This word game gives you six chances to guess a 5-letter word. If you guess a letter in the correct location, the tile turns green. It it's the correct letter but in the wrong location, the tile is yellow. And a grey or black tile means that the letter is nowhere in the word.
The game was developed by software engineer Josh Wardle as a gift to his partner, knowing she loved word games. He released it to the world in October 2021 and it quickly became an Internet sensation. By January 2022, millions of people were playing each day, and it was purchased by the New York Times (for a reported "low seven figures") to become part of their popular game collection and digital subscription strategy.
Besides its simplicity, the game is attractive because it is limited to allowing only one game per day. However, if you really (really) want to play more, another entrepreneur has set up a free archive site with previous Wordle games. (That's about 250 games so far.) Debates about the best starting words have also sprung up, some based on letter distribution in the English language.
Graphically, the game is appealing not only for the colorful tiled layout (also changeable to dark mode and color-blind options), but also for the shareable tiled image that illustrates your attempts and win. The colorful cubed images zoomed around social media this winter, adding a bright visual spark to blocks of grey text. It's also fun to think that millions of people around the world are focused on a single word each day.
I'm an OK-not-great Wordle player, solving most games in 5 tries, sometimes 4, rarely 3. Others in my family are better (the illustration is my husband's game from earlier this week). How are your Wordle stats?
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Authority By Design Registration Opens
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Registration for my new online course and community, Authority By Design, is off to a strong start. This 3-week cohort-based class is for those who want to increase their visibility, credibility, and revenue. So if you're a consultant, coach, creator, speaker, or other professional who makes your living selling services, this course is for you.
You'll walk away with a portfolio of proprietary frameworks and diagrams and other tools of visual persuasion that you can put to use in your business immediately. And yes, you can have zero art skills and still take part!
For full details on the course, visit the shiny new landing page. And ping me if you have any questions.
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Thanks for joining me. May you find some time to have fun with words this week.
As always, if there are others you think might enjoy these types of ideas and resources, please forward this on.
Until next time: Make something happen!
Terri
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PS: Was this email forwarded to you? You can sign up to get your own copy on my website. There's also an archive of past issues for browsing.
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