PN.26.032. Writing. Studio project, 2026.
The Copy Room
One brief, one nineteen-pence pen, eight completely different voices.
One product brief, eight voices. The product is a plain blue ballpoint pen, 19p, the kind you have stolen from a bank.
The luxury house
Forty-one hours of nothing. That is what we ask of the barrel before it may hold ink. Each Biro Nº 7 is drawn from a single polymer, translucent as a held breath, so that you may watch your own thoughts leaving you. It is not for everyone. Nothing that costs nineteen pence ever is.
The start-up
We're on a mission to reimagine friction between ideas and surfaces. Pen is a zero-config, offline-first capture device with no subscription, a 3 km range and sub-millisecond latency. Trusted by everyone who has ever needed to sign for a parcel. Backed by a small steel ball.
The Victorian handbill
LADIES & GENTLEMEN! Be no longer the SLAVE of the INKWELL! Dr. Pettifer's PATENT ROLLING STYLUS writes UPSIDE-DOWN, in a GALE, and upon the BACK of a HORSE! Cures all BLOTS. Testified to by a CLERGYMAN. Beware of IMITATIONS, of which there are several BILLION.
The nature documentary
Here, in the shallow drawer of a kitchen in Stockport, we find one of the most successful species on Earth. It has no predators. It reproduces by being lent. And yet, as winter closes in, this one has begun to fail, giving out only faint grooves on the back of an envelope. It will be shaken, once, and it will be licked. It will not be thrown away. Nobody knows why.
The government notice
Under Section 14 of the Writing Instruments (Miscellaneous Provisions) Order, this pen remains the property of the branch. Members of the public are reminded that a chain has been fitted for your convenience. Removal of the chain, or of the pen, or of the desk to which the chain is attached, may constitute an offence.
The late-night infomercial
Has THIS ever happened to you? You've got a thought, but you've got no way of putting it down! Well, say goodbye to remembering things, because now there's PEN. But wait. Click it. Click it again. It's still only nineteen pence! Order in the next ten minutes and we'll send you another, which you will also lose.
The hostage note
I have been in the bottom of your bag since 2019. I can see a Polo mint and a receipt for a sandwich. I know that you need me. You have looked for me twice this week, and each time you used a different pen. I am not angry. I would simply like to feel some paper.
Six words
Borrowed once. Never returned. Still writing.
The brief
Show range in product copywriting and brand storytelling.
The idea
A copywriter's real skill is voice, so the exercise is one object written eight ways: as a luxury house, a start-up, a Victorian handbill, a nature documentary, a government notice, an infomercial, a hostage note and six words.
Decisions
- Keep one product throughout, so the voice is the only variable.
- Each piece parodies the conventions of its genre closely enough to work as the real thing.
- End on six words, because economy is also a voice.
How it came together
- Picked the plainest possible object.
- Listed genres with the strongest conventions.
- Wrote each to one short paragraph and cut until the joke had nothing to lean on.
How it works
Plain HTML text, set by the reading layout of this site.
Want something like this?
Tell us what you are making. A few lines is enough to start.
Hanging nearby
Small HoursSeven poems for the hours from one to seven, each in a different strict form, from a villanelle for the night bus to a sun that rises up the page.PN.26.031. Poem cycle.
Transcription BetaA short story told through a phone's failing voicemail transcripts. It asks you, at the end, whether to correct them.PN.26.010. Short story, Interactive fiction.
Dumb BellA full campaign for an alarm clock that does one thing. The line is Sleep with something dumber.PN.26.012. Campaign site, Imagery.