criptible ｜ (adjective) : A French word, most often translated as writerly, describing the bliss of the written text.
The Needle
The Needle was a print and digital campaign for Compass, the luxury real estate company. It was conceived as a broadsheet pullout for placement in a major newspaper in the Miami-Dade area, with a circulation of over 50,000 physical copies and an accompanying online presence. The concept was that the pullout should serve as a readable lifestyle guide to the local luxury real estate market, and build brand affinity among potential home-sellers in the area. I worked as the lead copywriter on the first three issues. Each issue of The Needle opened with an interview. The sample below required me not only to prepare questions for and conduct the original interview with the client’s contact, but also to transcribe over an hour of recorded audio and edit the transcript into a coherent format which adhered to a strict word count.
The Interview:
Saying Goodbye to Sunset Island
A long-time Miami beach resident prepares to say goodbye to his home on Sunset Island
Jim Nolan’s house was built in 1946, and later modified by renowned area architect Chad Oppenheim. The redesign to the exterior was Mediterranean in style, and while living there Jim has worked to renovate the interior to match. As medical circumstances force the sale of the home, we caught up with Jim to talk about the house, the renovations he’s made, and his hopes for the future.
Tell me about some of your renovations.
When I bought the house it had a Mediterranean flair, so I worked with a designer, Joseph Paul Davis, to highlight those features. The style on the outside was carried to the inside by creating a loggia-type entryway. We changed the inside to allow for more flow. There’s no boxing to the rooms now, so it’s more open. The big, impact-resistant, mahogany-framed windows look out onto the grounds and provide a lot of natural light.
What are some of your favorite spaces?
The original living room was at a sunken level. We lifted part of the room to separate the living areas. The new dining area seats 10 people, and there’s now a distinct space for lounging after a delightful formal occasion. It’s a great house for entertaining. We found a bamboo bar in West Palm Beach to reflect the home’s exterior. There are a lot of bamboo trees outside and the same color was brought indoors. What you see outside is exactly what you see inside.
Can you tell me what prompted the move?
I had a stroke last September. Not because of all the entertaining! I’m going to be downsizing. There are gardens all around the property. I have a mango tree, an avocado tree, and a lychee nut tree. It’s a lot for me to take care of in my condition. We listed my house at a price that brought in a few potential buyers. We’ve had to lower the price once, but I don’t think I will again, you know, it’s my retirement.
How are you moving forward?
I was staying with my brother, but I moved back into my house in April. I want to attribute a lot of my recovery to being back in my own home. I want to recover 200%, not 100%. I had a dinner party the first week I moved back. I’m starting to realize that I’ll be ok, I can start to do the things I like to do again. Once I can get a shovel in the ground, I have a grapefruit tree that I’ll plant in the garden. When that grows, there’ll be large pink grapefruit on the property as well. What I’ll look at next is a condo. With a condo I can really start travelling and living life again. I have friends in California who said they need to be my first stop!
Collateral Content:
Coming up with original content for the campaign was another aspect of the duties in my wheelhouse. The concept of the campaign included selling the client to potential customers by representing the company as an informed, compassionate partner in the process of selling a home. We wanted to portray the client's staff as people who truly understood what it was like to go through that process, with all of the emotional baggage that can accrue to such a life-altering change. Below is an editorial piece I wrote concerning the experience of owning and selling a home. Each issue contained six such editorial pieces.
Being There
Everywhere we go, we attribute significance to the places we inhabit. We construct our very own narratives in and around those spaces. The cornerstone of the stories we build is our home. Of course, it's not just a house or condo, it’s the property you fell in love with the first time you saw it. It's the rooms where you hosted the entire family for Thanksgiving every year. It's where you said, yes, I’ll make my life here. It’s your home. Every surface is covered with a patina of memories, all bringing it alive as a whole emotional landscape. Simply being there, at home, surrounded by the material signifiers of the time we’ve spent, has the kind of power next to which everything else just falls flat. The walls of our home bring the experiences we associate with them flooding back to us. Like that time dad spilled popcorn all over everyone on movie night, or when you spent hours in front of the mirror getting your nervous teen ready for prom. We relive our stories every day through the bonds we form with our physical spaces. Sometimes those experiences add up and we need a change of place. Maybe you’re expecting twins and you need more space, or an unexpected financial windfall lets you upgrade to that dream house you’ve always had your eye on. Maybe a major medical issue means you need to find a new path. Positive or negative, our experiences change the people we are and the stories we get to tell. Every story needs a setting. As our lives unfold, we find the mise-en-scène to fit who we’ve become.
Bedford Stuyvesant
Brooklyn, NY 11206