Editing isn’t always about what’s right. Sometimes, it’s about what works.

The title of my last post read as follows: what is “design thinking”?

The choice to put the question mark outside of the quotation marks was 100% intentional. It was also, technically, wrong.

Traditional rules of punctuation hold that punctuation marks stay inside the quotes. In most cases this works just fine. As a matter of practical application, though, the thing I’m most concerned with is meaning. If I had worded my headine this way…

what is “design thinking?”

…then the implication to a might be that the question lies not in my statement, but within the phrase design thinking.

It’s a small thing here, but writing and editing require a constant evaluation of what is techincally correct versus what best communicates intended meaning. To my mind, it’s always better to break a rule of Style — especially one that’s antiquated and poorly understood — than it is to risk inaccuracy and ambiguity.

Or: don’t be afraid to do it, just know why you’re doing it.