In this blog article I show you how I use the recording, editing and transcription app Descript to create new Service Design content.

The text version

Writing is a very good tool. To think deeply about stuff.

Often it's when I'm writing that I really learn something. Because that's when I articulate the thoughts that I have in my head, and I realize what I have already learned.

But sadly, it takes a lot of energy to start to write.

So I've been exploring in the past weeks and months other ways to get the benefits of writing without the burden of getting started to write.

In a previous blog article, I've shared how I use voice memos that I then transcribe to create new Service Design content like Service Design Principles, or question and answers about Service Design topics.

New experiment

 In the past days. I've explored more in depth, this idea, and tried to do it now with video.

 To do that. I've used now an app called Descript.

 That's exactly the app I'm using right now to record, then edit and finally transcribe all of what I'm saying.

 But you might say:

But Daniele video recording is nothing new.

 But usually recording the video is the easy part. But then editing is really painful, because you have to go through all of what you said and make many cuts. It's a long and tedious work.

Editing text not videos

 But Descript has another way to help you edit videos. It shows you the text of your video, and then you can edit your videos as you would a Word document.

This makes it possible to spot out to do rumbling parts and just select everything and remove it.

Getting a text you can re-use easily

The additional benefit is that Descript gives you a textual transcription of your video that you can basically copy and paste and putt in a blog article or somewhere else.

Advanced features when you need them 

And if I want to keep the video, then I can still use the power of more traditional editing softwares with a timeline, to spot the moments where there is just no sound.

Basically with the wave forms. I can see. Oh, here there was nothing. So I can just remove it very quickly.

This allows me to create videos that have a good rhythm.

Templates 

Speaking of rhythm another great feature that Descript has is templates.

With the template feature, I can very quickly change the layout of a specific moment in the video.

For example, I can very quickly just show the words. Or I can put my face and the transcription next to each other.

 And finally, if I feel it's just too much of Daniele in that video, I can also quickly search   for some stock footage and add it as a B roll.

Published on Saturday June 10, 2023 by Daniele Catalanotto