James, a studio copywriter whose full name I'm keeping secret for obvious reasons, writes in about the not-uncommon bias among many clients to see design as the "creative" bit.
"There's this cultural prejudice amongst our clients that all the really exciting ideas only come from the designers. It's even an attitude exhibited by some of the designers themselves - they jealously guard their ideas, still coming up with brilliant work, it's fair to say, but then asking me to "drop in" some great copy at the last minute to fit."
I was putting together a post on this anyway, so it's good to have my thoughts corroborated, James. If clients are reinforcing the notion that writing can simply be tacked on to the "creative", that must be another reason writers get left out of the concept stages, mustn't it? Even if a design consultancy wants to bring in a writer early, it's not very helpful if the client is saying, "No, just get them in once everything else is approved."
This isn't just sour grapes, by the way. I honestly believe you get a much stronger, more cohesive piece when writer and designer work closely together from the outset.
James didn't just want to rant, however. (Which is good, as I seem to be doing rather a lot of rant posts this week. Sorry about that.) He goes on:
"The more positive view is that there are other designers who are much more open and collaborative, and it's the work we produce together that has the legs on everything else. As you say, it's when you sit down together, share ideas and knock things back and forth that it works best. It's also this teaming approach, following the advertising model, which is slowly chipping away at the stale views held about the role of words and copywriters in general."
I hope, and believe, you're right, James.
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