Work with Copywriter
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- ********
I am just curious, do a majority of NT designers work with copywriters? or do both: design and copywrite?
I am in my first design gig where I work with no creative writers and no real creative briefs... I have worked a broad spectrum of gigs (being the solo designer, working with a team of designers and art directors, or just myself and the client). The pieces require heavy writing. I am told to come up with concepts for pieces that are very broad and unfocused with little to play off of for both imagery and wording.
Any experience with this? or opinions on creative briefs and how much they help you?
- robotron3k0
well, i've worked with stategist and writers, but depending on the situation or project you will need to get an idea of what the client is expecting (aka creative brief) else you might be shooting in the dark, doing lots of work the client will most likely kill anyway.
i think it's real important to get buyoff on the project almost EVERY step of the way. someone, somewhere in your office has talked to the client and they are expecting something-and that's what you have to find out about.
i would put off doing ANY work until you get the a better idea of what the client wants. even as far as just doing a rough outline of the project with pen and paper to focus the idea, get everyone in agreement. and, since it seems like you are on your own, you may indeed have to come up with a few strategies, to try and fish out of the client. in my experience, i've presented strong work without a creative brief, what happens almost %100 percent of the time is, it may help the client to focus more but they REALLY tend to feel alienated byt the process and tend to kill the good ideas immediately-because they were not involved from the onset.
anyway, just my opinion, but you should try to develop a process yourself to score a hit with the client.
good luck!
- mayo0
we have a couple of freelance copywriters that we use if I'm too busy to do some writing. However, with one, we can seem to get her to understand the idea we try to push for and the other guy's stuff sound too much the same as all his other stuff. It's great writing but little variety on approach.
What usually happens with me is if it's something that needs explanation to me (new product/service/etc) the client will send me their inhouse briefs and I work off that. If it's strictly campaign copy, i just go for it.
If we need taglines or a campaign line, even if i'm busy, my boss still asks me to submit stuff along with the copywriter's ideas.
- mayo0
oh, and i wasn't hired to be a copy writer. I do production/design but my bosses like the fact that I am a book geek and was a journalism student before learning design.
- ********0
copywriters are lucky to have jobs at all
- tkmeister0
there's a reason why ad agency hire copy writers. i think it's a important creative process.
at my current job, i do design, production, strategy, trouble shooting, front end programming. it's rediculous, especially given the workload. i became a jack of all trades and it's not really good for my career.
if your main focus is design, stick with it. It depends on the work load, but we can't do everything everything. it'll wear you out in a few months.