STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

ttara, I completely agree with you. I was just wondering because sometimes, the graphic designer here tries to write headlines (and they just aren't good), but I get blamed for them. He'll sneak them into a meeting without me knowing. Eeek. Fortunately, they are never selected as the concepts, but still I don't want them thinking I wrote them. It would be different if he was assigned the project to write, but he's not.

I just wanted to make sure I wasn't crazy in thinking that the copywriter should be doing the writing, at least for big projects like ad campaigns and headlines. I don't mind him stepping in for something small (I'll usually edit it anyway), but an ad campaign is a pretty big deal.

ETA: For example, today in ad presentation meeting, I noticed he had changed the name for the landing page url and the communications manager blamed me and it turned out my original url name was the one she wanted.




-- Edited by kenzie at 15:25, 2008-07-29

ttara123 wrote:

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Is this the same guy who's been keeping you from doing your work lately? What a nutcase! He has to learn to give you some of your OWN work!

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Um. Yes, that would be him (he's not the one who assigns the work, though, our boss is; he's the one that takes the work. All the work. ) He's busy enough with graphic design, he doesn't need to be writing. In the end, it just creates more work for me because then I have to go through and edit instead of just writing it myself. I never try to change his design in projects we're both assigned to; I just let him do whatever he wants. He needs to let me do the same. I was hired to be the writer and they consistently pick my concepts/headlines. That should tell him something. We've put out over 10 campaigns and not one has used his headlines.

Oh, and today, he didn't let me proofread the ads before the pitch and there were typos all over the place. Double eek! I think he didn't want me to see his changes to the urls.

And like I said, I don't mind him helping out here and there; I help him with design sometimes if he needs it, but on big projects we need to be doing what we were hired to do, lest chaos ensue.

At least I'm finally moderately busy.

 

-- Edited by kenzie at 15:41, 2008-07-29

Suasoria wrote:

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The only time I worked with the designer on copy was when what I gave him just didn't fit or work somehow given the limitations of the design or the medium. Like in the case of a billboard, you have about seven words maximum to make your point, and the words and design have to work really well together.

But in your case, it's the designER, not the design that causes the problems...

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Right. And your example is the perfect example of the proper time to work with the designer on copy. And one that I have no issues doing.

For a while he was okay and not overstepping his bounds, but it looks like he's back at it again. But, it doesn't do any good for me to say anything because he's a renegade. So, I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and keep letting them pick my ideas. And editing his as best I can, I suppose.