Why designers need copywriters - my response.

Jim wrote a good post about designers thinking they can copywrite:
http://www.storiesthatsell.co.uk/blog/2012/07/why-designers-need-copywriters-a-cautionary-tale/



Here's my reply:


A great tale Jim.

The problem is:
- crappy designers thinking they can to do it all (badly)
- crappy designers not even knowing that copywriters should be doing it
- crappy designers not budgeting a copywriter into the project

Then we have the client:
- bad clients believing they can provide the messages themselves
- bad clients not prepared to pay for a copywriter
- bad clients not prepared to allow the time for a copywriter to do their job

So, the problem is bad clients and crappy designers and no-one believes (or realises) they are the problem, unless enough people tell them.

What is the solution?
Educating clients & designers as much as possible, but even then, there will always be designers and clients who want to cut corners. For the corner-cutting transaction, I'll guess that budget is the real problem. If that is the case, then the solution is freebies.

I encourage people to make new friends (build their network) and swap skills: make friends with a developer, make friends with a designer, make friends with a copywriter, with an illustrator, a photographer, a cameraman etc. Once we have a toolbox of talented people to draw on, we can achieve good results with a limited budget.

I don't believe the website you mention was done on a limited budget, and for that reason I'd love to hear a response from the designers about why things ended up the way they have. I'm guessing again, that most people are not educated enough to ever notice the error. I certainly didn't know until you pointed it out!

Mark

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