A copywriter’s design partner will often be their work best friend. They’ll work closely and create amazing pieces. But what happens when this crucial relationship hits a rift? How do you keep creating work when there are problems?
When things aren’t going well with your design partner it’s both frustrating and disheartening. It feels like they don’t respect you and they don’t respect your work.
But that’s how it feels to you. Why does this happen and how do you fix it?
How This Disconnect Happens
When your designer makes changes to your copy without you or meets with project managers without you or doesn’t give you enough time to see projects before creative reviews, it’s definitely a problem. But they may not be (and very likely are not) acts of malice.
You feel upset because your designer is breaking protocol, but your designer may not even realize you’re upset. In fact, there’s a very good chance that she doesn’t even know she’s doing anything wrong.
Most often, problems like these come down to inexperience on the designer’s part and a lack of common values and standards for interaction.
If a designer has never worked closely with a copywriter before, or if they’ve only worked with copywriters who didn’t particularly care about their work, that designer may not even know that it’s a problem to change copy or exclude the copywriter from feedback conversations.
How To Fix It
It’s very likely that a designer that does this is not out to tick you off but simply doesn’t know any better. And, as such, the best way to deal with these problems is to get on the same page.
Schedule some time with just you and your designer to go over issues. Explain what’s been a problem but also explain why they’re problems. For example, you might say, “It’s a problem for me when you change my copy without asking me. I aim to make each concept useful and work well with the other ones, and that gets affected when you change it.”
Be sure to tell them that you’re always willing to make yourself available to them. “I’m always happy to come over to your desk so we can make changes on screen together. That way, we know that both the copy and the design are working the right way independently and together.”
And if that still hasn’t completely driven the point home, you can always add, “After all, I wouldn’t change your design without consulting you.”
The “why” of the problems is going to be most crucial to get change to occur. After all, it’s not like you just feel lonely when you don’t get included in feedback sessions. It’s a problem when you’re not a part of them because you get the feedback secondhand, things get lost in translation, and you don’t get the opportunity to ask questions or propose ideas.
And you’re not trying to steal time from your designer by seeing the work before the review; you need to review it to make sure that the copy is correct, that the copy and design are working well together, and that you both feel that it’s your best foot forward.
Your complaints are completely legitimate ones. And, again, it’s more than likely that your designer just doesn’t even realize that these are problems. You’re most likely to see change when you’re upfront about the problems and you discuss them together to come to a reasonable solution. After all, that’s how strong partnerships are built, too.
Read More
Want to know more about the creative process and working with your designer partner? Check out this article >>
Your Turn!
Have you ever had problems with your design partner? Were you able to resolve them? Let us know about it in the comments below!
Last Updated on July 30, 2023
I was wondering how you would address someone who you believe has claimed your spec or writing as their own. Is there any way to protect your self from this happening?
Good question! If you are worried about this or fear it’s happening you can consider adding a watermark with your company name or logo on your images to protect them. If you decide it’s worth it you can also message the person and simply ask them not to represent your work as their own. But truthfully this is not a common problem we have run into. Passing off other’s work as your own will only cause problems in the long run as the client will soon realize that your abilities and what you have shown as your work don’t match.