Confessions of a Copywriter #13

Confessions of a copywriter was created to channel my confessions about the things that I’m learning and re-learning about being a copywriter. It’s about humility, openness and personal growth. This week is about how I learned that compromise is a skill — I hope you enjoy it.

Play the waiting game

Good relationships between copywriters and designers can bring about creative magic. Especially when we connect personally and professionally. Over the last week I’ve been working on a digital project with a very talented designer when she threw me a bit of a creative curveball in her latest design.

I’d just read Julie Zhuo’s piece “No, No, No”, so I was strategic in the way I gave feedback, but despite that she refused to budge. I was surprised. It goes without saying that long-lasting relationships are built on compromise; it’s what keeps work flowing, keeps us human sane, and easy to work with.

The designer in question is normally amicable, but without a hint of rudeness or attitude, she simply refused to come to an agreement. So we left it at that and over the weekend I thought about it. How many times had we poured over the same section? How many times had she compromised in the face of one of my requests? What else had she been forced to deal with that week?

On Monday I came in, prepared to work around her solution when she stopped by my desk and told me that she was happy to find a middle ground. I was chuffed. She’d obviously been thinking the same as I had It taught me that with work relationships like any other, you need to give the other person time to think things through and come to their own conclusion, because when you do it can benefit both parties massively.

No No No by Julie Zhuo: https://medium.com/the-year-of-the-looking-glass/no-no-no-97cfd94321c8

Join me next week for more life learnings or follow me on @tahigichigi.