Refuse to fill in the ________.

Why writers make great designers.

One of the first projects I ever worked on as a digital writer was for The Bank of Montreal. It wasn’t overly groundbreaking, but as a fresh-out-of-school writer it felt like I was doing something new and different and essential. The art director took me through the designs. “We need copy here and here,” his finger pointing at blocks of Lorem Ipsum. I quickly jumped on my keyboard, hammering out endless copy options. The next morning my AD plugged in what he felt best fit the designs and we presented our work. A few revisions later, we pushed the final piece live.

Little did I know that this process was bullshit. I was learning how to be a ‘fill-in-the-blank’ writer — someone who sits in the middle of a waterfall of handoffs and approvals.

It wasn’t until later on in my career that I realized that I could be a different type of digital writer — one who thinks about and contributes to the entire customer experience, not just the copy.

Redefining what writers do.

One of the biggest initial challenges we encountered at Heist was convincing clients that writers belong in the design process. They would see ‘writer’ in the statement of work and default to a vision of someone translating Lorem Ipsum to English.

To us, they provide much more value than that. That’s because we’ve built our design teams to be multi-functional. We look for people who are T-shaped in their skill set — people who can go deep in a specific area of focus, but have a broad understanding of the other skills needed to produce great customer-centric work.

And while hiring T-shaped designers is nothing new, our inclusion of writers in this group is. This works for us because one of the benefits of being on a team made up of T-shaped designers is that our individual titles (and corresponding responsibilities) fade into the background as the shared challenge of building a great customer experience takes centre stage. Simply put, we’re all experience designers — including the writers.

What makes writers great designers?

It starts with empathy.
Empathy is integral to great writing. The simple act of connecting with someone through words relies heavily on an understanding of your audience — what they’re thinking, what they feel, where they’re coming from and what they want to accomplish.

These are the same skills required to uncover and understand someone else’s problems. You need to be able to see the world through someone else’s eyes in order to design and build solutions that are truly going to be of use.

Writers are natural story identifiers
While it’s obvious that most writers are natural storytellers, many also have the unique ability to recognize a story unfolding well before it’s fully formed. This is an extremely important skill to have on your side early in the design process.

Even before we start mapping out wires, writers have a unique grasp of how the user’s experience contributes to the overall brand story. They can read a flow’s hidden narrative very early on in the process and understand how it will influence the customer’s understanding of a company, product or service.

Does this company put customers first, or are they simply after my money? Do they care about supporting their customers, or are they likely to abandon me after sign up? Do they understand the task I’m trying to accomplish, or are they placing hurdles in my way that make it difficult to reach my desired goals?

These are the stories that are told well before the copy and visual designs are even considered. A good writer can identify them early.

Flow and pacing
In order to keep people turning the page, writers first need to move people from one sentence to the next. They have to understand what words are going to bridge the gaps between sentences and paragraphs in order to create the most effective flow and ideal pacing.

Again, these are the same skills that are necessary in designing a user experience that seamlessly and effortlessly moves people from one task to the next on a website or app.

Tone of voice experts
Writers understand tone of voice and how brand plays an integral role not only in the big moments of a digital experience, but, perhaps even more importantly, the small moments. The error states, password strength feedback indicators, in-field text, etc. Maintaining brand voice throughout the micro-interactions makes the experience more memorable and contributes to a customer’s likelihood to recommend a company, service or app. The sooner you incorporate that value in your designs, the better.

Managing emotions
Emotion plays a big role in any digital experience, especially when that experience is based on a service. Words can meet those emotions head on and either amplify or soften them. Writers understand that their copy can act as the water on a fire ignited by poor customer service, or the rungs of a ladder that help a customer climb from a place of self-doubt to empowerment.

Of course, it should go without saying that these attributes aren’t exclusive to writers, or that all writers possess the necessary skills needed to contribute to the design process in a valuable way.

The point is that these are the skills that can and will make writers an invaluable member of any design team. The challenge is waking writers, and most companies for that matter, up to this reality. It’s the responsibility of those of us who do realize this to be their alarm clock.

The final ingredient.

All this being said, there is one final factor that will determine just how much value writers can bring to the design process. And that’s the environment they work in.

At Heist, we’ve tried to create an environment where what we do isn’t defined by our titles, specializations, or training. It’s defined by our singleness of purpose to solve problems that matter to people. We’re driven to dig deeper into not only why consumers think and act the way they do, but feel the way they feel.

There are too many companies out there that ignore the deeper truths. They skim the surface and build products and services that barely resonate with consumers because they’re built on truths that are only half true. I’ve done it. I’ve helped build and support those products and services. My goal is to never do that again.

It’s our collective drive to create something just a little more honest, a little more useful, and a little more relevant that’s led us to where we are now. Heist wouldn’t have been successful if we had asked our colleagues (writers, visual designers, or product managers) to walk to the edge of their sandbox and turn away. We had to encourage them to step over their individual borders and walk where the parameters are undefined. It’s this culture that has allowed our writers to succeed as designers.

This last year has been the most rewarding of my career. I owe that to my friends and colleagues at Heist who have helped me understand that my skills as a writer make me a valuable designer. And I want to help others do the same. Because I believe we all have so much more to offer when we refuse to fill in the ________.