4 Tips for Better Collaboration Between Designers and Copywriters
Fostering a healthy creative partnership will make your projects more cohesive and create a better experience for everyone
Knowing how to collaborate is a skill that is crucial to creating great work and relationships in the creative industry. While I was in college, I was able to collaborate well with other designers and professors, but never really got the experience of working with a copywriter and creating messaging for a whole series of pieces. When I started my in-house design job, I was expected to work very closely with the copywriter to help execute concepts for marketing campaigns, social media posts and quizzes, emails, and anything else that was needed.
I realized at the time that I was a bit unprepared for this, and I felt that more collaboration was the one thing lacking from my college education. I was fortunate enough to work with a great copywriter (her name’s Adala and I will be referring to her throughout this piece) and we’ve been able to create solid pieces of works as a result of our ability to collaborate with one another. It wasn’t always easy, but here are some tips that I hope will help others navigate successful creative partnerships between copywriters and designers.
1) Be open-minded and develop trust for one another.
Start out your creative partnership as open-minded as possible. It will lead to better conversation, more creative ideas, and questions, which will help create a stronger collaboration process.
This, of course, doesn’t mean to let every idea go out for presentation to a client, or to run with something that’s wildly off-topic. You should both know how to pull the other back when things are getting wild. By allowing one another to be a little crazy with their ideas, it will help create not only a good laugh sometimes, but it will start to develop a bond of trust that will only make it easier for you to work with one another going forward. This will allow constructive criticism to be received better from one another, and allow for more free-flowing conversations, which can ultimately lead to better ideas.
2) Don’t operate on assumptions.
Both of you need to be on the same page. For example, some of the hardships I faced early on when collaborating with the copywriter I currently work with was that we both had different interpretations of a rough draft. This was a learning experience for us. For Adala and I, we started ending our creative brainstorm sessions with deliverables for the next time we met to keep us on track. This helped set an expectation for what we agreed we would both have done, and led to the the process being a lot smoother. It also helped us keep ourselves accountable.
This approach could also work well if you’re a freelance designer or copywriter and you don’t always get to work with someone long-term. By defining what you’re both looking for upfront and throughout the process, will help give you both guidance along the way, and hopefully build trust and maybe foster a creative relationship down the road.
3) Switch it up!
Spend some time if you’re the designer, thumbing through a thesaurus, or really put yourself out there and take a creative writing workshop. If you’re a copywriter, browse the various stock photography websites, and look up words or phrases having to do with the project you’re trying to write for, or sketch for a few minutes.
This tactic also allows for you both to step into the other’s shoes for a moment. There have been many times where I have been able to come up with a phrase or cadence to a message that we ultimately ended up using in the final product. Vice versa, Adala has brought me a page worth of doodles before, or created a stock photography lightbox that has inspired a design concept. Switching up the roles can be really beneficial to the early stages of collaborating and both help put you both in a different way of thinking.
4) Work side-by-side.
I can’t stress how important this is if you have the ability to do so. The way Adala and I start 90% of the projects we are on together is by sitting down and having a brainstorm session. We do that for anywhere from an hour to a half day depending on the scope of the project. Then we break off, do our own thing, and get back together again. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Meeting frequently throughout the project is key for us to keep ourselves in check and to be able to communicate any new idea we have when we have it. Collaborating side-by-side helps create more dynamic and inspiring conversations and allows for both of us to react immediately. This also makes things more efficient. I don’t have to wait for her to email me something or put something through the project management system only for it to get bogged down by one million emails before the other can respond.
I realize that this tactic may not be feasible for everyone, but I encourage it if you both work in the same place. If you don’t work in the same location, set up some meetings through Skype and share screens, or try using Slack to communicate often and quickly. It will make a significant impact on your work and usually for the better!
I’d love to hear other tips for collaboration between designers and copywriters! Please comment, ask questions, or share your own tips on how to foster a better creative partnership between designers and copywriters.
