I am not a wordsmith

A note to fellow creatives on personal branding, nomenclature, and conveying our full value

Writers, how many times have you heard something like this?

“We have the basic idea, but can you wordsmith it.”
 “Here’s a draft — can you just clean it up?”
 “The client’s provided copy; you just need to massage it.”

Or for designers and art directors, the equivalent:

“Here’s the presentation — can you just pretty this up?”
 “We’ve got the layout, it just needs some graphics.”
 “The functionality’s done, it just needs to look nice.”

I’ve got bad news. Hearing this means you’re getting involved too far downstream, and the requester is degrading your value. I’ll explain why, but let’s start with a designer I worked with.

One day I overheard this guy jokingly refer to himself as a “pixel pusher.” It’s funny; I like people who don’t take themselves too seriously. But as I thought about it more, I realized there was a danger in this joke: that people might take it seriously, might really think that design is just “pushing pixels.” Or a “wordsmith” being someone just tinkering at a linguistic workbench. An art director being someone who “makes pretty pictures.” None of these sounds vital to the success of a brand, product, or service.

So what’s the danger in requests to “wordsmith” or “pretty something up”? Or of creatives presenting themselves that way?

Creativity being seen as optional, rather than essential.

For suits to view creative as essential and valuable, we have to challenge this mindset. As a freelancer, an ad agency, or in-house, you need to provide better solutions, not just better words or pictures. To increase customer satisfaction, not just photo budgets or project timelines. To contribute better user journeys, not just quips or color schemes.

So what are creative people to do to underscore the value of their work? Here are a few thoughts:

1. Call bull**** on a bad (or no) brief

Yes, this is awkward. We all like to help, to save the day. But to maximize our value, we must be willing to delay the train by raising business, strategic, or procedural questions:

“Is there a product launch driving this, or can we reassess?”
“Wait — is putting this message here the best thing for the brand?”
“We need more info before we can determine the best solution.”

This isn’t to be contrary, but to show creative is applying the same standard everyone else should be. That is, what’s best for the brand, the customer, or the bottom line. In some cases, this might mean refusing to start work until other teams get their act together. In some cases, it might mean rejecting a project altogether.*

2. Hit “pause” when creative is only a band-aid for a bigger problem.

Perhaps it’s an obscure user journey, and the request is “Well the headline can just explain it.” Or the linking strategy is unclear, and they say “If you guys can include the right images it’ll make sense.” Or when Merch says “Let’s tell a story about X,” and the product selection doesn’t support X. These and situations like them are where we can provide the most value by calling a halt. The point is not just reacting to the request at hand, but discerning what the proper request should be.

Merchandising problem: 
“A headline doesn’t create a story if the products don’t have a clear theme.”
 Media problem: “An email blast? Most of your customers are Millenials.”
 UX problem: “We can’t just recycle the desktop design for mobile.”

3. Challenge project scope when the request has ramifications.

Like the ones mentioned above, here’s another typical low-value project scenario. Someone “just” wants to add this image here, or delete that copy there. But now the layout is off, the headline is a disconnect, or the user experience has been compromised. In such cases, we add more by noting the big-picture impact of the suggestion, then proposing something better.

“We can do A, but then we also need to adjust B and C to make it work.”

So for my fellow creatives, I hope this has been worthwhile food for thought! Here’s to better solutions, and greater value for our work.

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 Fountain pen image credit