Content and Design: Our Keys to a Productive Partnership

Which came first: the content or the design? I’ve asked myself this question plenty of times.

Writers, tell me if this has ever happened to you: you work for hours (or even days) crafting the perfect text. You get it approved by all of your stakeholders and then, after giving it to design, you’re asked to add or cut words.

My response to either of these requests is often met with frustration.

“But every word has meaning! I can’t just take words away!” or “Every word has meaning! I can’t just add text where there’s no purpose for it!”

This response often frustrates designers. “But there’s too much open space! I can’t just fill it with a shape!” or “There’s too much text! I need to keep everything on two lines!”

So, how do we move beyond our mutual frustration and create content we’re proud of? Good question. I believe it’s by setting clear goals and forming a strong partnership between content marketers and marketing designers.

What does a productive content and design partnership look like?

No one partnership will look alike. Factors like how long you’ve known each other, personality types, and cultural differences will, without a doubt, come into play. So, first, keep in mind that you should do what’s true for you and your partner. I don’t recommend, for example, copying the way Itai and I speak to each other. At least not straight away.

Speaking of, let’s take Itai and I as an example. We’ve been working as a marketing writer/marketing designer duo for years. Today, when talking about work, our conversations often look a little something like this:

But, they didn’t always look this way. When we first started working together they looked a bit more like this:

So, how did we get from not wanting to hurt each other’s feelings to sending eye roll and shrug emojis? Well, it wasn’t a natural process, I can tell you that much.

For starters, Itai basically forced me to spend hours sitting next to him to work through projects together (something he now takes pride in and credit for). This required us to get to know each other’s reactions to things in person (body language and tone says a lot). Today, if either one of us pitches an idea we can pretty much tell with minimal words what the other person thinks about it (even via text!).

So, all you have to do is force your partner to sit at your desk and everything will be great? Not so much.

The only reason Itai forcing me to sit at his desk for hours (seriously, I often spent more time sitting at his desk than my own) worked was because we also had the same personal and professional goals: to make the best work possible even if it meant letting go of our own egos and ideas to do so.

Once we recognized our personal and professional goals were aligned we agreed to three key rules.

Three keys to a productive partnership

Before we jump into the three key rules, let’s add one more layer of goal setting on top of your personal and professional ones. Every — and I mean EVERY — marketing asset has a goal. If you’re not setting goals for each and every thing you make, then it’s time to start. When you set a goal for an asset it acts as your guiding light that you can always refer back to when you’re not sure about what to write or how to design something. It’s your way of knowing when to accept feedback and make a change or reject feedback and stay the course (more on that in a second).

So, that’s two layers of goals. Got it? Good. Now, on to the rules we agreed upon.

1. Don’t take feedback personally…

…and always give feedback with the best intentions.

This can be a tough one. Learning how to not take feedback personally is just that — a learned skill and test to your emotional intelligence. I’m lucky to have learned this skill in journalism school after having my peers rip my articles to shreds in front of an entire room of people for four years straight. Even with all that practice (plus close to 10 years working in marketing teams for tech companies), I will admit that I have not perfected this skill. So, this is what I keep in mind when giving and receiving feedback:

• Do I have to accept this feedback? The obvious, but sometimes difficult, thing to remember is of course not. But, if I don’t, I need to have a clear and logical reason why and I need to explain this reason to the person who gave the feedback in the first place. “I’m the writer/designer and I decide!” is not a good enough reason. Sorry.
• Why am I receiving this feedback? What is this person’s perspective and does making this change align with the goals of the piece?
• Is it time for me to surrender and be flexible? Learn to know when to take and use a piece of feedback (even if you don’t like it) because it makes the piece better given your goals.

In case it’s not obvious already: it’s really all about the goals, my friends!

2. Yes, and

Content marketers and designers should feed off each other. Communicate what your vision is and then “yes, and” your counterpart when they think of ways to expand upon it. Yep, I’m taking a key tenant of improv and applying it to marketing. So sue me!

Of course, this doesn’t mean agreeing to everything each other says (see above), it just means being open to creativity and change. It means moving forward with a different idea when it makes sense and matches your goals (notice a theme here?). It means not shutting down the other person, and creating a comfortable relationship and environment to ramble off ideas even if they seem insane.

For example, I one time — okay, many times — pitched the idea of “unlikely animal friends” to Itai for a blog post we were working on. Instead of looking at me like I was crazy he said “yes, and” by asking me which animals I was thinking of and then searching for images of them. Ultimately, that idea was not a good one and we didn’t use it (::sad face::), but the point is that he didn’t shut me down immediately or look at me like I had lost it. He let the idea play out, which in the end made me feel more comfortable pitching other ideas.

3. When the sun shines, we shine together

Here’s the truth, good marketing is a combination of words and design. I know that my work does not exist without the work of a designer. And, I know, without content there would be nothing to design in the first place (I suppose that kind of answers our chicken and the egg question).

When both you and your partner are committed to making the best possible work you can, it makes surrendering and trusting their judgement much easier. When you respect your partner’s work and accept that you’re not the expert all the time then you can start having conversations like this:

When you realize that your lines of work may be different but your personal and professional goals (surprise!) are the same, you make your best work. When you work closely and constructively with your counterpart, your hard work shines as a team and not as individuals.

Set your goals

It’s important to remember, though, that even if your goals align and you try your hardest, you may not form the perfect partnership. After all, we’re human beings and not everyone will be your perfect collaborator. And that’s okay!

However, as long as you try your best, set the goals of the content you’re creating, and remember your personal goals to (hopefully) make good work, you’re off to a pretty good start. Without setting these goals and priorities and ALWAYS referring back to them in moments of doubt, you’re likely to create something that you’re not too proud of and that doesn’t perform the way you need it do.