Comments on: Copywriter vs. Art Director

Copywriter vs. Art Director

Brandon Blatcher — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 12:57:10 -0800

Copywriter vs. Art Director

By: pyrex

pyrex — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:00:10 -0800

M.A.A.D.

By: stormpooper

stormpooper — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:02:35 -0800

vs. Godzilla

By: pyrex

pyrex — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:06:05 -0800

Or just good ol' M.A.D.

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:06:14 -0800

Kind of like the difference between results-based online marketing agencies and "creative" agencies that focus on brand development.

By: chundo

chundo — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:14:59 -0800

So they're different kinds of hipsters?

By: ChurchHatesTucker

ChurchHatesTucker — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:17:06 -0800

Kind of like the difference between results-based online marketing agencies and "creative" agencies that focus on brand development. Effie Vs. Clio

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:17:51 -0800

It doesn't matter, the money guys are just gonna want the logo bigger anyway.

By: lodurr

lodurr — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:30:36 -0800

Obviously created by an art director.

By: lodurr

lodurr — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:32:12 -0800

You know, working at this agency for 6 years I've never heard of a client asking for a bigger logo. I know it's a cliche, and cliches exist for a reason, but I've just never seen it here. And we don't do big logos.</small.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:34:27 -0800

"Put it in an all lowercase rounded font against a pale blue background and make the bird simpler and cuter" then.

By: lekvar

lekvar — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:43:07 -0800

lodurr, yo probably just get a better class of client. The ones I interact with are a bit... rougher around the edges, and I hear "bigger" all the time.

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:48:02 -0800

Obviously created by an art director. Except that in the universe of this linkbait infographic, the copywriter stays until 6PM, while the creative director books out at 4:30. For the record, as a copywriter I think the art director here is on to something.

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:48:46 -0800

Rats, screwed up my (very limited) HTML. "Linkbait" was supposed to be tweeny weeny.

By: infinitewindow

infinitewindow — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:55:40 -0800

Looks fine on the iPhone, KokuRyu.

By: lodurr

lodurr — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:59:07 -0800

Working with designers and seeing the images on the copywriting side of the column, here, I can see that a lot of the images are really kind of dismissive -- the subtext here is basically 'copywriters aren't really creative. I mean, they use Windows for Pete's sake!' This kind of stereotyping can be fun in a negative teambuilding sort of way, but I don't think it does anybody any good, really.

By: lodurr

lodurr — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 14:01:14 -0800

I think what KokoRyu was aiming for was something like this:

Except that in the universe of this linkbait infographic....

What came out looked more subtextual than I think it was meant to. Before the "rats!" message I was trying to dissect the semantic significance of the two levels of smallness in the type....

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 14:11:27 -0800

I can see that a lot of the images are really kind of dismissive -- the subtext here is basically 'copywriters aren't really creative. I mean, they use Windows for Pete's sake!' Hah! I took it the opposite way, where the infographic is subtly sneering at creatives.

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 14:19:57 -0800

This kind of stereotyping can be fun in a negative teambuilding sort of way, but I don't think it does anybody any good, really. Spoken just a junior copywriter who only gets a single and alcohol free hour for lunch.

By: marienbad

marienbad — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 14:20:33 -0800

Shurely the art directors clocking off time should be 4.20?

By: coolxcool=rad

coolxcool=rad — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 14:24:15 -0800

Thanks for graphically searing into my brain a false dichotomy.

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 14:31:44 -0800

In my experience, "copywriter" ranks somewhere just above "intern". If anyone knows of any copywriting jobs equivalent to an art director's job, please let me know.

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 14:44:04 -0800

In my experience, "copywriter" ranks somewhere just above "intern". If anyone knows of any copywriting jobs equivalent to an art director's job, please let me know. That's actually a pretty good point. Writer/designer might have worked better. I suppose the writerly equivalent of the art director would be the creative director (e.g. Don Draper)?

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 14:52:39 -0800

If Getty wants to build an image, why doesn't he hire a first-class writer to write his story? For that matter, advertising has a long way to go. I'd like to see a story by Norman Mailer or John O'Hara which just makes some mention of a product, say, Southern Comfort. I can see the O'Hara story. It would be about someone who went into a bar and asked for Southern Comfort; they didn't have it, and he gets into a long, stupid argument with the bartender. It shouldn't be obtrusive; the story must be interesting in itself so that people read this just as they read any story in Playboy, and Southern Comfort would be guaranteed that people will look at that advertisement for a certain number of minutes. You see what I mean? They'll read the story. Now, there are many other ideas; you could have serialized comic strips, serial stories. Well, all we have to do is have James Bond smoking a certain brand of cigarettes. - (former copywriter) William Burroughs If anyone knows of any copywriting jobs equivalent to an art director's job, please let me know. Ernest Hemingway?

By: dabitch

dabitch — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 14:58:15 -0800

Original vs Copy? Oh and I just spotted a similar city-vs-city thing in Lufthansa magazine so I think Vahram Muratyan might be doing these city-graphics for them now.

By: Sebmojo

Sebmojo — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 15:03:02 -0800

So the copywriters they all writin' like this. But art directors, ha, they all writin' like this. (scattered laughter)

By: adamrice

adamrice — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 15:07:22 -0800

Actually, I think the implication is that creative directors stick around until 4:30 AM.

By: headnsouth

headnsouth — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 15:53:41 -0800

I am right now in the midst of a battle of wills with a prima-donna designer who thinks she's doing the company a favor by gracing us with her presence every day and who thinks it's a sacrilege to give a writer access to her prrreeeeeccccciiiioooouuuuussssss Creative Suite. I have worked with some great designers who don't have a chip on their shoulder about aaarrrrrttttttt, and I have worked with good production artists who value input from the editorial side and can catch typos like pop-flys, but this one I'm working with right now fits every cliche you can think of. I do not foresee us sharing a toast like the link's mythical writer/designer do. Grar.

By: lodurr

lodurr — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 16:05:27 -0800

Spoken just a junior copywriter who only gets a single and alcohol free hour for lunch. I wish! Actually, I have a consumption quota: I'm expected to put away at least three shots of four feathers and three Coors. It's a client-relations thing. And I'm just a web developer. The copywriters have it much worse...

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 16:07:31 -0800

Eh. First of all: Laziness is a thing. People are lazy. A copywriter will want to write something as brief as possible, not a solid page of text; an art director will want to use a photo and a logo and call it a day. And, you know what? Lazy is good, because readers are lazy (or, if you prefer, picky) -- they really can't be bothered with a lot of fuss over, I don't know, beer or tampons or whatever. Just show what it is, show how it's desirable, then stfu. Obviously created by an art director. What tipped you off? Might it've been the 100% lack of copy?

By: lodurr

lodurr — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 16:10:43 -0800

If anyone knows of any copywriting jobs equivalent to an art director's job, please let me know. My experience might be skewed, but around here (Rochester NY), I see about equal numbers of CDs who started in copy and in design. Also, I know that in at least many of the shops around here, copywriters really are a part of the creative team. In our agency, they actually tend to dominate the process. That might be because the most senior operational person for a long time was a writer, but I know that there's a similar shakeout in a lot of other agencies in town.

By: lodurr

lodurr — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 16:11:28 -0800

People are lazy. A copywriter will want to write something as brief as possible, not a solid page of text; an art director will want to use a photo and a logo and call it a day. Oh if only....

By: mattoxic

mattoxic — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 17:31:47 -0800

Oh, man, art directors are just soooo much more awesome and cool than copywriters. But frankly come the revolution - I'd like to see both up against the wall.

By: headnsouth

headnsouth — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 17:42:19 -0800

First of all: Laziness is a thing. People are lazy. A copywriter will want to write something as brief as possible, not a solid page of text; Oh my, you don't read MetaFilter, do you? Lazy gets you a solid page of text, no effort at all there. The work is in the rewriting/cutting/editing/rewriting again.

By: Phssthpok

Phssthpok — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 18:37:52 -0800

I've never heard of a client asking for a bigger logo, because I always make the logo as big as possible.

By: kenko

kenko — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 20:23:56 -0800

Why would a writer have a lorem ipsum tattoo? Writers write the real text.

By: lodurr

lodurr — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 20:28:38 -0800

You're right. It's themers & web designers who'd have lorem ipsum tattoos.

By: drfu

drfu — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 23:30:04 -0800

So, given that I used Lorem Ipusm as my profile text on plentyoffish, what does that make me? not a copywriter or CD

By: lodurr

lodurr — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 05:48:56 -0800

Uninterested in getting a date? [rimshot /] but seriously, folks: met my wife on a personals site; we were both screening heavily on the quality of prose in the profile. Lorem would definitely be some kind of eliminator. I'm just totally unsure what kind of fish you'd be attracting with that...would be an interesting experiment, I suppose...

By: FirstMateKate

FirstMateKate — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 11:38:51 -0800

So they're different kinds of hipsters? posted by chundo at 1:14 PM on June 13 [6 favorites +] [!] Yeah, yeah, we get it. Everybody but you is a hipster, everyone sucks, art isn't a real profession, blah blah... Can we find something else to make fun of now? I like my metafilter jokes to actually be funny.

By: chundo

chundo — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:58:22 -0800

the copywriter stays until 6PM, while the creative director books out at 4:30 18:00 = 6:00pm 4:30 = 4:30am

By: lodurr

lodurr — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 14:01:21 -0800

18:00 = 6:00pm 4:30 = 4:30am I have never met a marcom copywriter who would make this distinction. AEs, copywriters & artists alike all think I'm from mars because I keep my timesheets in 24hr format (because Google Docs won't sort them otherwise).