Copywriter vs. Art Director

June 13, 2012 12:57 PM

Copywriter vs. Art Director
posted by Brandon Blatcher (41 comments total)

M.A.A.D.
posted by pyrex at 1:00 PM on June 13, 2012

vs. Godzilla
posted by stormpooper at 1:02 PM on June 13, 2012

Or just good ol' M.A.D.
posted by pyrex at 1:06 PM on June 13, 2012

Kind of like the difference between results-based online marketing agencies and "creative" agencies that focus on brand development.
posted by KokuRyu at 1:06 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

So they're different kinds of hipsters?
posted by chundo at 1:14 PM on June 13, 2012 [6 favorites]

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

Effie Vs. Clio
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 1:17 PM on June 13, 2012

It doesn't matter, the money guys are just gonna want the logo bigger anyway.
posted by The Whelk at 1:17 PM on June 13, 2012 [6 favorites]

Obviously created by an art director.
posted by lodurr at 1:30 PM on June 13, 2012 [12 favorites]

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.
posted by lodurr at 1:32 PM on June 13, 2012

"Put it in an all lowercase rounded font against a pale blue background and make the bird simpler and cuter" then.
posted by The Whelk at 1:34 PM on June 13, 2012

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.
posted by lekvar at 1:43 PM on June 13, 2012

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.
posted by KokuRyu at 1:48 PM on June 13, 2012

Rats, screwed up my (very limited) HTML. "Linkbait" was supposed to be tweeny weeny.
posted by KokuRyu at 1:48 PM on June 13, 2012

Looks fine on the iPhone, KokuRyu.
posted by infinitewindow at 1:55 PM on June 13, 2012

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.
posted by lodurr at 1:59 PM on June 13, 2012

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....
posted by lodurr at 2:01 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

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.
posted by KokuRyu at 2:11 PM on June 13, 2012

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.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:19 PM on June 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

Shurely the art directors clocking off time should be 4.20?
posted by marienbad at 2:20 PM on June 13, 2012

Thanks for graphically searing into my brain a false dichotomy.
posted by coolxcool=rad at 2:24 PM on June 13, 2012

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.
posted by KokuRyu at 2:31 PM on June 13, 2012

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)?
posted by mrgrimm at 2:44 PM on June 13, 2012

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?
posted by mrgrimm at 2:52 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

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.
posted by dabitch at 2:58 PM on June 13, 2012

So the copywriters they all writin' like this. But art directors, ha, they all writin' like this.

(scattered laughter)
posted by Sebmojo at 3:03 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Actually, I think the implication is that creative directors stick around until 4:30 AM.
posted by adamrice at 3:07 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

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.
posted by headnsouth at 3:53 PM on June 13, 2012

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...
posted by lodurr at 4:05 PM on June 13, 2012

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?
posted by Sys Rq at 4:07 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

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.
posted by lodurr at 4:10 PM on June 13, 2012

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....
posted by lodurr at 4:11 PM on June 13, 2012

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.
posted by mattoxic at 5:31 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

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.
posted by headnsouth at 5:42 PM on June 13, 2012

I've never heard of a client asking for a bigger logo, because I always make the logo as big as possible.
posted by Phssthpok at 6:37 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Why would a writer have a lorem ipsum tattoo? Writers write the real text.
posted by kenko at 8:23 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

You're right. It's themers & web designers who'd have lorem ipsum tattoos.
posted by lodurr at 8:28 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

So, given that I used Lorem Ipusm as my profile text on plentyoffish, what does that make me?


not a copywriter or CD
posted by drfu at 11:30 PM on June 13, 2012

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...
posted by lodurr at 5:48 AM on June 14, 2012

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.
posted by FirstMateKate at 11:38 AM on June 14, 2012

the copywriter stays until 6PM, while the creative director books out at 4:30

18:00 = 6:00pm
4:30 = 4:30am
posted by chundo at 1:58 PM on June 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

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).
posted by lodurr at 2:01 PM on June 15, 2012