Finally! Someone else sees the value, even need, for these two mediums to be partnered together more often. Derek Powazek, on A List Apart, wrote a great piece on this in May. While he doesn’t go into the issue of audience and making your writing voice speak to your targeted audience he makes a very good point about how entwined writing and design should be but are often sourced to different craftsmen.
Quite honestly I have a much easier time designing around the writing than designing in absence of writing. Words impact on design and vice versa and good design works with words. Optimally when I’m asked to design only I’ll request the copy that will be used so I can see if there are any visual cues that I can or should be designing to underscore, even subtlely.
In any event, there is one portion of the article I’m going to emphasize here:
Beyond lorem ipsum
So if you’re someone who hires designers, ask them what they like to read. Talk to them about their word choice in every button, every link, every title. Give them a crack at writing your about page. It’s the designer’s job to think about your site the way a user does, and tell them what they need to hear, and when they need to hear it. A designer worth their salt will be able to do it. And if your designer says, “I’m not a writer,” it may be time to find one who is.
Fortunately, for my clients, they already have a designer who is a writer as well.
Stay cool in this oppressive heat!
