Did You Read the Copy?
A designer can choose a beautiful typeface, create a lovely color palette, establish a grid, and make everything line up perfectly.
But if they haven't read the copy, what exactly are they designing?
A very attractive collection of words?
I've seen designers treat copy like it's something to be poured into a container.
A headline goes here.
A paragraph goes there.
Maybe a few bullet points, a photograph, and a logo.
Done.
Except it isn't.
Copy isn't filler.
It's the reason the design exists.
Before I start designing, I read.
Not just the headline.
Not just the first paragraph.
All of it.
I want to understand what the client is saying, what they're trying to accomplish, and, just as importantly, what the reader is supposed to take away.
Because sometimes the most important sentence is buried in the third paragraph.
Sometimes the headline isn't really the headline.
Sometimes the copy tells you that the photograph the client selected has absolutely nothing to do with the story.
And sometimes, after reading everything, you realize the entire piece is trying to communicate three different messages when it should be communicating one.
That's where a designer earns their money.
Not by making the type smaller until everything fits.
Not by finding a clever way to squeeze another paragraph into an already crowded box.
And certainly not by blindly following a layout because that's how the last brochure was designed.
Design is not a word-placement service.
A good designer is also an editor, a problem solver, and occasionally a translator.
We take information and give it hierarchy. We decide what deserves attention, what needs explanation, and what can quietly support the larger message.
That requires understanding the words.
It also requires asking questions.
Why is this here?
Who needs to know this?
Does this sentence support the message, or is it simply taking up valuable real estate?
And my personal favorite: Does anyone actually understand what we're saying?
You can have perfect kerning, beautiful typography, and impeccable alignment, but none of it matters if the reader walks away confused.
The funny thing is, sometimes the best design decision has nothing to do with design.
It's moving a sentence.
Changing the order of information.
Suggesting a better headline.
Or telling the client that the paragraph they're determined to keep is getting in the way of the point they're trying to make.
Of course, that means the designer has to think.
And thinking takes longer than pouring words into boxes.
But there's a reason we call it communication design.
We're supposed to communicate.
So before you open your design program, before you start choosing fonts, before you drag that first text box onto the page, do something wonderfully old-fashioned.
Read the copy.
And then read it again.
Because if you don't understand what you're designing, why should anyone else?
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