Mar 10, 2011

Ask WAS! Joker answers: "How do I know if I'm meant to be a copywriter or an Art Director?"

A couple of days ago I received a very interesting message. Someone asked us if we could help a bunch of students starting out, trying to help them out figure how they can know if they are meant to be a copywriter or an art director. Here goes the Joker man with his answer. I'll write my answer on another post. Enjoy.

JOKER WRITES:

This is actually quite a basic question from Ad students and the answer isn’t contained in some old roll of parchment with the Advertising Commandments, it’s actually a lot simpler. Being fully honest with yourself, do you prefer to write or to draw? This seems like an idiot way of going about the answer but seriously, if it takes you more than 2 seconds to give an answer, it’s actually quite possible that you are neither.

You see a lot of students in Advertising are in studying this because they want to do something creative with their lives and they think that it is a given with this line of work. Those are the creatives that are trying to decide if they are better suited to be a copywriter or to be an artist. If you classify as one of these people, that’s not a bad thing. One can certainly learn to be a copywriter or learn to be a graphic designer/artist etc. But if you’re asking yourself this question, you should seriously consider asking yourself if this is the right career path for you.

Think of it this way. Sure you can learn to write a great headline or maybe you can design the best campaign out there. But at the end of the day, is that going to be enough? I think it’s quite obvious that regardless of what I’m doing professionally, there would be writing going on in my life. Period. So since I chose the path of advertising, the choice was easy: what can I do and what can I enjoy doing.

If you still don’t have an answer, don’t worry. First off, most people don’t work at what they study. Secondly, being confused and scared of a decision is normal. I share the opinion that the decisions you make at this time will probably affect your path in life. I’m not saying you’re going to be shoed into it, or forced to finish a determined path, but every single decision can define the possibilities you have at any given moment.

Regarding the main difference between a copywriter and an art director, I won’t be such a prick as to simply say one draws and the other writes. Simply put, each one is wired differently and though you can see behavioral trends in either, each person digests creativity differently. All this means is that there is nothing to guarantee that copywriters and art directors can’t use the same creative tactics to develop a campaign.

Regarding tendencies though, I’ve worked with over 50 artists in the course of my career and I’ve seen certain trends:
·         Usually less organized than copywriters
·         Spur of the moment
·         Work best with a deadline but no pressure
·         Are less flexible with tweaking their layouts
·         Aren’t big on reading (books and long copy)
·         Know how to make something look better than what it is
·         Distinctive pattern in their creative

For copywriters, there are other trends I’ve seen and become aware of: 
·       More flexible regarding layouts, they want to make it work
·       Rely on strategy to develop creative more than artists
·       Are surprisingly effective under a lot of pressure
·       Have to multitask like a mofo (artists can spend a day on a single layout, try that with a radio script, I dare you)
·       Often have hay brain ideas for promotions
·       Notice the little details in copy that really don’t matter
·       Are more likely to be divas
·       Are often more of a hack than hack designers

So as you can see, there are quite a few things that make a copywriter and an artist different. By the way, don’t take this as an absolute truth because it’s not, it’s just the impression I have regarding my experience in advertising.

Going back once more to the question at hand, well I guess my best recommendation would be to stop kidding yourself or justifying one position or the other. What do you really want to do? Then tally up your skills, combine with your drive, add your level of patience and your willingness to learn. Afterwards, pick a star and aim. Your life is what you make of it and if you’re not sure about one position or the other, here’s when an internship (paid or unpaid) can save you a ton of trouble.

Hope this helps,

Cheers, Joker.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for answering my question -- awesome post!

Maybe we can dig deeper into the behavioral differences between Art Director and Copywriter. From what I heard, Art Directors are quite, Copywriters are the better presenters and they are better at picking up women.

All that information came from a Copywriter by the way.

Joker said...

We're more than glad to help luv.

I also think it would be interesting to delve deeper into a would be psych analysis of both roles and see if we can spur on an interesting debate.

And obviously the copywriter was the one that had to do the talking lol. Most of us can't shut up normally and with a couple of drinks, we're a complete hazard.

Anyways, best of luck with everything, cheers.

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