On Demand: A Theory Explaining Graphic Design's Pedestal and Copywriting's Predicament
January 24, 2010 by Nate Winter
The roles played by writing and design are vitally important in the marketing world. Since advertising’s emergence, copywriting and art direction have been the two creative ingredients that create an ad. But this formula isn't just for ads; it applies to any type of marketing communication-- print collateral, websites, environmental design and beyond.
Since both writing and design are of equal importance for creating effective marketing, logic suggests that both would be considered with equal value. But in my experience, these two disciplines are not valued equally. So with this week’s post, I’d like to explore why that is and consider how this trend might continue into the future.
The Situation
Because I’m a writer, one could argue that my assertion is biased and that my personal experiences aren’t representative of a larger trend. To refute that, I’ve found some objective sources that support my claim that copywriting isn’t valued as highly as art direction. Have a look at these salary figures from job site Indeed.com-- copywriter: $56,000 per year; art director: $78,000. Or these figures from Salary.com, a service that partners with Monster.com and Indeed.com. A junior copywriter in Chicago averages around $47,000 per year, whereas a junior graphic designer in Chicago averages over $51,000 per year.
And this trend isn't specific to advertising copywriters. I found articles from the L.A Times and Gawker.com that explain a similar predicament among journalists and editorial writers.
Of course, lower salaries are just an indicator of the larger issue, which is that professional copywriters earn less because professional copywriting is less in demand.
Now here are some other indicators of a more personal, anecdotal variety. I’ve been an agency copywriter for over five years, and I’ve encountered plenty of situations where a client criticizes the time our agency estimates for copywriting on a project saying, "It can’t take that long to write a [insert project deliverable here]." To conserve resources, clients often suggest that sections of the copy be taken verbatim from existing marketing pieces. Sometimes they’ll even choose an in-house, non-professional writer to do the copy, so they don’t have to pay for a professional copywriter. Graphic design and art direction, on the other hand, are rarely questioned, rarely copied from existing materials and rarely taken on by the client in-house.
(And it’s not just me. I’ve had plenty of agency people from account execs to writers and designers to creative directors verify that the experience described above is universal.)
So it begs the question: where’s the disconnect? Why are clients willing to pay more for design than they are for writing?
As I said earlier, I believe that professional copywriters earn less because professional copywriting is less in demand. But I also believe that writing in general is in high demand. The catch is that clients don’t perceive an extra value in original, professional copy. So they opt for copy that’s non-original (i.e. already used elsewhere) or not written by a professional copywriter.
The same conclusion is easily drawn from the articles I shared about journalist salaries. It’s not that people aren’t reading newspapers, magazine and websites anymore-- quite the contrary--, it’s that premium-quality journalistic writing isn’t valued as highly as it once was.
The Cause
Now that all that’s been set up, I have a theory to explain the discrepancy between copywriting and design. It starts with our education system’s greater emphasis on writing and literature than on the rest of the arts (to which graphic design is related). Writing is part of the required daily curriculum from grade school through high school and college. It’s a fundamental skill that’s part of everyday life. The emphases on music and the visual arts in schools vary greatly, but are notoriously underwhelming-- particularly in public schools.
The universal ability to write has made writing a commodity. Writing is everywhere, but more to the point, writers are everywhere. Free email accounts, standard word processing and text editors on computers, and web-enabled programs like Google Documents have made the 21st century tools of the writing trade ubiquitous and free. Plus blogs and other social media vehicles have made it easy and free for everyone to publish their writing online.
There’s an overabundance of writing, which reduces the demand for writing, which reduces compensation for the service of writing. And this glut of writing ability has, rather ironically, reduced our ability to value writing at a higher level.
Now let’s compare that to graphic design and art direction. The skills of graphic design are far from commonplace. Sure, there are plenty of graphic designers out there, but compare the number of people who can do graphic design to the number of people who can write. As I said, skills related to visual arts and graphic design aren’t universal because they’re not seen as fundamental the way that writing is. So comparatively there’s little exposure to the visual arts in traditional childhood education.
There are additional barriers to entry for graphic design. The state of the art graphic design software you’d need (Adobe Creative Suite 4) retails at $1,799. Plus you’ll need a powerful (i.e. expensive) computer to run it. Whereas Microsoft Word 2007 (the standard “state of the art” word processing program) costs $229 and can be run from pretty much any computer. (But as I mentioned above, there are plenty of free alternatives to Word.) Beyond that, many people require formal training to use Adobe’s design products, and that training means an investment of time and money.
So between the lack of standard education in visual arts and the high costs of getting into it, graphic design remains a big mystery for many people. And that, in my opinion, is why graphic design is in higher demand and is a more valued service-- because the clients who need it truly do not understand it. It’s difficult to question and provide alternatives for something you don’t really understand.
To be clear: I’m not arguing that graphic design isn’t a sophisticated and hard-earned skill set. It is, especially at a professional level. But so is writing. I believe writing can be just as challenging, rewarding, complex and powerful as graphic design. But graphic design’s je ne sais quoi is the X factor.
It boils down to this: everyone fancies himself or herself a writer, whereas only those with real experience in graphic design consider themselves an authority on the matter.
The Future
Graphic design courses are already offered at some public high schools-- generally ones in affluent communities at this point--, but I think this trend will grow. One big reason that the likes of art history and music are the last to get funding in cash-strapped public schools is that they don’t easily translate into applicable job skills and strong career opportunities for kids. Training in graphic design, on the other hand, is marketing-related, making it valuable to any business or organization.
And the other barriers will be reduced, too. Programs like GIMP and other graphic design applications will give Adobe’s monopoly on the industry a run for its money (albeit a small run). Adobe’s creative suite will still be the tool of the trade for professionals, but more affordable alternatives will emerge to bring basic graphic design within reach for greater numbers of people. Google already offers SketchUp Pro, a free 3D modeling software. How much longer until there’s a Google equivalent of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator?
These changes I’m predicting won’t turn everyone into an expert on graphic design, but they will help to replace the hazy confusion surrounding graphic design with a universal familiarity. This will further commoditize graphic design and help to equalize the demand discrepancy between copywriting and graphic design.
