Can you get YOUR boss to go to bat for you? You are the designer's customer -- things should be done according to your specifications.

Every seminar I do, I usually have a couple of designers in there. But, because they are the kind of designer who would come to a publication/writing workshop to begin with, they're not the kind of designer who would let design negatively influence readability to begin with.

One of those designers gave me a great analogy:

Design, she said, is like a department store window. And good design makes it easy to see what is INSIDE the window, which is what people are there for.

People don't want down Michigan Avenue during Christmas to look at the actual windows. They are looking through the windows to see the content. Same with design. Great design just makes the content very accessible.

But try telling that to some of these frustrated designers who thought they'd be working for an ad agency but find themselves in corporate America, just BURSTING with creativity.

Steve

DATE: 11/01/2004 09:83:7P PM
That's what I say, Shari. Design is supposed to work FOR editorial. But you would be SHOCKED at how many organizations have it backwards. For some reason, many organizations give designers a lot more power than they should have. And in this case, the designer has been there for 15 years, and is best pals with the "boss" who has the final decision. That's what makes it so dicey.

My final piece of advice for her was to do some research---either focus groups or a survey or both-----that would reveal how much people don't like the design tricks the designer is doing. Maybe with those hard numbers, something can be done.

DATE: 11/01/2004 19:73:0P PM
Steve, you've got a good idea in doing some "research" to support the argument that the design is not reader-friendly. I'd add some "best practices" research. Go to any authoritative sources you can find on what makes for good design -- or better yet, a list of the worst design mistakes -- and share that with whomever needs to see it. In my corporate days, I found that peer pressure carried a lot of weight.

The prevalence of poor design is truly amazing. I recently received the publication for my alma mater's mass communication school. The design was horrible! Between vertical headlines in an illegible font and scattershot placement of stories, I couldn't take any more and threw it in the trash. To make matters worse, I caught several spelling errors in my quick perusal. (Kind of reminds me of the IABC magazine I receive every other month!)

DATE: 11/01/2004 29:71:7P PM

Steve---

As you know, Jim Ylisela and I conduct a Ragan seminar called Advanced Writing and Editing for the Corporate Communicator. One of our intractable rules is that designers work for the editor, not the other way around. And we agree with the moral of your story: readability should drive design decisions. I don't care how pretty a page is. If I can't read the text clearly and quickly, the design is a failure. End of story.

Mark Ragan

DATE: 11/01/2004 70:05:3P PM
I would suggest re-visiting the original objectives of your publication. Why does it exist? All of the writing and design decisions should support these objectives. In other words, encourage both sides to step away from personal preferences, and focus the creativity on delivering material more effectively -- with both writing and design.

DATE: 11/02/2004 11:24:7P AM
Steve:

Your comment about "frustrated designers who thought they'd be working for an ad agency find themselves in corporate America, just BURSTING with creativity" is right on the mark.

As you know, our corporation has a slew of Nazi-like designers who not only need 30 days to design a four-page, two color publication, but who also scoff in offense should I suggest that the design of the publication be slightly altered. Afterall, I'm thinking about our readers, not how to stroke the designer's ego.

They're not the most creative in the design industry, either. Recently, we were trying to launch a campaign encouraging passengers that if they don't buy food in the airport, they'll starve to death on the plane. Nothing like inciting a panic at the airport, but I digress...The Concessions Marketing department head came up with a great title for the program, "Food on the Fly."

But, because our designers didn't come up with the name, it was vetoed. What did they choose instead?

"Plane food."

Whoopdee-do. I'm excited now. I'm not exactly sure how they plan to carry this out in posters or other marketing materials. What I do know is that they're all very, very overpaid.

I think all designers should be put through a once-a-year creativity audit. Then again, maybe companies should host a "gather around the campfire and let's sing out our frustrations" with communicators and designers. No, that wouldn't work - too many designers would surely be skewered and roasted to perfection. At least then, they'd serve a useful purpose.

DATE: 11/04/2004 10:01:0P AM
"What is the business reason for tilting the text?" Are you TRYING to annoy the designer?

"Nazi-like designers." This is like saying, "Bully florists."

Come on, people! We've all worked with disagreeable designers, but let's be reasonable and agree to this:

1. Designers can do things that we writers cannot do; they are a necessary and important and potentially very valuable part of the communication process.

2. Designers can be snarky jagoffs, but if they are given too much power by the organization to veto writers' ideas, that is not their fault.

3. If they DO have too much power--and it's true that editors SHOULD have power over designers--we need to either lobby to reduce that power, or we need to charm the pants off the designers. In any case, we should charm them to get the best work we can out of them.

4. Thank God: Designers are susceptible to charm and flattery from those who have any ability in either area.

Right?

DATE: 11/04/2004 28:51:2P PM
I completely agree with Sean Williams. Call me an idealist, but I think you can partner with a designer to come up with a more effective package to deliver the story. My designer and I just took a "field trip" to Borders to find new ways magazines are organizing and delivering material. This will affect HOW I write the story that she will later design.

We both contribute our ideas to how something looks and reads. Maybe designers won't be as defensive if they're made part of the strategic creative process, not treated as subservient electronic artists there to make it "look pretty."

Design can -- and should -- be strategic. A good designer will have reasons for tilting the text and won't be defensive about it. Creativity can be displayed in many ways, including making a corporate publication more effective.

DATE: 11/04/2004 32:75:7P PM
Amen to what Carmen said.

It is possible to partner with a designer and the partnership is easier to accomplish when the designer is made part of the process from the very beginning.

Steve, you remember that publication I edited for Capital One (back when they HAD a publication)? I haven't done everything right in my career, but that publication was one thing I did right -- and I can't even take all the credit for it. It was one of Ragan's Top 10 Employee Publications because I was blessed with a talented, creative designer who gave me outstanding work because she was my partner on the project. At the very first editorial meeting for each issue of the pub, she was at the table. As we talked about the stories we would publish, she was there from the start, beginning to generate ideas, writing down key words and phrases she heard the writers and me tossing around. I gave her specific parameters about each story -- here's the point we want to drive home, here's the tone of the story, etc. -- and then I cut her loose to do her thing. Because SHE was the design expert, not I.

One of the most personally rewarding times I recall in working with this designer was when she came to me with some ideas she had put together after doing some research on her own -- very similar to Carmen's trip to Borders. That's when I knew she was on the team. And with that buy-in, our partnership flourished.

DATE: 11/04/2004 81:04:6A PM
Steve - perhaps an obvious suggestion... Indeed, the designer DOES work for the editor, but going toe to toe and slugging it out might backfire (slight sarcasm...) I'd suggest asking a few questions of the designer: "What is the business reason for tilting the text? Help me understand your thinking behind this graphic..." Also, co-opt language: "I'm working on this story and wonder how you'd illustrate it -- here are the business reasons for the story, and what we're hoping to get the reader to think, feel or do... How would you approach this design challenge? I'm interested in your strategy for using these graphical elements..."

Etc.

It's not a slam dunk (some people are just @sses), but if we think in terms of building a relationship with the designer, it may help...