When Being a "Writer" Doesn't Mean What You Think it Means

So true story: In the middle of working on content to write this article, I attended a free class at the School of Visual Concepts in Seattle (a school for creatives which I can't possibly recommend more), and the lecture was about portfolios, resumes, and interview success. A copywriter friend and I sat in a panel of recruiters in the creative industry, talking about what it takes to land a dream job. 

However, as the class went on, my friend and I looked at each other because we suddenly felt very out of place. 

She wrote on my notepad "I feel like this lecture is VERY designer centric." She underlined very quite a few times. 

I nodded my head in agreement, but rather than embarrassingly walking out of a crowded room, we sat and listened. And it dawned on us perhaps at the same time: While some of the specific strategies were design focused, the basic principles for good design and good copywriting are universal not only in execution, but how they are applied to the workplace. 

There was once a time where simply being a writer was good enough. For you millenials out there, we used to have this thing called a typewriter where you actually typed on these metal keys that would stamp ink onto actual sheets of paper. There weren't even emoticons to express what we felt. Instead, we had to use real words.  

It was a weird time for everybody. 

But along came the processor chip and our lives changed forever. Nowadays, being a writer means more than just typing words, it means thinking about the overall visual presentation. You are a creative, an idea person, and a better designer than you probably think you are. You know what looks nice and what doesn't, right? 

This probably sounds like common sense to you, but check out this stat that I definitely did not Google or look up for fact checking:

The average user spends less than 5 seconds on a website/link before they get bored and look elsewhere. 

What does this all mean for writers? This means that we as writers have to think visually, in order to truly put great ideas on the table. 

It will benefit you as a copywriter to learn a thing or two about good design. This doesn't mean you have to spend your life savings taking a design class at the Art Institute, it just means knowing what the difference between serif and sans-serif is. Knowing how to properly apply white space. Knowing your color wheel. Knowing the difference between a well designed page, and a page that is simply doing too much. 

What's more, think about the fact that you will probably be working very closely with graphic designers, illustrators, UX designers, AD's, etc. and you will likely have to learn to speak their language.

And in case that's not enough to convince you, just know that the hiring manager at a creative agency or enterprise will likely be an art director with a background in visual design, so it would benefit you to be on their same page (man, I probably should've just started with that). 

If you are a copywriter, marketer, content writer or pretty much anyone whose job it is to write words, and you aren't thinking about visual design; the chances are that you are behind the eight ball. 

Building Your Portfolio by Giving Back

As a creative just starting out in the business, you're faced with the same challenge and paradoxical contradiction that pretty much everyone has faced in their life. Here's how that conversation typically goes:

1st job

You: "Hello, I would like to apply for X job please."

Employer: "Great. You seem smart and you knew the difference betwen "Your" and "You're" on the application. But we need someone with at least 5 years of experience."

You: "Well, I don't have 5 years. But I killed my college classes, I'm probably smarter than half your current employees, and I never eat other people's food in the refrigerator."

Employer: "Sorry, we're looking for someone that's worked a meaningless job for 5 years. But thanks for stopping by, and by the way, we don't validate."

2nd job

You: "Hello, I would like X job please."

Employer: "Great, we need someone that does everything you can do, but with 3 years of experience."

You: "That's what the last guy said. Look, I need a job to get experience. If you give me this job, I will have 3 years of experience working here. That's a pretty good proposition don't you think?"

Employer: "Well you don't have the experience needed for this job. But I like your style. We'll give you a job licking envelopes, and maybe grab us coffee once in a while. And then after 3 years maybe we'll see if you can handle sending needless emails and attending random meetings."

You: "Sounds great." (Because you literally have no other options)

And round and round we go. It's the same thing in the creative world, except the only difference is that you just replace "Years of experience" with "Portfolio" and there you have it. You need a great portfolio to land an awesome job. But to have a great portfolio, you need work! Oh what to do?

Well I have a solution (not THE solution. Just A solution.). You can do what I did and start working pro-bono for non profit organizations. Now some creatives ho-hum at this. They don't believe in working for free. And that's a legit opinion. But for me, i like doing it, and am continuing to do it. 

It's really a win-win. Here are just some of the benefits of working pro-bono for an NPO:

• You look really cool in front of your friends (Okay, I guess giving back to the community helps too)
• You get a chance to work with other creatives on a project. As a copywriter, you need to meet and work with as many designers, directors or other copywriters as much as possible. This provides a great way to do that. 
• You might be able to write it off come tax return season? I honestly don't know. I'm allergic to numbers.
• You can add work to your portfolio. Which is what we've been talking about this whole time. 

Okay now that I've sold you on working pro-bono (just go with it), you might be wondering how to do it exactly. 

My personal favorite is a site called Catchafire.org. What I like about Catchafire is not only the way they list their projects, but the organizations they are affiliated with do really great stuff. I have worked for 2 non-profits recently, and in both cases, they were very easy to work with and we came up with some great ideas. 

Catchafire offers opportunities for almost all specialties, from IT, to Branding, to Copywriting, Design, Marketing, Photography and more (just go to their site). Their timelines are pretty reasonable too, so you can definitely work on your own projects and add one of theirs to your schedule as well. 

So get out there, give back, and volunteer your skills. The planet will thank you.