Art and copy:
bridging the gap
between UX,
design and content
Lauren Pope, @la_pope
InVision DesignTalks, 26th July

I’m Lauren Pope
I’m a freelance content strategist.
You can find me at @la_pope
Hello!

It’s the 1960s.
There’s an ad man called Bill Bernbach with a
big idea.
Image credit: DDB

“Art and copy...
...they should sit in the same room.”
Image credit: DDB

It sounds like a small
change...

...but it led to great ads.

Like these ones.
Image credit: DDB

How it used to work...
Account
people tell the
copywriters
what to write
Art
department
designs a
layout and
put the words
in it
Copywriters
write the copy

Sound familiar?

We’re making the same
mistakes in digital design
UX does the
wireframes
Designer does
the design
Content
writes the
copy

Mash it all
together
Game over
Play ‘Copy
Tetris’
We’re making the same
mistakes in digital design

We’re not that different.
We’re all designers.

So how do we make
it better?

WWBBD?
(What would Bill Bernbach do?)
Image credit: DDB

The team
Bill Bernbach
Ideas.
Believes ‘good taste,
good art and good
writing can be good
selling’.
Helmut Krone
Art.
A “a fidgety
perfectionist who
worked with deadly
Teutonic patience”.
Designs simple layouts
by spending hours
agonising over tiny
details.
Julian Koenig
Copy.
On-off relationship
with advertising.
A frustrated genius.

How it went down
Bill went to
Germany and had
an idea
He saw that the car
was 'honest’ and that
gave them a unique
concept and the basis
of a strategy.
The team
collaborated
through adversity
The team nurtured the
idea together and
persevered through
creative differences.
They combined
their skills to great
effect
The best of two
different disciplines
come together
perfectly to convey the
message.

The result
Image credit: DDB

We can learn something
from this story.

“
“When a team is given
responsibility for their own work,
it becomes their property. They
own it. And they walk with their
heads up, and they walk with
pride.”
― Bill Bernbach

Take responsibility
Have a
strategy
Work
together
Have
principles

Have a strategy.
Make sure you have a shared understanding of
your strategy - the North Star that everyone
navigates the project by.

“
“The kernel of a strategy contains
three elements: a diagnosis, a
guiding policy, and coherent
action.”
― Richard Rumelt,
Good Strategy/Bad Strategy

A strategic North Star
Diagnosis
The problem.
An analysis of the
problem, need or
opportunity that
you’re trying to solve
for.
Guiding policy
The solution.
The approach that’s
going to solve the
problem.
Coherent action
The plan.
A plan for how you’re
going to execute the
guiding policy
effectively.

The problem we’re solving is < problem > and < problem >.
We’re going to solve this by < solution>, < solution > and
< solution >.
To make this happen, we’re going to < action >, < action >,
and < action >.
We’ll know we’re successful when < result >, < result > and
< result >.
Play strategy Mad Libs

Have principles.
Know ‘how we do things around here’. Create
and embed your ways of working.

Some ideas
Your work is important as mine
No one’s work is more
important. We’re all equal.
No question goes unasked
We never leave a question
unasked and we never assume
what the answer will be.
We’re not defensive
If someone’s asking questions
about our work or critiquing it,
we’re open to what they say.
We prototype together
We make prototypes as team,
so we can think about the
problem from every angle.
We give good feedback
When we give feedback we’re
constructive and kind.
We eat together on Tuesday
We sit and eat together on
Tuesdays, and talk about
anything but the project.

How do you want it to be?
Start by thinking about your ideal future state, and then
work backwards: what are the principles and ways of
working you need to get there?

Work together.
Find the best ways to *really* collaborate.

The lone genius is a myth.
Edison, Morse, and all the
rest had help.

Real collaboration is
transformative
Perspective
Approach the problem
with every tool at your
disposal and diverse
viewpoints.
Efficiency
Save time, effort,
frustration and
money.
Fun
A sense of
camaraderie - you’re
in it together.

But it doesn’t just happen,
you have to work at it.

Discover Define Develop Deliver
D
iverge
Converge

Discover Define Develop Deliver
Talking
Pair
working
Critiques

Diverging and converging
Pair work
Get together in a pair
or triple around one
computer and attack
the problem together.
Critiques
Meet at a suitable
point and fully debrief
on what you’ve been
doing while you’ve
been working alone.
Talk
Talk every day. Don’t
wait to ask a question.
Try and sit together if
you can.

In conclusion
◉ We’re all designers - our work can be seamless
◉ Follow the same strategic North Star
◉ Come up with principles and live by them
◉ Work at working together
◉ Ask ‘WWBBD?’

References
● https://medium.com/theagency/the-ad-that-changed-adv
ertising-18291a67488c
● http://adage.com/article/adage-encyclopedia/bernbach-w
illiam/98346/
● http://aafomaha.org/news/back-to-the-classics-bernbach-
and-the-creative-team/
● Richard Rumelt, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy
● Strategy Mablibs adapted from Sara Wachter-Boettcher
http://www.sarawb.com/content-strategy-101/

Any questions ?
◉ @la_pope
◉ lapope.com
◉ bit.ly/lapopeslides
Thanks!