A while ago, our friend Lindsay Camp told us he was no longer going to update his blog. You can read why HERE. Well, we weren’t too happy with this news, as his was one of the blogs we enjoyed reading, and it made a nice change from all the blogs that just link to other designer’s nice work. So, we asked Lindsay if ever he had a thought he’d like to share, to be our guest. And he’s just taken us up on the offer.

Matters of judgement and credit.

I’m delighted to see that my old friend Martin Lawless of 300MILLION is judging Writing for Design at D&AD this year. I’ve known Martin since he was a promising newcomer at THE PARTNERS, and he’s always impressed me as a genuine “communicator”, who understands what words and pictures can achieve when they work together. In fact, I can’t think of a designer better qualified to judge this category.

But hang on, let’s just check which distinguished writers have been asked to judge Graphic Design…er, none, as it turns out. Out of a stonking 21 judges on three juries covering this category, not a single one makes his or her living as a writer. So the overall creative success of a whole range of communications, including things like corporate brochures and annual reports, will be assessed without reference to the views of anyone whose trade is words.

Would somebody care to explain to me what that’s all about? The only possible defence I can think of is that the juries include outstandingly talented designers – ranging from Partners founder Aziz Cami to Thoughtful’s very own Stuart Price – who can be trusted to judge work intelligently, taking into account all elements of the communication.

But really, that isn’t good enough. Much of the work that comes under this heading is writing-based. A brochure or report of any kind most closely resembles – what else? – a magazine or book; forms of communication where words are, at the very least, as important as imagery. And the best writers understand how words work better than even the best, most literate designers. Judging the year’s best graphic design without asking a single writer for his opinion is bizarrely unprofessional.

Which brings me to another related rant. Credit. The giving and withholding of. Over the years, experience has taught me that, in print work which includes a roll of honour, the designers will always get a name a check, the printers usually, the paper sometimes…and the writer almost never. I’ve found that the only way to do anything about this is to start noisily lobbying for inclusion in the credits at an early stage of the project.

Frankly, I don’t believe this kind of recognition is particularly valuable. I can’t think of a single occasion on which I’ve been approached by a potential client who has seen my name in the back of a brochure. But it’s the principle of the thing. What does it say about the standing of writers in the communications business if designers, when leading projects, behave in a way that suggests they believe that the type of paper a document is printed on is of greater importance than the words which appear on it?

(A horrible thought occurs: it may be that, in some cases, no writer is credited because no writer has been involved in the project. But no, let’s not go there: you don’t want to see what I’m like when I’m seriously riled.)

It’s fashionable to say that, in recent years, the design industry has arrived at a better understanding of the power of words. And certainly, there are individual designers who genuinely seem to get it. But as long as your business as a whole goes on treating writers roughly on a par with the bloke who services the photo-copier, I think I’ll keep the champagne on ice and the bunting furled.