Since copywriting is interface design, you can do an awful lot of great design in a text editor. Don’t worry about where things will go, or how they will fit. Worry about explaining it clearly and then build the rest of the interface around that explanation.
Dimitar
on 07 Mar 13I can’t agree more. I read something similar 2 days ago, it’s is such great revelation, I wish I knew this couple a years ago, when I started my online business. And copywriting was never my strong side, but I’m learning something new every day.
Greg L.
on 08 Mar 13I wish my clients understood this… Sigh
Andre
on 08 Mar 13Nathan Barry recently wrote an epic post on landing page copywriting where he realized he had scrap is visually alluring first draft and recraft his offer in plain text before dressing it up.
http://nathanbarry.com/step-by-step-landing-page-copywriting/
Once he clarified his offer with a couple of drafts in Google Docs, the visual arrangement took care of itself.
fravelgue
on 08 Mar 13It´s a main principle in Windows8 interface (Metro). Could you share what do you think?
Matthew Stibbe
on 08 Mar 13Agree completely. But what do you do next? I mean literally what’s the next thing beyond a text file on its journey to a live web page?
David Neal
on 08 Mar 13I agree. This can even help define your products and services. Ask yourself questions, answer them, write the copy. It should be become clear how to design the interface.
ploogman
on 08 Mar 13hence your fondness for the Macbook Air, just what you need and nothing you don’t in a small delightful package?
Kishor Gurtu
on 09 Mar 13Amen. Wish more people understood this. Clarity is an extremely rare commodity. One only has to look at Microsoft’s licensing policies for an example.
Anonymous Coward
on 09 Mar 13I use Notepad daily. Then read what I wrote out loud, trying to see my instructions/ descriptions as if for the first time. A blessing and a curse. When I nail it just right, I know it. When I am failing, I really know it.
Not an anonymous coward, just don’t have an account.
GilCatt
on 09 Mar 13Not relevant to this post – not yet. While reading a few other posts, still quite fresh, I felt the desire to leave a comment. Only to find that
THIS DISCUSSION is CLOSED
Does it mean that
THIS POST is OBSOLETE
?
37signals, meditate this.
Dan Meyer
on 10 Mar 13Made me think of Readme Driven Development – a spiritual cousin?
Dan Meyer
on 10 Mar 13http://tom.preston-werner.com/2010/08/23/readme-driven-development.html
Adrian Kingwell
on 11 Mar 13Completely agree but can I suggest a slight change… “Copywriting is the heart of interface design”. It is the place we should start at, and the place we will end at.
Getting the words right is so hard, yet for some reason so undervalued in digital. How many creative digital agencies say “we’ve got this great writer, you’re going to just love what he writes”?
shahid kapoor
on 11 Mar 13$
shahid kapoor
on 11 Mar 13This discussion is closed.