My name is Cathy and I just finished a course in copywriting and am looking to connect with some graphic design students for portfolio building.
If anyone wants to collab on the following Spec Ads: Email, website landing page, banner Ad, Newspaper Ad or direct mail ad, let me know! My class provided me with the creative briefs for each of them. It’s a great opportunity to bring an extra layer of professionalism to your ad designs!
Everything we create together can be used for both of our portfolios and if we collab well together, it would be wonderful to have some graphic designers that I already know in the event a paying job asks me to bring one in!
Looking forward to meeting everyone and if I’ve placed this in the wrong area of the forum, just direct me to the correct area
Cathy, welcome to the forum. I think what you’re requesting is a great idea, and I hope some of our students or less experienced members take you up on your offer.
If I could offer one point of correction without coming off as the forum butthead, I would say what you’re looking to do is not “spec” or “spec ads” rather it is practice work or fictitious work. The term “spec” has negative connotations in the industry — at least to professionals — as it implies doing real work for real clients (or potential clients) with no guarantee of payment. I don’t think that’s what you’re after.
Since you are a copy writer looking to work with designers, check out the documentary Art & Copy. I think you’d find it enlightening. A large part of the focus is what happened in the ad industry when the copy department started working with the art department. I think you can watch the whole thing for free on YouTube.
For every creative team I’ve ever led, my highest priority has always been to ensure the team has top-notch copywriters. There is nothing that will neuter the effectiveness of good graphic design faster than bad writing.
A good designer paired with a good copywriter/editor is a fantastic combination. Any design student reading this thread should jump at the chance.
It was definitely discussed frequently throughout my course how important the copywriter and designer work relationship is to the outcome of a project. Working together to create practice pieces is an excellent chance to start getting a feel for how to cultivate those partnerships before we get out into the field.
