Which Leads the Way: Copywriting or Design?

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.

Most of us know the rest: God created light, Earth, oceans, trees, animals, mankind.

Was God a designer? It certainly seems so. After all, before He got His hands on the universe, if you're a believer, there was no universe. But who wrote the plan? Who said, "OK, God, you want to have a universe? You want to build this vast amusement park for Your whims? Well, You need a plan. You need to hire me, a marketing copywriter, to help you write and implement this plan."

I know this sounds blasphemous, but is it possible that God hired a copywriting consultant to help Him build the plan to create the universe? And if He did, did the copywriter advise God about the whole creation campaign? Did God's copywriter advise God to create the first--and ultimate--viral marketing campaign (that's all of us bipeds, by the way)?!

I ask these questions because this evening my pal the Graphic Designer and I got into an argument over whether copywriting or design drives a project. Having had some tequila, I elevated our argument to the universal scale, wondering what God thought before He set about creating the universe.

Did He just start creating or did He--as certainly it seems--have a plan? And if He had a plan, He must have had some "Universe Consultant" advising Him. (Now that would be a pretty good consulting gig.)

My pal the Graphic Designer (add an 'O' between the words and you get God) believes that the copy should fit the design. I believe the opposite: That copy comes first and design should be built around the copy.

Certainly both positions have merit: On one hand, compelling design pleases the eye and engages readers with attractive and engaging graphics. Beautiful design is artistic, aesthetically appealing, helps visually tell a story, and can convey a message with greater impact far faster than copy.

On the other hand, compelling copy pleases the mind and engages readers by telling stories. Stories define us as humans; our history, our lives, are the sum of our stories. We have an insatiable desire to read stories and are influenced by them in many ways. Beautiful copy is artistic, intellectually appealing, and can convey a message with greater impact far longer than graphics.

My pal the Graphic Designer and I agreed on one thing: That all marketing and communications collateral--print and online--are vastly more effective when copywriters and designers work together throughout the duration of the project.

So God may have been the first graphic designer, but I'm sure He had a great marketing copywriter on His project team.