Design Sample Blues
Sometimes work is funny. In some rare instances, I’m glad I get paid by the hour for my DE work. Wednesday was one of those days. I spent more than an hour making comments on a design sample PDF that I would not have had to make if the designer had used the copy I provided. There were lots of "Weren’t we going to do XYZ?" questions from team members. To which, I replied, "Yes. In fact, we are doing XYZ. The real copy I sent says XYZ." It’s moments like these when my considerably diplomatic skillz come in handy. So that’s a weird thing, but the truth is, I freakin’ love working with designers to make content work, to make the text functional, navigable, and useful to the reader, especially with books that are supposed to educate or instruct! I like analyzing how the information is arranged on the page and figuring out whether someone will actually read the material presented there or not. Because if they won’t read it, then the design has failed. If the design has failed, the purpose of the material as a whole has failed. Boo! And then I don’t get hired back. This is the stuff I miss when I’m working as a copy editor instead of as a developmental editor. Just sayin’.