Forget about art – design is a form of professional communication and working with images alone isn’t always enough. Digit looks at successful strategies for weaving together words and visual imagery.

border=0 /><BR></div> </p> <p> Graphic designers don’t have a good reputation when it comes to using language to get their message across. Despite their role as professional communicators, there is a popular conceit that visually aware people are somehow lacking in semantic skills. That’s why they prefer to work with pictures, right? </p> <p> Popular though this idea may be, it’s nonsense. True, many designers would flee to the hills sooner than tackle written work, but the real crux of the problem is more one of fear and ignorance than any inherent difficulty in writing. </p> <p> Freelance copywriter Richard Butterworth, who’s been a professional writer for over 20 years, explains: “It’s not a dark art, it’s another discipline.” </p> <p> Butterworth himself made the jump from art to writing. “I used to be a designer,” he says. “I made the break away from art direction in 1985. I found I expressed myself better through the written word than through artistry.” </p> <p> Butterworth’s experience also shows that in today’s world, adding strings to your bow is a useful strategy. “The lines of definition between copywriter and art director are becoming more blurred than ever,” he says. </p> <p> <h2>Will write for cash</h2> </p> <p> <div class=inlineimage><img src= Print

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