Design is not an immediately required skill set for many professions. It can seem a separate, artistic endeavor, far removed from the specifics of other departments.
Yet design is all around us–in our homes, our buildings, our clothes, and most importantly…our ads. That’s why everyone who works in marketing should speak the language of design, so that they can communicate about it fluently.
Marketing is growing ever-more niche and targeted. Even marketing to different age groups, such as Gen Z, can present its unique challenges. Design, naturally, is a huge component of modern marketing, and designers use unique terms to ply their craft. The design process starts with wireframes (a basic layout), then comps, and finally a prototype, which envisages the end product. A design can bleed (go beyond the edges of a page without margins), use a grid, or emphasis white space (blank space around other elements.)
Even letters can be infinitely complex. There’s leading (the vertical height between letters), kerning (the space between characters in a word), typography (the art of arranging text), and font (specific collections of letters.) If you’re not a designer, you don’t have to figure it all out- but it helps if you know what the designers are talking about.
