Advertising and design need to reconcile their differences and work in harmony

With regard to Lisa Hastings’ letter (DW 16 August), advertising and design do inhabit very similar areas. When they do work together in harmony, without ego, the results can be spectacular. I’m pretty sure design and advertising do get on like a couple of giggling graduates behind closed doors.

Design has always envied the ad man’s budgets, speed and exposure. Equally, advertising has always lusted after design’s permanence, craft and respect. They are getting closer to declaring their love for each other. But at the moment, they are just dating.

The two disciplines are different, but not impossibly so. The dinosaurs of advertising keep their archaic structures in place, with the designer relegated to the role of ‘typo’. But better organisations cross the disciplinary borders, with the simple aim of producing appropriate and effective communication, not something that fits into the traditional ‘advertising’ or ‘design’ stereotypes.

Simon Manchipp

Design director

HHCL and Partners

simonm@hhcl.com