You generally designed for three main sizes -- a 300 x 250 pixel rectangle, a 728 x 90 leaderboard, and a 160 x 600 skyscraper. It's not an overstatement to say that every designer I ever worked with *hated* the 160 x 600 size. Most logos weren't optimal for the shape, text was inevitably challenged for legibility on any word of more than 7 characters due to the need for a readable font size, and it was always just a pain in the ass size to make. By the time of early design automation, where resizing banners could be done with a click of a button, the skill set died an unmourned death.
I don't miss copywriting and design direction of skyscraper display ads. These banners were always the least important in terms of generating response, while simultaneously taking the most time to design and revise, and dancing in closets isn't exactly my idea of fun.
But the sheer act of working in these tight spaces for the better part of a decade on a routine basis has had an immense, long-lasting and profound benefit to my copywriting. You may not want to spend years lifting weights, but years lifting weights will make you stronger. So it was with banner ad production, subject lines for emails, preheader copy, etc., etc. Copywriting takes talent and creativity, but it also takes reps, and when they have unusual rules, it creates a certain sharpness.
Which are, of course, under direct and obvious attack from AI-generated text.
You want to be strong? You have to do the work. Which I guess could also be said about generating prompts, but... not so much.
