I once worked at an ad agency where one of the writers took his headlines and copy to the art director and left them on her desk.

Any talented art director would be offended by this way of working. The best ideas and executions come from a collaboration of art direction, design and copy, so at least two people are involved in the process.

Still, there are situations in which writing can inspire visuals.

In scriptwriting for technology, I am often called on to develop the audio side before the video side is worked out in detail. This is just the way things are done in order to meet deadlines. In such scenarios the words can communicate while inspiring visuals. The use of metaphors is especially useful when the visual style is animation.

How metaphors can move mountains:

The impact of this product is seismic, moving the needle withy repercussions throughout the industry.

This somewhat hyperbolic sentence brings to mind quite a few interesting visuals and scenarios.

Compare with this:

This innovative new product is changing the industry in many awesome ways.

I can picture a designer staring at this sentence and thinking, "Okay, that’s good Greek copy. I’ll duplicate it 50 times and wait for the writer to come up with something worth reading.

subordinate.