Scott Boms

Our December 2011 Back Catalogue

The Wrong Message

Back in 2009, I wrote a little piece on Burnout for A List Apart, which, while cathartic for me personally, also it turns out, meant a lot to many others. So it pains me to come across opinion pieces such as the one published a couple months ago by Applied Arts, which suggest that in order to succeed in the advertising/design world you have to be prepared to essentially sell your soul.

I saw and read the article the day it was posted and although I didn’t intend on commenting on it, instead just hoping it might disappear into the ether, it’s bothered me ever since, so here we are.

I’ll give the author, Stuart, a bit of a break insomuch as I’m sure he’s well-meaning and a perfectly fine fellow (we met briefly after I spoke during Typecon in New Orleans earlier this year), but it’s sending the wrong message. Frankly, I call bullshit.

And I quote:

You don’t get into advertising in order to stroll in at 9:26 and stroll out at 4:48. You don’t get into it for the balanced diets or eight-hour sleeps.

No, perhaps not. But it doesn’t mean the expectation is wrong, that it’s not possible to remain excited, to love what you do, and even thrive in the industry without sacrificing a balanced life outside that world.

Sure there are times when an early morning, late night, or spat of weekend work might be required (too often the product of someone’s poor planning or project management), but as soon as that door is opened, it’s almost impossible to close. Such behaviour should be a rare exception, not the norm. As soon as it’s a regular occurrence, you’re in trouble.

Unfortunately, those new to the industry, such as Stuart, quickly fall victim to this so-called reality which perpetuates the problem. It’s a slippery slope and a one-way ticket to burnout.

The worst part is that he knew going in. He was explicitly told to expect it. That it’s normal — be ready to give up your life so someone else can reap the real rewards.

Before I accepted the offer, I called a couple friends who were familiar with the agency, who uniformly said one thing: So long as you’re ready to work late and on weekends (if needed), Prox is a great place to work with a killer atmosphere.

A “killer atmosphere” is nice, but it’s hardly everything. It’s not enough to make up for what you’ll sacrifice in the process — something typically not apparent until it’s already too late. It’s not enough when you’re automatically nominated to be a punching bag for the agency (or their clients), or subject to someone else’s misguided sense of normalcy.

The only way to truly put an end to the problem is to say “no” to this reality. For yourself. For everyone that will follow after. Unfortunately for Stuart, he went in anyway, which meant he was already screwed.

QuickStart

Towards the end of October, the opportunity presented itself (thanks to the handsome and charming Brian Warren) to contribute to the upcoming 7th edition of Peachpit’s seminal HTML and CSS Visual Quickstart Guide book which will be released on December 27th, 2011. Although the majority of the heavy lifting of updating the book was handled by Bruce Hyslop, Brian and I each contribued wholly new chapters to the book.

HTML5 and CSS3 Visual QuickStart Guide book cover
HTML5 and CSS3 Visual QuickStart Guide (7th edition) from Peachpit Press

In those new chapters, Brian provides an introduction to the use of the CSS @font-face syntax, and I cover a handful of the new(-ish) CSS properties such as border-radius, box-shadow, text-shadow, multiple backgrounds, and background gradients.

Because this book is aimed at newbies, it was an interesting challenge in restraint, and also my ability to distill some complicated properties, along with the use of vendor prefixes down to something a mere mortal can comprehend. If you’ve ever spent any time with the background gradient syntax for example, it’s… um, complicated. That I managed to write something which makes learning the basics of CSS3 gradients simple, I consider that a win.

Aside from some minor aches and pains writing and editing in Word, the process was both a great learning experience and fun. And I, of course, would be remiss to not mention the expert editorial guidance provided by Bruce and our editors Cliff and Robyn.

Brian and I have some ideas cooking for something new, so I suspect this is not the last you’ll see from us in book form. Until then, you can pick up a copy of the HTML5 & CSS3 Visual QuickStart Guide from Peachpit or Amazon.com, or if you happen to be in Canada, from Amazon.ca, or Chapters/Indigo.

« November 2011February 2012 »