>That was, basically, the only thing that did bother me... not a word about
>HTML, the web, or anything, as much as I tried talking about it... they
>were more interested as me as a former Graphic Artist/ Desktop Publisher...
>they already have, they said, a team of writers, a team of graphic
>designers, and from what I gathered from the interview, they need someone
>as a glue to piece them together, compose the HTML, and place the
>graphics...
>
>Suz, yep, it does seem to be a start up. January 1st, 1993 was their start
>up date as an advertising and marketing agency, spun off from The New
I didn't understand from earlier posts that Trinity is a print design firm.
In that case, it may be that they simply don't know enough about the Web to
ask intelligent questions. They're probably very skilled in their own areas
of graphics and design, but clueless about whatever it is they think they
need you for.
Within their flat management system, it's likely that they have some
clearly defined job responsibilities. No ad agency could survive 4 years
without some systems in place, plus they must have brought some systems
with them from their insurance company parent. There is a clearly defined
pecking order that comes with certain job titles in the
graphics/advertising field that will overlay the company's own egalitarian
structure. An art director in one company is going to be pretty much
responsible for exactly the same thing in one company as it is in another.
The same goes for production artists, copywriters, etc.
In my earlier post I was thinking more in terms of the Internet startup
that I worked for awhile. The company president's intention was to have
what he called a "publishing company" but as a software programmer, he was
totally clueless about how publishing & graphics related companies are
structured, who does what. For instance, instead of hiring a freelance
copywriter, he made the company's marketing director "responsible for
contextual decisions" -- meaning "writing copy" though he had no idea
that's what it was called. The first couple of times he used that
expression I quite literally thought he was referring those little
Javascript pulldown contextual menus!!!
The marketing director was so busy with his own marketing stuff that he
would ignore my emails relating to copy that I needed. The whole thing blew
up when, after it took me nearly a month to get the copy for a revised "How
to Contact" us page (how simple can you get?), Dave and I flatly refused to
commit to a deadline for a project for them. They had in mind to do a major
redesign of their high traffic site -- a new look, structure, content etc.
-- and wanted it in four weeks, impossible given their disorganization.
The company had no income aside from a little banner ad revenue and
depended on venture capital to meet its payroll. Staff had gone months-long
stretches with no pay. Health insurance had been suspended. Attitudes &
motivation really sucked. The company president stays on the phone 28
hours a day trying to raise investment money based on the promise of a
software product that no one is actually working on because all but one
programmer have left. He won't take the time to discuss problems and
prefers to maintain the illusion that everything's kewl. Other software
developers have told me that this company is typical of software startups.
I hope it's not.
It's clear from reading the article about Trinity that they're more
"together" than the company I worked for. Ad agencies and design firms work
on a completely different model, one with its own inherent risks. Typically
they start small with no investment money other than the founders' personal
funds, then grow as they pick up new accounts. As long as they have a few
sizeable clients, they'll have money. Probably lots of it. The risk factor
with ad agencies comes when either a huge client defaults on its bills or
when they lose a keye client. Security lies in having a broadspread client
base so that one or two clients can't kill em, yet most every ad
agency/design firm is built on one or two "cornerstone" clients and will
lay off even their best people if they lose a big account. The ad
agency/design business often resembles a large game of musical chairs as
creatives shift from one agency to another, depending on who has the
business and the money.
The key for Trinity will be incontinuing to wean itself away from its
parent company. They appear to be steadily picking up a little new
business, and, depending on how profitable and diverse that business is,
they may do alright.
Just recently ad agencies and design firms who've been dedicated to the
traditional media have started to wake up and acknowledge that the Web
design business exists. Unfortunately they are 4 years behind the times.
This lack of attention or awareness has given Web development specialists
time to get established and given potential clients time to establish other
means of getting the work done, either in-house or by contractors. If
Trinity is just starting up a Web division, they may find it unprofitable
and drop out. Many conventional media design firms that get into Web work
are never able to build it to account for more than 20% of their revenue,
so the ad agency may find it's just not worth the extra overhead.
Suz
Suzanne Stephens, Stephens Design; Ashland, Oregon
541-552-1192 http://www.KickassDesign.com/ ICQ #8190023
CyberCircus Grand Prize Winners http://www.thecybercircus.com/
Web Page Design for Designers Design Resources: http://www.wpdfd.com/wpdres.htm
Clip Art: http://www.freeimages.com/stephens/
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