I get that this is probably not the best time to start a new firm, but I am anyway. One of the first disagreements I've had with my partner is about our business cards. I think nice cards are important, she thinks we should hold off. Any thoughts?

Based on your question, I've surmised that you are a Designer and she is a Copywriter. To a designer, having a nice business card is nearly as important as having a mouse with a working trackball. This is an especially curious requirement considering no designer has ever given a business card to anyone other than their parents or other designers. For a Copywriter, business cards are something they'll use primarily to get the organic cracker seeds from between their teeth. Since toothpicks are so inexpensive, I can understand her hesitation to spend the money.

Now if I believed you were entering into this business concern with someone on the account side, I might feel differently. To the account person business cards hold real value. Other than queefing during a pitch, there are few things more awkward to them than having someone hand over a business card and only being able to offer an excuse in return.

The reason that new business owners put so much energy into business cards is the same reason clients put so much energy into micromanaging creative—it's a lot more fun than focusing on the things you really should be doing to start your business. However, fun as it may be, on your list of pre-grand opening to-dos, great business cards fall somewhere behind:

• Get Clients
• Do Work
• Get Paid

But should be placed ahead of:

• Get foosball table
• Hire tattooed receptionist
• Bring dogs to work

Considering that you're already disagreeing with your partner over something like business cards, when you do finally get them I would advise you to hand them out quickly—you may not need them for very long.

Happy to help,

Speedball

Need advice? You can contact Speedball at speedball@theegotist.com, drop him a question in the Forum or follow him on Twitter: @spdbll.

The debate over Flash support on Apple devices was escalated with Steve Jobs' recent letter on Flash. If you want to read the full text of the letter, you can do so here:

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

As a developer, specializing in Flash development, the debate is of great interest to me, and as you can probably guess, I am not all that thrilled with the stance that Apple is taking. I have a hard time understanding why Jobs is so adverse to Flash, if nothing more than the fact that omitting Flash from the iPad, and iPhone, is omitting any and all profits that could be made from the sale of Flash built apps being sold through the iTunes store.

Let me first mention that I am by no means against abandoning one technology, for a superior technology. My livelihood depends on my ability to maintain my edge, and not become a dinosaur. When Flash introduced AS3.0, I made it a priority to abandon AS2.0, and learn my way around the overhauled language so that I could develop faster, lighter, more powerful, and ultimately better products. If something other than Flash gives me the power to do all I can in Flash, and more, I will be all over it.

While Jobs makes several of his opinions come off as though they are facts in his letter, the one I find most outrageous is that thanks to HTML 5, “Flash is no longer necessary to watch video or consume any kind of web content.”

Who is Jobs to tell us what is necessary and what is not. Was James Cameron’s Avatar in 3D necessary? Is an Aston Martin necessary? Is a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label necessary? All online content should serve a purpose – sometimes that purpose is to get the right information quickly and without a lot of fluff (which is usually true for mobile devices with small screens), and other times that purpose might be to get a 15-year-old boy excited about the soon-to-be-released installment of Call of Duty for their Playstation or XBOX 360. And just like any tool, Flash, HTML 5, Objective C, PHP, or AJAX… you need to select the proper tool for the job.

I’ll be honest, I am not an expert on HTML 5… yet, but from what I have seen, it is impressive, and shows a great deal of potential, and is ultimately a step in the right direction.The only problem is, since HTML 5 is not plug-in based, if your browser does not support HTML 5, you are out of luck. I know that most of us in the design and development industry are savvy enough to install and run the latest technology, especially when it comes to browsers, but sadly we are the exception, not the norm.

Macromedia, and now Adobe, have worked hard over the years to make upgrading one's Flash player a simple, smooth, and painless experience for even the most novice of users. This is one of the reasons Flash has become so successful over the years. Not only being able to tell your clients that what you are about to build for them will be viewable by over 98% of the population, but also allowing us developers to spend more time developing content, rather than fussing around with browser compatibility issues.

If HTML 5 can help make H.264 encoded video the standard, I have no real problem with that, but when it comes to the demand for rich, engaging, brand driven content and interaction, I just don’t see how HTML 5 can compete with Flash at this time. And by the time HTML 5 becomes any sort of realistic standard, with enough browser support for us to start responsibly pushing HTML 5 upon our clients (which I estimate is still 3 to 5 years out), I expect advances in what Flash can do, will make HTML feel severely outdated.

The simple truth is that player based technology, proprietary or not, is not only a great way to develop once, and run anywhere, but it is also the best way to minimize the span of time between when the latest technology becomes available, and when the latest technology is accepted as a standard.

If Flash is really so lousy, Apple should trust that the market would naturally weed it out, rather than playing the Big Brother role, and restricting it from their devices. If the claim that Flash content chews through battery life on mobile devices, people can choose not to install those apps if they don’t feel the sacrifice is worth it. If Flash content experienced through multi-touch yields a subpar experience, again… let people choose to not run those apps in favor of ones that do.

In the end, it’s not Flash, or any other language/platform that is to blame for bulky content, or lousy experiences, it’s the development community. Depending on the skill of the developer, any program, written in any language, can be well written and highly optimized, or it can be sluggish, full of memory leaks, and prone to cause a system crash.

Like myself, there are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of Flash developers who have spent the last 3, 5, or 10 years refining their craft when it comes to using Flash to create anything from non-interactive animations, banner ads (which help keep much of the online content free, by the way), embedded components, micro-sites, custom video players, touch-screen kiosks, games, etc. And I’m guessing most of us would like to start applying that experience to building iPhone/iPad apps, which could be sold via iTunes to the benefit of Apple’s bottom-line – but thanks to Apple and Steve Jobs, that reality was snatched from us in a spiteful and vindictive fashion that proves there is more at play than Apple wanting to “provide the most advanced and innovative platform…”

Regardless, the fact remains that there are still billions of dollars worth of web content that has been developed, and will continue to be developed via Flash, and the thought that businesses around the globe have the desire and or budget to scrap these sites and components, and rebuild it so that nominal iPad community can consume the content is simply unrealistic. This coupled with the lack of USB port or SD slot, means the device is effectively hobbled as a serious consideration for a laptop replacement. And as Google and others begin releasing their tablets to the market, without such restrictions, it will be hard for those of us who don’t worship at the altar of Apple to justify the purchase of a device as restrictive and limiting as the iPad.

Apple is an impressive organization that has done so much to help define and refine the user experience, and for that I commend them. I personally love my iPod, and my iPhone, thanks to their sleek and compact design, the ease of use, and the utility they provide on a daily basis. But more and more lately, Apple is starting to evolve into everything they hated about Microsoft twenty years ago. I also expect that the 10 years from now, we will probably look back on the recent letter from Steve Jobs and chuckle just a little, just like when we look back on the quote from Bill Gates, from 1981, where he made the claim that “640K ought to be enough for anybody.”

Joe Mease is a Denver-based designer and developer, specializing in building heavily branded, dynamic, user-centric applications using Adobe Flash. Joe has been a respected member of the Flash development community for over 10 years. Find his work at joemeasecreative.com.

Who else is raking it in?

Just booked a ticket to Cabo, last-minute.

Tonight, I’ll belly up to the sushi bar at Sushi Den and gorge on sashimi, sushi, sake and Kirin.

Then I’ll hit the ATM, take out $200 and head downtown. Probably start at The Cruise Room. Top-shelf vodka martini. Dry. Three olives. Dance floor fuel.

Who’s with me?

However, I do have to be out of bed by two tomorrow, so after hours may not happen. (Never know though.) My new leather sofa and easy chair are being delivered.

I want them perfectly arranged before the Avs. 10 rows up. Center ice.

Before this goes any further, I should say that God didn’t bless me with much.

But one thing God did grant me was a hyperactive, ultra-vivid imagination.

It delivers moments of serenity after instances like my landlord reminding me that I haven’t paid rent yet. Like I need reminding.

Here’s the lay of the land, from my view. And there are exceptions on both ends.

Some love every second of their agency job. They’re enjoying raises, opportunities at great work, the goodness.

Others are living the freelance dream, working with dynamic, intelligent clients who pay well AND pay on time. This group politely tells the half-witted, abusive companies that as much as they’d love to take on their project, their bandwidth is maxed.

Good for these two groups. And I’m not being sarcastic. This world craps on achievement. I wish we embraced it more.

And then, there is us.

You either have a full-time job, yet daily feel like the new inmate on Cell Block D, and guess what? It’s shower time! Your world is canceling weekend plans and being thankful you’re employed. Hey, I’ve been there. Felt that pain.

Or, you’re like me: hustling to find work, tolerating potential clients asking you to revisit that estimate you’ve already revisited. While you’re severely annoyed, the ripple effects from that project that died two months ago are kicking in.

Oh sorry. It didn’t “die.” It’s “on hold.”

You hold your breath before opening your mailbox. Nope, that other client’s check—the one that way more than covers the overdue rent—isn’t in there today, either.

Anybody got Tony Soprano’s cell number?

But besides earning a dollar, life is good for most freelancers I know. Maybe 18 months ago, I realized that the whole world is struggling. It wasn’t just me.

I developed a new dimension of appreciation for the phrase, “Fuck it.”

And whenever a person with a full-time job gives me that pitiful look—usually after droning on about how evil their company is—and asks how it is out here, my reply is “Whatever. The lights are on.”

You’re not booking a vacation anytime soon, but you’re catching up on reading and painting your ass off. Getting sunburned in Wash Park on a Tuesday afternoon.

“The lights are on” is the self-employed person’s “I’m thankful to have a job.”

So the title of this article was my stab at being a wise-ass, right?

Not at all.

About a year ago, it hit me. Even with all of the negatives right now, one huge positive is happening. If times were better, this would never be possible.

This economy is destroying everything that is wrong with this industry.

We are at a crossroads, never seen before.

These days, dog-and-pony shows cost money. Before, they were necessary. This is advertising, man. The Image Business®. The client needs ten t-shirts with our recommended promotional concept silk-screened on the front of it. This shows that we stand behind the idea. We’ll figure out how to bill them for this later.

Concentrating on the short-term: a buttoned-up, bells-and-whistles-filled meeting where many pleasantries are exchanged, yet little is accomplished, used to be what our business was all about. Who cares about the long-term? That sounds so far away.

Taking two hours to have a 30-minute status meeting used to demonstrate client commitment.

Now, this is wasting 90 minutes of a team’s time. 90 minutes that could have been spent addressing the lagging sales curve.

Clients want us to truly accept the fact that—while we are artists, working somewhat in the entertainment business—we also work in the stuff-selling business.

And the stuff-selling business is receiving a long-overdue bullshit-ectomy, courtesy of the Great Recession.

Showing off that $4000 painting you found in Santa Fe nowadays—you know, the one hanging above the receptionist’s handcrafted desk—umm, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.

Clients won’t track with your reasoning that it makes your space—and the work you do for them—so much more creative.

They’re going to wonder where you shoehorned its price into their bill.

They don’t want brand awareness. They need their widgets in consumers’ hands. As their vendors, we need their widgets in consumers’ hands.

Two types of people exist in our industry. Scenario: a client comes to you with a $100,000 marketing budget.

Type one wants to be well compensated to apply their expertise, talent, experience and diligence in helping the client get the most mileage out of that $100,000. If some late nights and weekends are needed, no biggie. That’s what they signed on for.

Type two immediately starts strategizing about how to pocket as much of that $100,000 as possible. They burn the midnight oil devising justifications for their gigantic estimate. They list out vendors who are cool with padding estimates. Every opportunity to tack on extra money is examined.

Ever hear the agency-ese term “profit center”? Many times, when translated into English, it means “client-gouging opportunity”. A 25-30% markup for brokering an outside service is completely fair.

125-130% is stealing.

Type one is a Marketing Communications Professional.

Type two is unethical.

If this sounds harsh, guess what? Type two was our contribution to the Great Recession.

Wall Street wasn’t the only guilty party. Madison Avenue had a hand in it, too.

Type one will be our industry’s contribution to the economic recovery.

The Great Recession has its crosshairs on type two.

You know what’s inherently beautiful about a crossroads? Sure, there are pitfalls out there in the abyss.

But I’m wagering there are bridges out there as well.

Bridges that lead to some stunning places, better than any of us can imagine at the moment because we’re all busy trying to get by.

Think about why you got into this business. Then take a minute and list out what makes you hate this business.

Remember: you’re at a crossroads. Out here, you can perfect the good and eradicate the bad at the same time.

Chaos is cool like that.

A decades-old quote, supposedly from a client, was “Half of my advertising budget is wasted. Problem is, I have no idea which half.”

Well, The Great Recession is demanding we as marketing professionals find out which half is which. Now.

It’s forcing us to make our work, well, work.

Some people think this fact is a negative. And they’re the ones holding our industry back.

They’re holding our clients—and economic growth—back.

Sound grandiose? Applied correctly, our craft drives businesses forward. As the saying goes, the right creative makes one marketing dollar work like two.

Those of you in the workforce who yearn for the old days, who wish things would just go back to the way they were, it’s time to let go.

The way things were? They landed us here.

You’re holding out for the ex. That ex who isn’t going to call, tell you how wrong they were, then beg you to take them back.

You know why I thank the economic meltdown?

It forced me to evolve in ways that I always wanted to, only were both too lazy and terrified of doing before. It seemed so unfamiliar. So scary.

My annoying jobs before? Hoo-boy were they well-paying yet annoying jobs.

A writer’s pain, say, mid-2007 (each discipline from Account Service to Media to Illustration to WebDev to Design has their own brand of pain. I totally empathize. Just giving you a snapshot of ours.):

“Ummm… we looked at your copy. And well… here, where you say ‘double the amount’… we feel your copy isn’t very good copy. In fact, it’s horrible. So instead, um… we should say ‘twice the amount.’ See, that’s much better copy… MISTER Copywriter.”

Good call. Market share would disintegrate if we said “double” instead of “twice.”

“And where you write ‘we’ll send you”, we’d like to say ‘you’ll receive’.”

You’ll receive my foot in your ass if my invoice isn’t paid in thirty days.

No one has asked me to spin my wheels lately. These days, why would people want me to do this? Wheel-spinning is inefficient.

There’s a name for the type of job that has died on me: Dig A Hole, Then Fill It.

These days, plenty of holes are already out there. In fact, market share is flowing directly into these holes. Why dig more?

If you’ve been in this business a while, you’ve been asked to show off.

Wow ‘em.

Dance.

These days, people ask why we’re dancing on company time. And instead of t-shirts, we’re being asked to wow ‘em with an initiative that drives bottom-line growth.

And maybe it’s just me, but I swear that the number of turd-polishing exercises have diminished. Have we refocused? Are we making sure we’re not delivering turds in the first place?

People now hire me for my weird-ass mind. They embrace me looking at their business and putting it on paper in ways that they can’t.

I’m doing the best work of my career. It just would be nice to have a little more of it. The outside isn’t bleak and desolate, just a tad lean.

But whatever, the lights are on.

Here and there, they’ve been flickering. But they’re on.

Finances? Numbers are quantifiable. If I’m stressed because rent is due, that number offers a framework for that stress.

I used to stress that opportunity had passed me by because I was too terrified of leaping at the brass ring. That kind of stress is impossible to quantify.

Give me financial stress any day.

To The Great Recession, I’ll say I don’t like you one bit. Sorry, that wasn’t clear enough. I hate roughly 99.6% of you.

I hate your ability to bring out the worst in people.

I now know how threatening change and evolution are in people’s minds, simply because these concepts differ from the status quo. That broken, pathetic, miserable status quo.

You inspired people to devise new ways to knife each other in the back that should be recorded in the history books. Future generations could study these as testaments to humanity’s ugly and disgusting sides.

Even with all of the negativity you brought, I partially understand why you arrived and showed us some economic tough love.

I—and I can’t speak for anybody else—needed it.

As I step off my soapbox,

Anybody got any work?

Creative Direction, Copywriting, Brand Strategy, Naming—basically I help clients think of interesting ways to sell their stuff. My answer to the "Creative vs. Strategic" debate is replace the "vs." with an "and." When I do this, consumers are happy, the client is happy, and I'm happy. And I'm all about being happy. I'm Chris Maley. Contact me. Let's hang out and be happy.

Making Digital Work, Boulder Digital Works' latest 36-hour executive workshop, is over, and depending on who's tweeting, attendees are relieved, excited or scared shitless. The 2.5 day event attracted clients, agency types, and of course, the nerds. One very important walk-away fact? Embrace the nerds – your inner nerd and those you work with, for they hold the future in their hands like a small kitten.

New tech steamrolled over the audience as some attendees looked for help from 60-weekers, aka the full-time students at BDW, now becoming programmers, strategists, creative technologists and more at the up and coming school. Foursquare played a big role, in the form of a swarm of the BDW conference room and discovery of the identity of the men's room mayor. Plenty of blog, Facebook and Twitter talk filled the room as well.

As far as speakers go, an impressive array of heavy-hitters brought great digital work to the forefront. Led by Matt Howell from Modernista and Gareth Kay from Goodby, a mixture of chats, workshops, foodstuffs and beverages kept the crowd rolling towards a bright digital future.

Highlights included:

Edward Boches from Mullen, deftly discussing how the torch must be passed from advertising to digital. Or more specifically, how a generation of ad men need to die.

Michael Tabtabai from Chiat/Day and his robust facial hair discussed some outstanding concepts in the digital realm.

Gareth Kay described the fate of the traditional creative brief.

Brad Smith told the story of Best Buy's complete and total embracement of social media, including Twelpforce.

Derek Robson spoke on the transformation of Goodby, Silverstein and Partners from old-school traditional advertising to digital juggernaut.

Richard Schatzberger from BBH spoke about the creative technologist, a new agency role that we'll see popping up more and more.

Matt Howell from Modernista chewed the fat on loads of other good things, including digital production challenges.

Now, the course is over, but the presentations and vids remain. And this is some seriously good shit. Like it or not, the future has arrived. Grab your lunch pill, put on your silver jumpsuit and hop in your flying car and watch these Ustreams from the sessions.
Stay tuned to #digiwork – if you don't know what that means, please attend the next BDW Workshop.