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Confessions Of An Ex-Online Banner-Ad Creator And The Challenges of a Career in Tech
How Rapid Evolution Of Technology Challenges Your Sanity
My Career
Despite my inherent desire for personal freedom, my love for fine arts, and having found great satisfaction in being the ultimate freelancer, I somehow ended up working for the same company for the past fourteen years. Having reinvented myself numerous times over the last decades to stay current, my usually laser-sharp focus is now diffused.
Don’t get me wrong, I love nothing more than learning new things but at my own pace, not do-or-die. However, a digital agency has to adapt quickly to demand, so it was like blasting through a warp tunnel of ever-evolving technology at breakneck speed if I wanted to keep my job and evolve with it.
Remember FLASH?
When I first started as a Freelance Senior Art Director back in 2006, things were manageable, contained; let’s say I understood my space, the tools, the specs, but then my ride down the rabbit hole started when I was asked to create a few Flash banners for online advertising.
“Flash” — for anyone not working in technology — has been developed as a graphics and animation software that was first implemented by Microsoft on their MSN website and in 1996 was purchased by Macromedia, then labeled “Macromedia Flash”. In 2005 Adobe snatched it up to further develop and market under the name “Adobe Flash”. The Adobe Flash Player then became the most widely distributed software on the internet allowing users to display animations on the world wide web.
From Art to Tech
I must have done a decent job on that one Flash banner request, because they moved me from the art into the tech department. Goodbye, lovely intuitive design creations!
Having only had a very rudimentary understanding of the app, I threw myself at the challenge, starting with timeline animations, rapidly progressing to Actionscript, and eventually predominantly using industry favorites like the…
