The Digital Companion
The online journal to Offscreen Magazine — for all the things that don't fit into the magazine. We also regularly publish behind the scenes info about the making of Offscreen. Why not follow along and grab the RSS feed?
Letters to the editor
Hi Kai,
OK, so I loved the past two issues, but the focus on people working almost exclusively in narrowly-focused web app or web start-up companies meant that by the end of issue two I found myself starting to think “yeah, its fine for you lot—you don’t have clients to worry about!”
It would be great to read some profiles on people who try to bring the same level of individuality, entrepreneurship and work approach to an agency environment, where you have to balance implementing latest techniques with getting sign-off from a CEO who just wants the project to work on the IE8-powered netbook their IT department have told them is sufficient until 2014. Or where the most finely crafted, carefully researched UX is routinely trounced by the head of marketing deciding that getting people to complete their 20-field SalesForce form is more useful than repeat visits from happy users.
It may be that this isn’t doable—it certainly isn’t as appealing as being able to set up camp in a coffee shop for the day, but there must be SOME people who manage to achieve the best of both worlds and remain inspiring? And it would, I’m sure, connect directly with a whole chunk of your readership :)
Not a criticism though—the mag is still great, and I look forward to No 3 whatever it brings!
Cheers,
I.
—Thanks for your email. For me personally, the stories behind web/app startups are simply more exciting. It’s where people passionately work towards solving a problem or innovating on a product. That, of course, is not to say that client work can’t be innovative. It also doesn’t mean that I disregard the people that work for digital agencies. I’ve worked for clients myself for 10+ years, which is exactly why I believe that at the end of the day—as confirmed by your email—this type of work first and foremost needs to please a client. Often, that’s where the magic ends.
Offscreen was never meant to be a place for “hows”. There are enough magazines, books and other publications telling you what to do with your IE loving clients (spoiler: ultimately, change your clients—or your job). Offscreen is a place for the “whys”. A place for people to tell their story and, along the way, inspire others to find their own.
Though, I admit that in our industry it’s easy to become stuck in an echo chamber and a circle of mutual back-patting. And that’s where I think you are right. Contributions by people not directly involved in the startup and tech-bubble can only be good. That’s why I’ll try to keep your comments in mind when finding contributors for issue #3. Nevertheless, you’ll still need to figure out for yourself how to explain to a client that IE sucks (or google it).
Thanks again for your feedback. Keep it coming, please! :)
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