Life of a banner. RichMedia Workflow

This the tipical scheme of a banner life, it could also be a richmedia workflow life:

First step: A customer who wants to sell something or just make branding or so, decides to make a Media campaign on the Internet. Usually they´re launched just after you see the TV ad.

So customer meets his Media Agency. There´s a man on that agency called the Media Planner. He is in charge of negotiating and making the best out of the budget customer has. So, he could do SEO, SEM, Social Media or a Display Campaign which is our case. Probably the final product of this man is a planning.

Next step: There´s a Tech agency in charge of keeping an eye so everything is fine. They know the specifications of every format for Publishers, they are in contact with creative agencies, and they are able to solve any issue related to the campaign (creativity, traffic, tracking, implementation). I work in one of these ;)

The technology agency contacts the creativity agency, they give them templates and tell them what they can and can´t do acording to publishers´specs. So they work hand by hand with creative agencies. These ones usually have a design or programming department.

When the creative agency has the campaign ready, there´s a proccess called validation which has three steps:

- Technical level, in charge of the Tech Agency

- Creative level, usually for the customer

- Publisher level

This one is the final step. Publisher checks all tags are ok and insert the ads in its website.

Well, this is a very reduced and simplified view of how it is. A banner life or a campaign life could last a lot of time, or have different steps. These five are main characters of a banner story.

Main skill to improve this workflow is communications between the five parts.

Thoughts on designers moving to programming

Some thoughts about the jump from designing to programming and about workflow

Theory 1: The number of designers moving to programming has decreased
Is there a magician who tells you about your future? Designer or programmer? What are you? There´s a ditch between them and it´s getting bigger!

There are some programmers who used to design but they realised they´d better do programming cos it was easy, practice and a challenge.

Flashers used to be outsiders, the frontieer between design and programming. We were called Flash designers/animators/programmers. Now this has changed. Many of us moved from design to programming but I can´t see this migration anymore. Why?

I have some possible answers: It´s difficult, it´s not a vocation, there´s no need to do it, Adobe´s policy...

Theory 2: Programmer vs. Designer
There were programmers working with computers before all designers began to use it. Why are we sometimes considered just as producers ?

Designer: Someone who designs
Programmer: Someone who programs

I wonder how a designer can tell how things will move on the screen. They shouldn´t do about interaction if there´s a flasher in the team.

I don´t know what´s worst: a customer trying to design or a designer trying to animate something. The answer is always the same: Why don´t you do it?

In the end, the most important thing for the good work of an agency, a studio or so, is the workflow. The rest are just stories and stories

Flash Catalyst Workflow, Serge Jespers´ Interview

The are two main ideas I get from this video, both related to workflow:

- First one: This is about Flash Catalyst, "We try to solve a really big problem, try to make designers and developers speak the same language". So the designer won´t see any code although it will be there as in Dreamweaver Design/Code interface. There will be prototypes. And the workflow will be easier as it can go forward (Designer -> Developer) or backwards (Developer -> Designer). This first idea is really a challenge. I dare say Adobe is taking a risk here. But I like!

- Second: The connection between Flash and Flex. Serge talks about the future and easier integration by Gumbo so as to have the same aim: Designers, developers and animators working together.

These are good news. Now that we know that FlahsPlatform is the priority for 2009 as Mike Chambers says, we still want more!