*note about the above graphic, it’s a gif I made for one internal company thing but it kept popping up in different places*
I don’t write about work very often. Well, not outside of my own personal projects, I guess, which I won’t shut up about. That changes right now. Earlier this month I left a great job with people I love! After two years at Constant Contact I decided it was time to move on. This isn’t about why I left, it’s about why I stayed.
Being on an in-house team with good people is wonderful. Agency life feels exciting in a fleeting way, almost too easy at times. But working on an evolving brand over a long period of time, with consistent teammates is like an endurance sport. It’s always going to have ups and downs. If you’re surrounded with kind, talented people, it’s basically as good as it gets.
I spent a year at a brewery once which basically means you get to go through every release cycle. SaaS companies are no different. There are similarities throughout the season/year. Brand calendars are real. But that’s good. You can plan ahead. You learn from the previous year. You get to look at things side-by-side and make some interesting decisions.
Some of my favorite things from the past two years at Constant Contact ended up in the design graveyard. And that’s ok! If anything, it’s good, because my favorite work probably isn’t always the best fit for marketing stuff. I credit the amazing creative directors (Tom and Jen) with steering my concepts where they should go. That is, of course, after they enabled me to explore fun, wild options, some of which WERE used (like 3d holiday cookies in blender).
I lost some great colleagues to layoffs. Sometimes I understood that and other times those decisions didn’t sit well with me (still don’t). But I also welcomed some amazing new teammates, too. That’s the nature of the beast. You don’t get to agree with every decision. It doesn’t always sit right, but considering how brutal the industry/marketplace is right now, I think it could have been way worse. There were times even in my final few months where I found myself to be amazed doing what I got to do. Grateful to create.
It wasn’t perfect, and I’m not trying to color it that way. I wanted to tear my hair out plenty of times. But that’s almost any creative job. You’re only as strong as your collective team. We were made up of a few project managers, a handful of designers, a photo/video producer, some motion designers, and multiple copywriters to make things happen. Sometimes you worked with several of them and sometimes you worked completely solo. But everyone on that creative team were complete pros. No ego. Y’all know who you are.
I keep coming back to the graveyard. There are times when everyone thinks “okay this isn’t right for now but we’re going to use it later” and it actually happens! And it also doesn’t happen! I remember us trying to recycle what we thought was a great concept three times only for it to be truly dead and buried. Live and learn.
Sometimes you come up with more options for a podcast than you could ever possibly use. And maybe you get too attached to one of them (ok, two). And even sometimes you move forward with one and wrap it all up and…the podcast never launches. What you don’t do is get mad about it, because you had the chance to make something great. You went through the process. There’s that great quote going around lately which I love and will appropriate now: Everything is a win when the goal is experience.
I felt like a Luddite at times, at odds with the recommendation to use AI for image generation. We didn’t have to do it, but like most tech “startups” these days, it was encouraged to boost productivity. I can happily say that everything on this page was made without any AI.
But am I writing this post out of guilt or pride? Both? Am I crying a little bit?! Maybe, but it’s too cold for that. Was the job perfect? No, but that’s absurd, no job is. You take your wins, you learn from your losses. Thanks again, friends. I already miss you, and I loved what we made together.
