Sustainable Work

Sustainable working in the creative industry: An impossible myth?

How many hours did you work today? Ten? Twelve? More? And last weekend? How many then? As a designer, you’ve been always felt privileged that you get to do something you love, day in, day out. You don’t mind doing long hours, in fact you often wear them as a badge of pride. Working 15 hour days, missing your kid’s birthday, missing yet another wedding anniversary because of a pitch become almost legendary office tales that you proudly regale to your coworkers. In this industry, there’s no such thing as work / life balance — after all, if you’re a great designer, long hours come with the territory, right?

Through a number of interviews with leading design professionals from around the world, this series explores the simple question: “Can a successful design agency maintain a work / life balance?”. Is this a naive undertaking in an industry is not known for sustainable work practices? And even if long hours can be avoided on the agency side, how can a company that doesn’t work long hours maintain a competitive advantage over those that do, how can they get clients on board and, most crucially, can they still produce great work?