Insights

What is the future of creative professionals in an automated world?

Have we lost the ability to tell impactful stories or come up with creative web design ideas? Could automation be to blame? This is the future of creativity.

Is creativity in marketing and website design walking a slow death march? Have we lost the ability to tell impactful stories that create a memory for the audience? Could automation be to blame?

This is the questions raised by the world’s most creative minds in digital and marketing. We believe that yes, things are changing. A revolution is afoot in creative digital agencies and for in-house professionals too. No, creative jobs aren’t going anywhere, and they never will. As Scott Belsky, Chief Product Officer at Adobe and founder of Behance, puts it, “creativity is the world’s most human craft and, despite countless new devices and mediums, creative people remain at the centre. The more the world changes, the more important creativity becomes.”

It is scary, however, for a generation of creatives who are facing a longer working life to be sure of what their job will involve in ten, twenty and even fifty years from now. Especially when looking at other sectors, such as law, who is expected to lose 39% of their jobs to automation.

Technology thus far has taken us further than what we, as creatives spanning across web design, web development and copywriting, could have imagined. For example, Graphic design pre-Adobe was a tedious, meticulous analogue process that could take an entire day to set one page of type.

While technology has evolved, it hasn’t changed creativity’s need for a big idea. There are challenges to overcome with the way creatives interact with automation technology, with the creative process itself and how creatives are positioned in business.

Creativity and technology has too much friction

Even the best creative tools require a steep learning curve before confidence sets in. Let’s face it, the number of tools (as helpful as they are) can be overwhelming for new users and can be intensive for time-poor professionals. Many of the tools and applications we use, especially in design, are bound to the desktop. Files are still too big and cumbersome to share amongst collaborators especially in a world where we work across multi-devices.

According to a 2015 report, creatives are spending too much time on administrative, mundane and repetitive tasks. We’re not sure about you, but we’ve never met a creative professional who’d opt to spend three hours doing something that could be done in three minutes.

Businesses need to help creatives reduce time spent on the mundane and invest in technologies and professional development that will help them be more productive. It’s all about automating the boring and allowing more time to learn new technologies or tools to help creatives challenge themselves in new ways.

With less friction, mind-blowing ideas can be realised in a small amount of time.

Creativity needs to be more inclusive at a strategic level

Gone are the days where the “art department” is a separate entity in an agency or company. As design and content generation has a more competitive advantage in most industries, it’s now central to business strategy. The same can be said for art directors, videographers and other creative disciplines. Belksy believes that for a great outcome “the creative process must involve all stakeholders with varying levels of soliciting feedback, sharing assets, and collaborating with others.” Going down this path, creatives will have the opportunity to drive change at a high level in a company. This means rethinking what your workforce can do and provide more opportunities for creatives to shine at this level.

About iFactory

iFactory is a full service creative digital agency that has been proudly servicing businesses of all sizes since 2004. We have a team of designers, developers and creative professionals ready to help your business grow.

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