Throughout what we might dub “the digital media revolution (for want of a better word) creative professionals have played a decisive role in helping the underlying technologies form bleeding edge concept to killer product.
Without the passion and the patience of creative users who could spot and support the potential in the early page layout, graphic design and multi-media applications, there would have been no desktop publishing revolution. Digital imaging happened because creatives adopted — some might say, nurtured — programs such as Photoshop and turned them into global success stories. And one might forget that without the passion of creative professionals, Apple would probably not exist today: creative individuals of all sorts were and still are the first and foremost supporters of the Macintosh platform.
Technology battlefields of tomorrow
In fact, many of the increasingly strong consumer trends show up in creative markets first. This is particularly true in terms of attitudes to technology: creative professionals very clearly voice the fact that the real problems with technology is not lack of functionality, but ease of use, for instance, as well as the difficulty of learning about available features.
Creative professionals also voice a deeply ambiguous relationship with technology which is often echoed in consumer behavior. Technology enables us to do amazing things, yet it can be very frustrating and time consuming when things go wrong. We identify with technology we adopt, yet we question its validity. 60% of the respondents in the research project thought technology has a positive impact on their inspiration — yet 80% of them use traditional tools, mostly because it allows them to express their creativity better.
The Creative Markets Research Project underlined how the focus of technology development has shifted. What the market wants now is not some nifty new feature, but ease of use. Usability has become a killer feature, not only for creative professionals, but for most consumers confronted with technology.
40% of respondents in the research project answered “Some essential things are missing” to the question “Do we have everything we need (in terms of technology)”. Interestingly, a vast majority (86% to be precise) chose either “tools for making things easier” or “tools for management” when asked what was missing.
Geographic and platform differences
Differences between the major geographic zones (N/S America, Europe, Asia/Japan) covered by the research also provide fascinating perspectives: in America, 93 % of respondents rated faster hardware as extremely important, compared to less than one third of respondents in Asia, and 49% in Europe.
In any case, creative professionals clearly are ahead of the market in more than one respect. After all, before the iPod became a global phenomenon, it was a huge hit with graphic artists, musicians, and designers alike.
In any case, looking at the attitude of creative professionals to technology proves extremely instructive on many levels.
©Pfeiffer Consulting 2004
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Since creative professionals often have a very involved, intense relationship with technology, their attitudes often allow to anticipate technology trends in consumer markets.
Creative professionals’ intuitive use of technology shows patterns and attitudes which are often reflected later in consumer behavior trends.
