Food for thought: The spy who sold out
Forgiving a pretty face
Facebook to agencies: how will people share your story?
Is “The Pitch” an accurate reflection of our industry?
“When I’ve had my fun I will give my inventions to everybody. That way everyone can be super, and when everyone is super…no one will be.” - Syndrome (paraphrased)
Trevor is a young designer in his early 20s (I believe). He designs characters, logos, traditional media, and interactive. Trevor is a phenomenal illustrator. Trevor works at Henderson Bas as a designer. He does not code sites for a living. But he could.
At age 14, Trevor built a website with a forum so he could play Counter-Strike (an addictive first-person shooter game) with his circle of online friends. Experiences like these, coupled with inherent understanding of the online world, mean that Trevor has second nature familiarity with PHP and front-end HTML. Possibly as much as someone twice his age entering the interactive workforce. Knowing, understanding, and engaging with the digital and social spaces is almost instinctual to those currently growing up in a developed country.
This shift has profound consequences to the current generation of digital professionals. Knowing the ins and outs of Facebook is common knowledge for 14-year-olds. Building, skinning, and maintaining CMS systems (such as WordPress) is something commonly done by young mothers.
To my mind, this begs one question: “What defines a digital professional when their skillset has become ubiquitous?”
The answer needs to be experience and expertise. It is up to those of us in the digital profession to take things to the next level. We need to invent new techniques and channels in the digital space. We need to take the knowledge we hold and apply it to the analog world. We need to think beyond the computer, or smart-phone screen, and apply that unique form of binary logic problem-solving to larger brand and global issues.
What we are striving to learn now will be common knowledge to the next generation. To remain relevant, we need to ensure that we have the creativity and insight to stay two steps ahead of ubiquity. Just as carpentry and building turned from an art form to a skilled trade, so too will the digital profession move from a theory-based creative profession to a skilled trade.
And while I would like to consider myself and my colleagues partial artists, in accordance with Marshall McLuhan’s comment that “advertising is the greatest art form of the 20th century.” Innovation is key if we want to keep it that way in the 21st.
Tweets that mention You are not digital « Big Orange Slide -- Topsy.com
August 16, 2010 @ 10:03 am
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David
August 16, 2010 @ 10:24 am
Nice post, thanks for sharing. I find balancing a passion for technology with relevant job skills the hardest part of a non-traditional creative. A solid work/life balance helps to foster new ideas and the skills required to communicate, create, and sell them.
Scott
August 16, 2010 @ 10:50 am
The internet has been an integral part of my development from the first time I logged on in elementary school. Where websites were all tiled backgrounds, and hit counters, with cheesy little gifs for buttons. It was upon viewing this site back in early 2000 that the web changed.
http://www.billybussey.com/highband.html
Billy Bussey was ahead of the curve back then, and even by todays standards the website holds up. It’s seems crazy to me that it has taken over a decade for the rest of the web to catch up to Billy. Obviously standards have changed, computers have gotten faster, and the user database of tutorials, stockfiles, and software has expanded. But it’s the ability to think outside of the box. Not worry that “Oh NO” it’s flash so people can’t view on the iPhone… It’s conceiving an idea and bringing that to life through a routine and workflow. Just as a traditional painter cleans their brushes, stretches canvases, etc. The digital artist needs to have a style to how they work. Just the placement of your monitors and keyboard, can affect the speed and flow of your work.
There is so much information on the web, it’s being able to pare down all the junk and focus on the good information that betters the artist, and develops their style. My first year of high school I won a web design content competing against industry guys and college students. Nobody likes loosing to a younger kid…Especially one in Grade 9. But this is proof that, it’s not years of knowledge. It’s the routine and workflow that the artist put into each project, that helps them get a polished and well thought out final product.
Digital is not a way of thinking. It’s a lifestyle.
Ian Mackenzie
August 16, 2010 @ 1:45 pm
Love this:
“We need to think beyond the computer, or smart-phone screen, and apply that unique form of binary logic problem-solving to larger brand and global issues.
“What we are striving to learn now will be common knowledge to the next generation. To remain relevant, we need to ensure that we have the creativity and insight to stay two steps ahead of ubiquity.”
Ahmed Dirie
August 19, 2010 @ 11:27 am
This is a pretty interesting article Jacoub. I guess if we dive back into the books, we might get an extra 2 steps ahead of this new breed.