By: Shawna Wright
Historically, there has been a relatively clear distinction between the Creative and the Technology spaces. Creative teams have traditionally been charged with creating concepts, writing copy and designing, while Tech teams focused on integrating back-end coding. The right brain handed off to the left brain, and visions came alive.
Today, however, as technology becomes ever more complex and grows more vital to the success of integrated marketing and advertising campaigns, the line between Creative and Technology has become noticeably blurred, breeding the demand for employees with mastery of both areas.
The convergence of Creative and Technology isn’t new. Throughout the past 10 years, the Internet has become the prevailing marketing and advertising tool, meaning creative teams have had lots of catching up to do. Copywriters now work alongside SEO specialists, filling Web page and blog copy with key words and phrases to make the sites search-friendly. Similarly, coding is no longer strictly a web developer’s area.
Through his experience, Jesse Morano, Senior User Experience Designer, has found that traditional micro-niches no longer work.
“When everyone understands at least some of the skill sets adjacent to their own primary strengths, communication is easier, the work moves more quickly, and the quality goes up without a corresponding increase in cost,” Explains Morano. “The best creative and technology professionals understand this, and actively learn from their colleagues in other aspects of the project.”
“But there is a limit that companies need to understand,” he continues. “You simply will not find a brilliant visual designer who is equally brilliant at Objective-C programming or vice-versa, for example. The trick is to figure out the exact ratio of skills you need and find a person whose skill set matches that ratio.”
Today, with everything from marketing to entertainment going interactive and increasingly moving into the mobile space, the demand has risen for hybrid professionals who are creative, strategy-driven, and technologically savvy. This defines the user-experience designer.
Sometimes referred to as the user-interface designer, this employee is responsible for overseeing both the technical and the creative elements that make the user’s experience as simple, efficient, and enjoyable as possible. This person is responsible for understanding the human factor of a Web site—the ways in which visual design, information architecture and new technologies affect how people respond to a Web page, as well as how the user moves through the site. The user-experience designer is ultimately responsible for marrying what the Web can do with what the user wants and how they expect it to be presented, blending the roles of IA, UI, SEO, copywriter, front end developer, and visual designer as best meets the nuances of the project and the needs of the client.
According to Kim Wachter, Senior Creative and Marketing Recruiter for Hollister, Inc., a Boston Staffing Agency, “The worlds of Creative and Technology are most definitely blending, particularly in the mobile application space. Our clients are looking for candidates that keep up with the emerging trends; professionals who can lead their company through these transitions.”
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