The creative industry is going through some radical changes that will impact everyone going forward. Bennet Schwartz Sydney creative expert, thinks that these changes will forever change the industry. There is no going back, and it might be bad news for a lot of people. The industry has always changed, but the changes that are happening now seem radical and fundamental. They especially changed how things work at a basic level, and that impacts the tools as well.
By understanding all of these things, you can put yourself in a much better position than your peers. In 2021, the pandemic will still rage on, which will have a profound impact on the way we live and work. It will change the way that creative professionals can do their jobs, and it will change how companies hire and retain workers.
The Creative Industry
Digital professionals have always ridden the waves of technology. In the 1980s, they had to develop unique and clever tricks to get around the lack of processing power and technology. However, we live in a world where processing power is almost infinite, and we can do things a lot better than we could before. Technologically, we will still be moving forward quite radically in 2021.
The main ways that things will change are in the social aspects of the creative industry. We are also going to deal with the financial aspects as well. The creative industries need a lot of different changes to truly reach their full potential. We also see talent getting harder to recruit and hire, which is also going to profoundly impact the industry. The one thing we can hope for is that these changes are not going to cause as much damage as we think they will.
Future Trends
Many things are currently happening in the industry, and one of the biggest and most impactful is the rising cost of software tools. Every creative professional understands the need to have good software to do their jobs. However, the current options are all moving towards a model that requires monthly payments. It is almost impossible to get started in creative industries without having access to software, and it is only going to get worse in the future.
This is only the start of the problem. It used to be that companies would hire creative professionals on their staff, which would mean benefits and vacation time. However, we are now moving towards all employees being contract workers, which is beneficial to the company. It can be beneficial to the worker, but it is often not the reality. We will start seeing more changes being made, and it is going to be difficult for everyone going forward.
More Freelancing
As mentioned above, freelancing is now going to be the norm. We are starting to see almost all companies outsource creative jobs to online marketplaces and freelancers. They do this because it is a lot cheaper for them to outsource it to a freelance worker to whom they don’t have to pay payroll taxes on and give benefits to. This cuts the costs dramatically, and it means they can pay workers based on an hourly fee.
With the rising level of worker availability, this situation also means that wages for freelance workers are going down. They now have to compete with workers from all over the world, as this is a job that can be done from everywhere. It is causing a lot of anxiety for freelancers, and it will only get worse going forward.
No More Owning Software
Software is the cornerstone of this industry, and you could not do anything without good software. The reality is that it is only going to get worse in the future, as you will no longer own any piece of software. For example, tools like Photoshop are now only available as monthly subscriptions. You can pay monthly for just Photoshop and Adobe Bridge, or you can pay for the entire Adobe suite. You no longer have the option of paying one fee and having that version of the software without updates.
It means you are perpetually tied to paying a monthly cost for that piece of software. Once you stop paying, you lose access to that software. It does have benefits, as you are now going to get all the updates and have the latest version all of the time. However, it is going to increase the cost for you as a creative professional. This is one of the many things that Bennet Schwartz Sydney professional creative expert thinks about.
Improved Hardware Acceleration
One major improvement for creative professionals will be additional compute processors. We now have more graphics cards and accelerators than ever before, and it is leading to you being able to do your job a lot quicker. It is a lot easier to render video, as you now have powerful graphics cards that can cut down render times dramatically.
We also have the same thing for creative software like Photoshop. You can use your graphics card to accelerate a lot of filters and processing, and that is speeding up render times. We also have much better processors, and these are leading to creative professionals having an easier time.
More Government Regulations
Another thing you need to know is that there will be more Government regulations on this industry in the future. There seems to be a movement towards regulating freelancers, which is going to profoundly impact the industry. It might lead to a lot of job loss for many people, but it could have some benefits in the future.
Increased Software Prices
As with anything in life, we are starting to see prices going up for creative software. It won’t be much, but it is going up every single year. 2021 will be the same, and we are starting to see subscription prices go even higher for things like Photoshop. It is only going to get worse, and eventually, it is going to be too much for a significant portion of people.