How mobile & social are changing the game for creative professionals in APAC
Mobile and social media have proved to be platforms that consumers are spending significant time on but marketers are still decoding the right approach to address these audiences. Creativity is the key in solving this problem for marketers. Around 83 per cent of creative professionals in Asia Pacific believe creativity and design thinking are becoming more important to businesses, and that the desired creative skillset today is quickly expanding beyond design and illustration. The point was highlighted in the recently released ‘Adobe APAC Creatives Pulse’.
Changing role of creatives
The study uncovered insights on how creatives perceive changes in the industry. 78 per cent say the role of creatives is changing rapidly or very rapidly with 58 per cent citing new technologies as the lead catalyst for change, followed by the impact of social media (37 per cent) and new responsibilities added to the creative function (35 per cent). 84 per cent of respondents fear they will fall behind if they don’t stay current with the industry, while similar numbers highlighted that they are increasingly working across multiple mediums and disciplines.
In addition, creative skillsets are expected to expand to also cover digital storytelling and understanding user experiences. Creatives surveyed in APAC identified app development (34 per cent), followed by digital story-telling (12 per cent) and web design (12 per cent) as the skills that will be most in-demand over the next 12 months. Locally, Singaporean creatives felt that graphic design (11 per cent) is still an important skillset for the coming year.
Growing importance of mobile in the creative process
Creatives in Singapore cite several benefits of using mobile devices in the creative process. Most importantly, it allows them to capture inspiration (57 per cent) and create content (41 per cent) on-the-go, while 52 per cent say mobile makes their work accessible to a wider audience. 39 per cent say they are currently using it to present creative concepts.
“The study paints a promising picture on the increasing use of mobile devices in the creative process. The results from Singapore are not surprising seeing that the island state is the number one smartphone adopter in the world with an 85 per cent penetration rate. We already know smartphones are changing the way people consume content, and that gives plenty of opportunities and challenges for creatives to create content across platforms and devices. We anticipate that mobile devices will become an important part of the creative process when integrated with existing desktop workflows,” said Paul Robson, President Asia Pacific, Adobe.
“It is also worth noting the dominant role that social media has come to play in the lives of creatives, whether that’s as a source of inspiration or an important success metric. In fact, success in the socialverse is now considered an even more important indicator of success than industry awards, showing that the industry is undergoing a sea change,” he added.
Key measures of success
APAC Creatives place a high premium on delivering business impact through their work, with 72 per cent highlighting it as their top measure of success. Social media feedback and views were important to 55 per cent, higher than personal financial success (42 per cent) revealing the changing industry dynamics in which creatives operate today. The importance of industry awards is also declining as a success measure, rating the lowest at 37 per cent.
Main motivators at work
The desire to learn new things (54 per cent), seeing their ideas brought to life (50 per cent) and wanting to do great work (43 per cent) were the top factors motivating creatives across the region. 41 per cent of Singaporean creatives are motivated by the knowledge that their work is having an impact on business, while 50 per cent are also motivated by the impact they can have on causes or social issues which was the highest motivating factor for them
Key concerns
Some of the things that keep creatives up at night were losing inspiration/motivation (50 per cent), pressure to deliver more content faster than ever (47 per cent) and not being trained sufficiently in new skills (46 per cent). While interesting variations emerge across countries, these worries echo the underlying demands confronting the fast growing economies of the Asia Pacific region.
The findings are detailed in ‘Adobe APAC Creatives Pulse’, a survey of more than 2,500 creative professionals across Asia Pacific comprising respondents from Singapore, South Korea, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan (Greater China), Australia and New Zealand and India. The study provides insights into the beliefs, challenges and aspirations of the region’s creative vanguard, including graphic designers, illustrators, web designers, photographers and video professionals.
