What’s appening?

In the world of communications we have seen convergence between technologies and the ways we can use them.

With the arrival of digital communications, quite honestly, we have seen a dramatic decline in the quality of copy and design not to mention a decline in the quality of the ideas. Frankly, creatives in web  creation really have been second-rate much as a few years ago direct-marketing creatives were the inferiors of above-the-line writers and art directors.

It all began when HTML programmers started creating websites. They could write code, which is what their trade was, but then clients began to ask them to write the copy as well, which they couldn’t really do and often left to the client. They also got to design the sites, which was fun and led to a proliferation of software for automated website design. As for the photography, they also left that up to the client, with his new digital camera with a zillion pixels.

The results were almost always horrible.  But right now, with the apps market growing so strongly, I believe that creativity will be the winner as convergence takes a new turn.

I mean, communications creativity and technological creativity will blur into one. That is because the iPhone’s operating system (iOS) offers a whole new world of new and innovative combinations both in terms of the visuals and the technology. The creative options within iOS seem to have no visible borders.

Remember the old definition of creativity?

‘Creativity is the ability to combine well-known things in a new way’. That pretty much defines precisely what marketing creatives can do as and when they design apps.

Personally, I recommend spending time checking out the fun that’s to be had at the Appstore. And not just fun but an avalanche of ideas, technological and visual and how to do effective copywriting. Spend some money on a few apps and check out people who are using mobile technology in creative ways, ways that even Apple never imagined. And please, do check out the beautiful digital design pieces and the intelligent and fun interfaces. This is direct marketing or one-to-one communications as good as it gets.

I suspect the brave new world for good creatives is here. Enjoy.