Wieden+Kennedy: Why We're Not Hiring Creative Technologists
Wieden+Kennedy (via Creative Technology Director +Igor Clark ) says they’re not hiring Creative Technologists in a somewhat holier-(or-at-least-smarter)-than-thou blog post. Here’s the first paragraph:
I’ve pretty much had it with the term “Creative Technology”. I’m a “Creative Technology Director” myself, and even I’m over it: already it seems clichéd at best, and at worst, bordering on the meaningless. Here’s why.[…]
- Igor Clark, Creative Technology Director, W+K
At first glance it comes across as an elitist dismissal of n00bs straight out of the recent mill of “creative tech” aka Interaction Design aka whatever degree schools. But then it seems to strike back at the agency complex for not understanding the complexity of digital, ending with what seems like a cry for a nobler, smarter breed of people who can “code up a storm”. And don’t call them creative technologists, please.
I am not sure what to make of this except possibly a disgust with the creative coding hype and the rush of schools to cash in on same - a disgust that is perfectly understandable. This field is wide open for interpretation, and not always in a good way. As with Web 1.0 painful and shallow cliches abound, and apparently “ninja dust” won’t cut it. But Clark presents no real alternatives, and I wonder how he imagines we’ll transition to a stable, mature field of computational design without finding ways to develop the people he’s looking for.
The elephant in the room here is that there are still probably only a few thousand people worldwide who meet the criteria Clark sets - i.e. critical, experienced creatives who understand creative solutions and who can write decent code. There has been a noticeable growth in the last few years, but it’s linear rather than exponential. And I would say it’s happening more just as much because of the DIY creative technology movement as the numerous schools now offering computational creativity foundation classes.
So if Clark is throwing down a glove, I wonder who it’s intended for. If it’s aimed at short-sighted agency people and schools cashing in on a fad, that’s fair game in my opinion. But if so I’m a little surprised that his first move is to diss the people he might be hiring 5 years from now.
(And why is he using that image of what looks like it can only be a geek deep in the “zone”? Is it aspirational or dismissive? Is it Clark himself? Who knows.)
To be clear: It’s not that I’m an evangelizing fan of the term “creative technologist”. Any term with the word “creative” or “innovation” in it comes pre-packaged with a bad smell to me. But as someone making art with code AND teaching workshops showing other people to do the same I can’t help but wonder if I should be insulted by Clark’s post. It’s self-evident that we need better work to be made, but that’s true always and forever. I doubt anyone has ever looked around and said “I think we’re perfect, let’s not get any better than this.”
So how do we get there? Does anyone believe we can skip the larval stage completely and have creative coders popping up perfectly formed? I too am annoyed by facile interactive cliches and agencies who think they can be brilliant without having any real understanding of the tools or process of interaction design. I just don’t think turning one’s back on a nascent scene will help much.
