The new “Creative Professional”

The story of Apple and Microsoft, and their wildly differing ideas of what it means to be a creative today.

Apple’s new touchbar-equipped, port-deficient MacBook Pros reflect the new realities of what it means to be a “creative professional” today.

It used to mean graphic designer / illustrator / 3D artist / video editor / motion graphics designer / audio engineer / photographer.

In fact, not long ago, (perhaps 5 years?) “digital media” used to mean those things. At least in agency-land where most creatives earn their keep. When I was in school studying digital media, when I was doing an internship as a designer, that was what it meant.

That’s now changed. Irreversibly. Beyond the rare “art director” or “junior designer” role, the real jobs that pay a living wage are in user experience design, interaction design, or software development. Maybe the occasional copywriting, motion graphics design, or photography.