50+ Creative Technologists share what they value and where their profession is headed when it comes to blending creative concepting and emerging technology.

1. THE STATE OF
CREATIVE
TECHNOLOGY
_ 2018 _
Presented by TBD Labs

2. 2018 REFLECTIONS02
Year two of the survey and here we are, lost as ever. I'm being overdramatic, but a year later
and most co-workers still don't have a clear understanding of what their Creative
Technologist does.
While not everything in this world needs to be understood by all, the lack of clarity may be
hurting salaries as there is no direct correlation between experience and pay. It could also
be stifling the growth of organizations. CT's mentioned one of the biggest challenges facing
their organization is accurately positioning their offerings.
How do we solve this? A recurring theme is the desire for CT's to be part of the process early
on. This means strategy and concepting, but it also means being part of defining an
company's offering.
As always, I hope the survey continues the discussion of what Creative Technology is and
what it could be. If you'd like to learn more or help with next year's survey, please reach out.
Thanks!
sam
sam.joseph@tbdlabs.nyc

3. THE TECHNOLOGY

4. WHAT CT'S ARE SPENDING MORE TIME ON04
0
14
28
42
56
70
Actual
2017
Actual
2018
Prediction
2017
Prediction
2018
0
14
28
42
56
70
Actual
2017
Actual
2018
Prediction
2017
Prediction
2018
EXPERIENCE DESIGN VIRTUAL REALITY INSTALLATIONS
0
15
30
45
60
Actual
2017
Actual
2018
Prediction
2017
Prediction
2018
AUGMENTED REALITY
0
15
30
45
60
Actual
2017
Actual
2018
Prediction
2017
Prediction
2018

5. WHAT CT'S ARE SPENDING LESS TIME ON05
UX DESIGN BACK END DEV FRONT END DEV
0
14
28
42
56
70
Actual
2017
Actual
2018
Prediction
2017
Prediction
2018
0
10
20
30
40
Actual
2017
Actual
2018
Prediction
2017
Prediction
2018
0
10
20
30
40
50
Actual
2017
Actual
2018
Prediction
2017
Prediction
2018
HARDWARE
0
10
20
30
40
50
Actual
2017
Actual
2018
Prediction
2017
Prediction
2018

6. THE PROCESS

7. CT'S ARE HAPPILY BECOMING PART OF THE PROCESS EARLY ON07
CLIENT BRIEFINGS /
KICK OFFS
0
20
40
60
80
Actual
2017
Actual
2018
Should
Be
2017
Should
Be
2018
STRATEGY / BRIEF
DEVELOPMENT
0
30
60
90
Actual
2017
Actual
2018
Should
Be
2017
Should
Be
2018
"(There's a big opportunity) to be
involved as soon as possible in
the creative process (by the
Creative Director or the business
team) to identify opportunities
and work alongside traditional
creative teams on ideation."

8. CT'S CONTINUE TO WANT TO OWN THE IDEA FROM CONCEPT TO
PRESENTATION
08
CLIENT
PRESENTATIONS
0
20
40
60
80
Actual
2017
Actual
2018
Should
Be
2017
Should
Be
2018
0
25
50
75
100
Actual
2017
Actual
2018
Should
Be
2017
Should
Be
2018
CONCEPTING /
IDEATING
"(There's a big opportunity) to be
the person who comes up with
creative applications of this
technology, and not have to be
the most technical person in the
room figuring out how to execute
the ideas of advertising bozos."

9. WHILE THE MAKING REMAINS IMPORTANT, IT IS LOSING SOME
DESIRABILITY
09
PROTOTYPING
0
25
50
75
100
Actual
2017
Actual
2018
Should
Be
2017
Should
Be
2018
SCOPING /
PRODUCTION
PROPOSALS
0
14
28
42
56
70
Actual
2017
Actual
2018
Should
Be
2017
Should
Be
2018
DEVELOPING /
EXECUTING
0
30
60
90
Actual
2017
Actual
2018
Should
Be
2017
Should
Be
2018

10. THE JOB

11. HOW WELL CT'S FEEL THEIR ROLE IS UNDERSTOOD BY THEIR CO-
WORKERS MIRRORS 2017'S RESULTS: NOT WELL. NOT WELL.
11
Not At All
5%
Mostly Don't
32%
Fifty-Fifty
49%
Mostly Do
12%
Completely
2%
Not At All
10%
Mostly Don't
37%Fifty-Fifty
41%
Mostly Do
7%
Completely
5%
2017 2018

12. NOT ONLY IS THE ROLE MISUNDERSTOOD12
"They think R&D is just throwing money away. The process is slow, I feel pretty much
tied up and I cannot express myself, trying a lot of different stuff, especially if I need
gear."
"The advertising industry doesn't understand the importance of research, rapid
prototyping, investing in products that bridge digital and physical - projects seem to
be client dictated and bottom line driven."
"The notion of digital product is well misunderstood. Especially in France, where
"design" means "drawing chairs" and not problem-solving engineering. And the notion
of product refers to physical and not digital."
MISUNDERSTOOD PROCESSES
"AI is often seen as a trendy, blurry, magical way to solve any problem."
"The term AI is a 'catch all', when really back end dev can solve a lot of the needs
without building out huge ML networks."
"AR and VR (are misunderstood) because not many people have experienced it yet" and
"because of the word 'reality'."
MISUNDERSTOOD TECHNOLOGY

13. THE JOB HUNT (OR THE LACK THEREOF)13
HOW LIKELY ARE YOU
TO TAKE ON
FREELANCE WORK?
No Chance
15%
Not Likely
34%
Maybe
22%
Likely
15%
Extremely Likely
15%
+60% FL
26%
~50/50
19%
+60% FT
55%
WHAT IS YOUR IDEAL
RATIO OF FREELANCE TO
FULL-TIME WORK?No Chance
12%
Not Likely
33%
Maybe
21%
Likely
10%
Extremely Likely
24%
HOW LIKELY ARE YOU
TO SWITCH JOBS THIS
YEAR?

14. $85-95 $95-105 $100-110 $135-145
WHAT CT'S ARE TAKING HOME14
2-5
YEARS
6-10
YEARS
11-15
YEARS
16-20
YEARS
NOTES:
The salaries are approximate averages and
do not account for location or gender.
TAKEAWAY:
At all levels the salaries varied greatly yet
the overall average range (especially between
2 and 15 years) is small: $85-110. A hypothesis
is the lack of role definition is leading
to a lack of compensation consistency. In
other words, CT's have a great opportunity
to define what is fair compensation.

15. THE ISSUES

16. THE MOST PRESSING ISSUES FACING AGENCIES/COMPANIES16
STAFFING
"The need for CTs is growing, but the talent is hard to find."
"Making money. Because the most interesting and high paying jobs often are in small
product companies that have everything to build."
"Situating ourselves within the field. For better or worse, my agency seems to be doing
its own thing and is a bit out of the loop that others are in."
THE RIGHT NEW BUSINESS
"Shifting from the traditional campaign activation to the full product-design field."
"Our agency is half tech-savy half traditional so we have a big gap in understanding of
the work, the process and our goals as creators."
"Takes too long to quote, not getting paid for quotes, and bigger agencies using
scheduling, budgeting, planning work that we've done and using it for research
purposes."
THE MODEL
"Social platforms controlling output to small bland videos."
"I think with the emerging technologies being developed, finding a practical use case
for AR & VR is a challenge. Still a long way to go."
CONTROLLING AND DEFINING THE OUTPUTS

17. "I think gender parity/representation has been a
huge problem for my company (as well as every
company I've worked for). Obviously this has been
a big year for talking about women in tech. But I
found it much less comfortable being a woman in
advertising.
The way the question is phrased makes me want to
say more about it - sexual harassment is not how
I would describe the issues I have faced as a
woman. I haven't been 'HARASSED' - but I have
often been the only woman in meetings. I have had
men with less technical knowledge than me dismiss
my technical recommendations.
I have only really had male bosses and mentors in
the companies I have worked at. People tend to
champion those who remind them of younger
versions of themselves. I've felt the lack of this
championship acutely. I don't think any HR training
presentation has done anything to change address
these things."
17
Not At All
16%
Mostly No
16%
Yes and No
30%
Mostly Yes
22%
Completely
16%
GETTING A POV FROM CT'S ON AN IMPORTANT ISSUE
DO YOU FEEL YOUR INDUSTRY IS
DOING ENOUGH TO COMBAT SEXUAL
HARASSMENT?
A FAIR, WELL SAID RESPONSE

18. THE FUTURE

19. "The Creative Technologist position has always been hard to
define and will probably remain as that way as the panel of
technologies increases as well as the expertise needed to
fully understand/master them. Depending on the technical
skills, the experience and the preferences of each CT profile,
the gap will grow between them, as some will prefer to have
a greater/higher vision of (almost) everything (without
proficiency) and others that will tend to highly specialize in
a field (or 2, or more)."
THE FUTURE OF CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY AS A DISCIPLINE/JOB19

20. GOING DEEPER INTO THE FUTURE OF CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY20
STAY BROAD AND BE EVEN HARDER TO FIND
"There will be always a high demand, but companies will struggle to find the right
person. And this will also hinder establishment of the discipline properly due to lack of
resources."
"I see Creative Technology having a broader representation in industries other than
advertising. I think of the job as being about understanding new technologies and
coming up with creative things that could be done with them. I think companies that value
R&D and have any actual interest in shaping the future will come to value Creative
Technology as an important part of their process. And not just as something you add on at
the end."
STAY BROAD AND BECOME VALUABLE TO ALL INDUSTRIES
"I don’t see it much as a title anymore. It’s folded into UX now, as UX designers are
expected to be more tech savvy."
BECOME SPECIALIZED
"(We'll be known as) tech-friendly creatives and experience designers. Tech + an
additional deliverable like writing, design, IA, etc."
BECOME A CREATIVE

21. THE FAVORITES

22. Abhishek Singh
Andy Maskin
Ben Fry
Blair Neal
Brendan Dawes
Bret Victor
Buckmister Fuller
Casey Reas
Cyril Diagne
Daito Manabe
Dan Shiffman
Guillaume Cartigny
Heather Dewey-Hagborg
John Maeda
Jon Andrews
Julien Terraz
Karolina Sobecka
Quayola
Ricky Bacon
Salvador Dali
Werner Heisenberg
Yehuda Duenyas
Zach Liebermann
THE CREATIVE TECHNOLOGISTS WHO ARE ADMIRED22

23. 14islands
Breakfast NY
Brooklyn Research
Cheval Vert
Comuzi
Critical Mass
Current Studios
Dalburg
Field.io
Fjord
IDEO
Make Me Pulse
Monogrid
Postlight
The Workers
Tribal DDB
Umbrellium
Airbnb.design
Ars Tehnica
Creative Applications
Hackaday
Makery
Prostethic Knowledge
PSFK
RIJKS Museum
THE CT Brief by TBD Labs
The KBS List by kskobac
Tympanus Codrops
Vice Creators
THE COMPANIES THAT DESERVE
MORE ATTENTION
THE WEBSITES AND NEWSLETTERS
THAT ARE LOVED
23

24. RESPONDENT INFO

25. Male 74%
Female 23%
Neither 2%
Other 1%
GENDER
25
Ad Agency 41%
Consultancy 34%
Other 10%
Media Agency 8%
Tech Vendor 7%
EMPLOYER
France 36%
USA 33%
UK 15%
Ireland 3%
Spain 3%
Netherlands 3%
Germany 3%
Sweden 3%
LOCATION
RESPONDENT INFO

26. THANK YOU!
TBD LABS

27. ABOUT US
There is a lot going on with Creative Technology, and TBD Labs exists
to help brands make sense of it. The results are memorable
experiences and content for consumers, and for companies, the
ability to spark an innovative culture without having to invest huge
amounts of time and budget.
Visit us at tbdlabs.nyc
Email at sam.joseph@tbdlabs.nyc