A few weeks ago I saw a video on Wired that began a shift in the way I see my profession. I have typically called myself a “Web designer”, and primarily, this is what I am. This video made me realize what the next shift is, what the next move in my career should be in order to stay as far away from obsolescence as possible. I need to think about media design, rather than simply Web design. I need to expand my vision beyond the browser.
Watch the video:
In some ways, this is not much of a shift from a Web Standardista’s typical mindset. We think in terms of device and platform independence, but we are nearly always thinking in terms of a Web browser of some sort.
This shift has been creeping up on us during the last couple of years. The iPhone paved ground for what has becoming a thriving new market of hand-held computing devices (most of which happen to have phones attached to them). The iPad is popularizing a new wave of tablet/slate devices. Touch-screen computers are coming into vogue, and perhaps Microsoft’s Surface will soon become a main-stream consumer device. I attended a panel at SXSWi that blew my mind about possibilities of media consumption related to cybernetics and A.I.
A host of new media consumption devices are on the market and Web designers are being looked to to create interfaces and experiences for these devices. I am no longer simply a Web designer.
I am a media designer.
And I have a lot to learn.
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