Print Edges Out Web in Creative Opportunities

A year ago in the Summer 2000 TrendWatch Design & Production Survey, "Web page design" edged out "collateral print projects" as the top sales opportunity for creatives. Here, 54% of creative firms had cited "Web page design" as an opportunity, compared to 50% who cited "collateral print" as an opportunity. This scenario didn't last long, though: six months later in Winter 2000/2001, though they were neck-and-neck, "collateral print" beat out "Web page design" by a slim margin of 51% to 50%.

In the most recent Design & Production Survey (Summer 2001), "Web page design" has faded back to 42%, while "collateral print" has pulled ahead to 54% (see chart at left).

A few trends are evident when comparing the top 10 sales opportunities for creatives in Summer 2000, when the Web design boom appeared to have reached its peak, to the top 10 opportunities now, a year later (see chart below).

First, a year ago, there were more Web-based opportunities on the whole. In addition to "Web page design" at the top spot, there also were "Web site strategy services" (22%), "e-commerce services" (19%), and "Web page maintenance" (19%). A year later, there is only one Web-related opportunity—"Web page design" (42%)—in the top 10.

The second trend is that the same basic print-based opportunities are in both lists, and at around the same level of opportunity—"collateral print projects" (50% in 2000 vs. 54% in 2001), "corporate identity projects" (36% on both lists), "direct mail projects" (31% in 2000 vs. 33% in 2001), "catalog design, creative" (24% in 2000 vs. 23% in 2001), and so on.

Finally, a more diverse set of digital opportunities has come about in 2001. "Digital photography" is up from 28% to 32%, and new opportunities like "posters, large-formats" and "electronic services" also are creeping into the top 10 ("electronic services" refers to making JPEGs, TIFFs, etc., for clients and is not Web-related per se).