Future:
With the combined availability and capability of software, hardware, and computing power, there is virtually no limit on what a designer can create for on-screen presentation. This removes any practical limitations for the creation of a design leaving only the brief as a set of conceptual guidelines. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, the number of people with access to high level tools has now increased dramatically. Anyone with artistic ability, even those who somewhat lack it, can create virtual products and designs comparable to a longstanding professional. Finally the global network connecting these individuals allows a new effect, or movement, to begin taking hold. This phenomenon has been termed 'crowdsourcing' by Jeff Howe with his article "The Rise of Crowdsourcing" for Wired magazine in June 2006.
Crowdsourcing is an online, and occasionally offline, distribution of problem solving and production to an undefined public. Outsourcing, although similar, differs in that it distributes to a specific entity. A website like iStockphoto can be considered a form of crowdsourcing. Users may upload photos, videos or audio files to be bought and used almost anywhere without royalties for an incredibly small fee. This type of organisation was the next logical step from user-generated content sites and is partially responsible for swinging the market away from professional stock media portfolios. The next step has an even greater potential of affecting creative professionals and the way studios work.
InnoCentive is described as 'the research world's version of iStockphoto'. Corporate R&D departments may post a problem that needs to be solved. This makes it available to any individual of the general public. Anyone with an interest is invited to find a solution. With this particular example fairly substantial rewards, usually between $10,000 and $100,000, are offered for the most successful entries. R&D costs are driven down and the number of researchers increases by several orders of magnitude. This example should make clear the possibilities of crowdsourcing for a broadcaster or motion graphic studio.
With the example set by InnoCentive a crowdsourcing broadcast design studio does not seem such a far flung idea. Fore runners of it's existence have been design competitions held by the likes of e4 or SkyArts. These events result in a pool of completed entries only as adventurous or complex as each competitor. To harness the latent talent throughout the 'crowd' for a single purpose as opposed to playing the crowd against it's self would generate results far greater then any individual could achieve. Enter 'The New Kind' a sci-fi web series airing in August 2012, in production at the time of writing this dissertation. Peter Hyoguchi, the creator, has gathered some of the formidable talent behind films such as Star Wars, Avater and Hugo. These pros supervise the work created by a 'crowd' of anime enthusiasts. Since the project entered production a year ago, the spring of 2011, roughly $1 million of assets have been created free of charge. Being a web series the show is also planned to be free to air. Money will be made by charging $1 to watch an episode a week ahead of schedule.
Future conclusion:
Given the enormous savings offered by such a production model it is hard to see any other ways in which not only the broadcast design industry will proceed but many other industries able to utilise 'the crowd'. The concluding statement of Jeff Howe's article gives a perspective on just how much cheeper crowdsourcing actually is.
"Gupta turns his laptop around to show me a flowchart on his screen. "This is what we were paying $2,000 for. But this one," he says, "was authored by one of our Turkers [a crowd sourced employee]." I asked how much he paid. His answer: "Five dollars." (Howe (2006))
Final thoughts:
It remains to be seen how and even if this future could affect the development of the guidelines set out here. What would seem apparent is their increased importance in a world more susceptible to the fragmentation of design studios. These are considerations to be taken up by any who would seek to use and improve what has been proposed. It is hoped that the contribution of this study will aid the creative development of any interested individuals and therefor, in a small way, the industry as a whole.