I can’t stop thinking about the words of Jim Dator, an International Futurist from the Centre of Future Studies, University of Hawaii who I heard speak several years ago. He stated that we had the age of agriculture and industrialisation and now we’re in the era of technology – which is about to end, and we’re about to embark on the era of imagination.
So what does this age of imagination look like? For me it looks something like artist Berndaut Smilde’s floating cloud work. He has captured a singular beautiful real cloud floating in a real indoor space. Who would have imagined? Smilde did. And he not only explored what was possible, he made it happen with true ingenuity.
The more I think about it, the more I keep thinking if imagination is the era, will ideas not be the currency of this age and ideation the business? And would not one’s ability to thrive (perhaps even survive) within this era not only be their capacity to conceive ideas, but their ability to make them happen?
If this is the case, then those of us who currently nominate ourselves as creative – designers, producers, writers, artists and creative directors are certainly at an advantage for what the world holds for us in 2020. We are accustom to ideas. We live and breathe problem solving. We have a way in breaking things down, and building things up to have meaning and value.
In the age of imagination having this skill will mean greater scope and influence and be our greatest asset. Our ability to think logically and laterally, convergent and divergently will be desired beyond the fields of design, marketing, media, arts and entertainment that we currently live in. Our way of thinking and working will be tapped into for the conceiving and delivery of effective, game-changing, business enhancing ideas for any business and for any problem they may have.
This attitude will ignite a few things. Firstly how ideas are conceived. Over the last few decades there has been a trend towards group ideation, however if you look at history and some most remarkable game-changing ideas conceived by individuals such as William Wordsworth, Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Steve Wozniak, autonomy and person space was essential to their creativity. We will see a shift in ways of working to support this sort of ideation.
The recognition of what an individual needs to develop their ideas bank, along with the spectrum of scope and influence we’ll be operating in, means that the workplace itself will evolve. I believe within this era the established model of a full-time complete creative outfit would be irrelevant and unsustainable. Agencies would need to be made up of a few key people who basically manage the business. They would be supported by an on-demand talent pool and organised network, creative individuals with specific specialisations and experience pulled in and out as needed to create bespoke teams to solve specific business and creative problems.
The workplace itself would evolve to support this model. The expectation of talent on-site from the hours of 9-6 could change. Talent will be appraised by their ability to deliver on the workload, not visibility on site, meaning that talent could work remotely or come in as needed. The office space would develop into more places to allow for independent ideation. Vitra, a leading international office furniture company is already exploring this idea, developing interesting independent ideation spaces and furnishings in the words of the CEO Hanns-Peter Cohn to enable the ‘change from administration to creative knowledge tasks and the devices of modern life’.
If our workplaces flourish with independent zones, they will also not need to be populated with more places and rooms to get-together and group-think to build and develop ideas. Vitra once again is leading the charge in what this may look like, developing new models of workplace design that turn offices ‘more and more into centres for communication…. used for meetings and for information exchange…. The office will become a living meeting place’.
This new way of doing, could also mean remuneration will need to adapt. To date our industry bills by hours. In this age of imagination the remuneration equation will change to time plus value. Is not the greatest value of an idea, the idea itself? It’s ability to solve a problem and its ability to make a difference – the value that the idea itself brings. And why shouldn’t we be rewarded for that value?
Then there’s the realisation of the ideas themselves, which could determine who lives and dies. The spirit of competitiveness will evolve to one of collaboration, co-cooperativeness and curation. Ideas will be owned by many, not just a few. Processes and approaches will no longer be fixed. Talent will self-select other talent who they know they can work with to generate and deliver. Brands will work with other brands, businesses with other businesses.
Teams will be made up of true cross-disciplinary functions and think and behave in a trans-disciplinary manner. Don’t be surprised to see designers, engineers, lawyers, musicians, marketers, technologists, scientists, stylists, and financiers, mixing it on and up. This level of connectivity and openness fueled by a collective desire to bring great ideas to life and create potent possibilities. It will be an environment of constant learning, continuous improvement and captivating energy. Those hungriest, the fastest, the first will win.
This flexibility in the workplace will unleash extensive freedom and independence within the creative workforce – exactly what we’re starting to see them seek. The liberty in choosing what to work on, who with, where and when. The boundaries between work and play, life and work absolutely blurred, if not lost.
We will no longer be defined by that one professional identity. Molly will describe herself as a ‘Graphic Designer slash Retailer slash Content Creator’. Her time will be a balance between freelancing for agencies, creating her own homeware range that she sells on etsy and creating content that supports her homeware range that would live on her blog and be pushed through her social channels.
Angus will be admired for being a ‘Social Modeler slash Virtual Ecologist slash Personal Data Agent slash World Citizen’. He will work with everyone from agencies to educational institutions, as well direct with companies and individuals anywhere in the world, anytime. What will bind us, ground us and drive us all will be our ability to generate and realize ideas, whatever shape or form they may be to contribute to this imagination economy.
If 2020 is the era of imagination, ideas our currency and ideation our business, creatives who think conceptually and critically well be highly sought after, but it is those who action adaptiveness with agility, value relationships and vision and possess social acumen and entrepreneurship across any category, at any time from anywhere that will get the most ahead.
But the greatest value to any creative and of any creative, will be their talent network. We won’t be able to live up to the age of imagination without each other, and your relationships and access to talent will be as valuable as the ideas put on the table to make it all happen.
Some say 2020 is six years away; I say it’s actually just around the corner. The seeds are already being sown. The question is, will you be ready?