The recession is apparently over and
Web Design has taken a hit but, in comparison to other industries, it has fared
well and seems to be bouncing back faster than we would have expected. There’s
always going to be a need for advertising to create revenue and digital is
seen as a cheaper way to do this. Digital is a constantly evolving industry;
there are always new ways to reach out to consumers, new web trends and
agencies have no choice but to keep up with the latest trends. Over the last
year we’ve seen a boom in ecommerce, social media and mobile. These are areas
that consumers are investing their money in and clients don’t want to be left
behind...just yesterday it was announced that Apple had broken the 2 billion barrier for downloaded apps.
Obviously it’s been a difficult time
for all. Clients have reduced their ad spend and this has had a knock on effect
throughout the industry. Mass redundancies have been made; agencies are now
left with smaller, but stronger design teams. In some cases they have
sorted “wheat from chaff”, in other cases really top creatives have been left
without work as there hasn’t been the same amount of demand for senior level
creatives. However, some agencies have actually benefited from the economic
downturn by picking up clients where other agencies have gone under.
Compared to last year there are
definitely fewer jobs around particularly permanent briefs. However, compared
to 5 or 6 months ago there is a huge amount more. Since we saw mass
redundancies at the beginning of the year agencies are less able to manage
things in house and in turn we’ve seen an increased demand for freelancers.
The last few months have really picked
up speed. A lot of recruitment freezes are thawing out and, having tightened
their belts for the first two quarters, agencies and companies are ready to
expand their teams to meet demand from their clients. There is a sense that any
redundancies that are happening at the moment will be the last wave. Let’s hope
so anyway! Certainly we are way busier now than at any point since last Summer. There’s plenty of work out there if you have the right skills and know where to
look.
We’ve seen a massive increase in demand
for Information Designers over the last year; web user interface design is on the
up as it ties in with ecommerce, social media and mobile. We’ve also seen
an increased demand for designers with a range of front end development skills,
things like Content Management Systems and Wordpress design experience have
also proved popular and there has been a steady increase in demand for Motion
Graphics designers, again with a range of skills like Max/Maya and Cinema 4D. If you have the skills that are in demand then you’re in a much better position
money wise and salaries won’t be affected that much.
We aren’t seeing the same sharp jumps
in salary as we did two years ago. Generally salaries have experienced downward
pressure with mid-weight and the top end being most affected. However if an
individual is supremely talented or skilled with emerging technologies
then they may find that they can negotiate an increased salary! Some of our
agency clients are offering attractive packages like performance-related benefits, share options, your choice of benefits in order to cut costs,
employers are also more conscious of checking out current salaries before
making an offer to make sure that they are not paying over the odds.
So all in all the outlook is pretty
positive, the recession is bottoming out, digital has fared well and there is
always going to be a need for great design skills and creative flair. There is
an increasing amount of digital creative roles available but the competition is
hot - certain skills are in huge demand, we can help you find what you are
looking for though so don’t forget to keep in touch at creative@ecomrecruitment.com and
keep up to date with the latest freelance creative roles at http://twitter.com/ecomcreative.
And if you want to hear more about web
design and the recession you can catch me in this week’s Web
Designer Mag “brightening up” Chris Wright’s article on the
issue!
