Shattering ab out creative jobs is space for honest conversations about the state of t he sector. The 16th- centur y Italian count Baldassare Castiglio ne coined an intoxicating Italian term that many in the creat ive industr y resonate with. Sprezzatura or the ar t of shrouding effor t and toil —like a swan elegantly gliding on the water yet frantically paddling beneath the sur face—has charact erized the public image of the industr y for years. The latest WeTransfer Ideas Repor t marks a moment o f reckoning, of truth-telling, within the industr y. A sur vey of thousands of people from 180 countries, who rely on WeTransfer’s tools daily, got to the hear t of the matter: thriving in the cre ative sector today isn’t about effor tless genius but about mad hu stle. Shattering romantic notions about creative jobs is clearing space for honest conversations about the state of t he sector. WeTransfer’s study, conducted in par tnership with s trategy firm TRIPTK , reveals that 56% of creatives don’t feel su ccessful; most struggle with making enough money, and nearly 60% feel ill -prepared for a future that’s being largely defined by technologies like AR , VR , and AI. Producing inventi ve solutions on deadline of ten requires a lot of personal sacrifi ce, with creative workers expected to demote their personal plans to meet the pressures of the job. Glossing over the realities of the trade, turns out , has resulted in poor compensation, feelings of being under valued , underpaid, and even job burnout . The current job dissatisfaction rate is cause for c oncern. Over 90% feel that there’s a general ignorance abou t their work and over half feel underappreciated by their p eers, bosses, and clients. “What worries me the most is the devaluing of creat ive skills, like the belief that one person can manage social c ontent , strategy, analy tics, and scheduling,” obser ves Chan té Joseph, writer and digital content producer and one of six industr y exper ts inter viewed in WeTransfer’s repor t . “ The id ea that it is ‘easy ’ or you’re ‘just posting on social media’ is becoming a common rebuttal to people who feel like they ’re u nder valued and unsuppor ted in their roles.” Olivia Lopez, creative strategist and author, lamen ts the ubiquit y of “scope creep”—the notorious practice of adding t asks to a project outside of the contract—from clients w ho under valued her exper tise. “It took many years of b ad experiences to realize that overex tending of ten yie lded fruitless labor,” she explains. Unseen labor within the creative industr y, in fact , is so prevalent that nearly 60% of sur vey respondents ranked “sayin g no” as the top skill they ’d like to acquire. But it’s not all hear tbreak . WeTranfer’s 2022 Ideas Repor t also reveals an unwavering optimism within the sector, d espite a year marked by an economic downturn, geo -politica l upheavals, a climate crisis, and lest we forget , a global pandemic. With the more sophisticated communication technolog y, productivit y tools, and an overall appreciation for worke r well -being during the pandemic, many are able to fo rg e a career on their own terms more than ever. F or a vast majorit y the goal is autonomy or “the fre edo m to explore what I find exciting ever y day,” as M ar t y Bell, a Por tugal -based tech entrepreneur, puts it . Ultimately, this tumultuous period in histor y has g ive n creatives a clearer, perhaps more sobering outlook on their long-term priorities. WeTransfer’s Ideas Repor t o ff ers plent y of evidence that having control over how they spend their tim e and talents is fundamental. The most hardworking creatives admit that nur turing a creative mind means learning to regularly escape the hustle and grind . “I do have a problem with working too much,” Bell a ttests. “But it ' s also impor tant to switch o ff , to touch grass, to swi m in the sea, to wander the streets of Lisbon aimless ly withou t a phone for six hours on a Saturday af ternoon.” R o m a n t i c N ot i o n s c l e a r i n g Journalist and design critic Anne Quito Rewriting romantic my ths of the creative industr y 05 FORE WORD
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