Commentary

Post-PC Creativity: A Manifesto

We are living through the most exciting time ever. A paradoxical era of spectacular technology and puzzling inability. An era in which anything is not possible but everything is within reach. Technology has not yet afforded us the ability to create anything we can imagine, but it has planted the seed with which we can imagine anything.

At the cross section of art, copy, technology and the human body and brain lies the dawn of a new era—a new age in which storytellers of every order are armed with the ability to make magic. My friends, this is indeed a renaissance of creativity. This is the post-PC creative era.

What exactly does this mean?

At the risk of moving too far into academia, post-PC creativity finds its roots in both technology and thought. From a technology and product perspective we find the origin of “post-PC” defined in the prophetic words of Steve jobs (excerpt here and full video here), “Technology is not enough…it’s technology married with liberal arts…married with the humanities that yields us the result that makes our hearts sing.” As evidenced in this statement, and the total body of what we know of Steve Jobs, his vision was not wholly rooted in technology—Jobs was interested in technology as extensions of ourselves.

The technology world has already put forth an organized definition of post-PC, but those of us working in the creative services world require a distinctive definition to make this notion actionable. For the purposes of the creative services professional, the post-PC creative era cannot be defined by technology alone. It must also be outlined by thought. One can look to postmodernist theory, or more specifically, Martin Heidegger’sHermeneutic circle, “…the idea that one's understanding of the text as a whole is established by reference to the individual parts and one's understanding of each individual part by reference to the whole."

At the cross section of Jobs’ and Heidegger’s we find post-PC creativity. Consider the following as a working definition of post-PC creativity: “Storytelling in which the sum total of technologies, (past and present) arts and empathy fueled user experience design converge in a non-linear, holistic perception of a given entity”

When using this definition as a springboard for brand communications, all of the following must be included; social media, mobile marketing, web design, search marketing, tablet marketing, augmented reality, sensor technology (RFID and NFC) and every other vehicle employed to deliver a branded message.

It is only when one comes to the realization that creativity can include a mesh of what was, is and will be that they can truly become a post-PC creative. When this realization is unencumbered by the political separation of strategic management over various media, the true magic of our current condition can truly manifest.

 

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