NEW YORK -- October 27, 2004 -- TrendWatch Graphic Arts today released its annual forecast report for the creative graphic arts community. In the report, TWGA indicates that expectations and data trends both point to an upward swing for creative businesses in the year 2005. The report, "Creative Forecast 2005: The Trendwatch Graphic Arts Perspective on the Challenges and Opportunities For Creative Firms in the Next 12 Months and Beyond," indicates that there is a 13% increase in firms reporting "excellent" business over the last 12 months, and a 12% increase in creative firms expecting "excellent" business over the next 12 months. TWGA reports are available for online purchase at the TWGA eStore in PDF format (http://www.trendwatchgraphicarts.com). Researcher's Comments... "As the economy rebounds and continues its strive towards health, business will continue to be good for creative firms," notes the TWGA Analyst Report. "As the economy improves, companies economy-wide are buoyed by the rising economic tide, which means more spending on advertising and marketing, and more of a desire to experiment with new types of campaigns, be they personalized and printed or some variety of online ads. This translates into better business for creative firms, but also the need to focus on overall media strategy rather than simple design and production tasks. We expect it will be an exciting time of experimentation and innovation that will retain the spirit of-if not the same level of material reward as-the late 1990s." According to the Report... -- PRICING A CHALLENGE: 51% of all creative firms cited "pricing" as a challenge, the highest it's ever been. Media mix issues don't easily fit into traditional pricing models for creative work, so these firms have to make it up as they go along; -- PUBLISHERS BUSINESS CONDITIONS: In the past year the Business Conditions Index for publishers has more than doubled from 41.28 to 88.19; -- DESIGN CHALLENGE: "implementing cross-media applications as a business challenge hit an all-time high, as 24% of all design and production firms cited this. Despite the ebb and flow of industry hype, the "cross-media" issue hasn't entirely resolved itself; -- PUBLISHING EXPECTATIONS: 38% publishing firms expect business next year to be "excellent, better than the last 12 months," up from 25% just 12 months ago; -- IN-HOUSE DTP: "Clients doing their own desktop publishing work" as a business challenge for design and production firms hit a record high of 49% this Summer -- at 57%, graphic designers are feeling the pinch more than other creative markets. Availability... The TrendWatch Graphic Arts "Creative Forecast 2005: The Trendwatch Graphic Arts Perspective on the Challenges and Opportunities For Creative Firms in the Next 12 Months and Beyond" report is available for purchase by visiting the secure TrendWatch Graphic Arts eStore online at www.trendwatchgraphicarts.com or by phone at 866-873-6310. The price for the 160-page report is $995. TrendWatch Graphic Arts eStore customers can download this report in PDF Acrobat format immediately after purchase.