NEW YORK -- January 9, 2003 -- TrendWatch Graphic Arts today released a special report, which analyzes the next five years for creative professionals in the graphic arts industry. According to the report, through 2007 creative professionals will be called upon to integrate increasingly more complex technologies in order to reach increasingly more targeted audiences. Thus the need for specialization among creative professionals, especially among smaller operations, will take on greater significance. In addition, creative professionals increasingly believe they're in competition with corporate marketing departments and freelancers, which is exactly why specialization is a critical business survival strategy. The TrendWatch Graphic Arts "Design & Production 2007" report is available for online purchase at the TWGA eStore in PDF format. For more information, go to the TWGA website (www.trendwatchgraphicarts.com). Researcher's Quote... "Design projects in the coming years are going to become increasingly complex and target multiple audiences with customized messages, content, and delivery methods, said Vince Naselli, Director, TrendWatch Graphic Arts. "As a result, design professionals are going to reach out to other departments and experts so that they work at optimal efficiency. This trend toward cross-media communications, involving the entire corporate enterprise, will shape the investments, challenges, and opportunities facing creative professionals from now until 2007 and beyond." According to the Report... TWGA finds the following trends emerging: -- MARKET STATUS: The U.S. creative markets are quite stable, and they will continue to be so in the coming years. Despite changes in the tools used to create their final products-and some changes in what their final products actually are or will be-the overall market and the individual market segments have been remarkably consistent; -- HOT INVESTMENTS: Color proofers will remain a "hot" investment item for creative professionals, as more and more client staffers become involved in the production processes, they'll all want to see hard copy color proofs (which will increasingly be e-mailed to them as PDF files); -- WORKFLOWS: Workflows that increase productivity and enable flexible use of content will be the nucleus of design and production professionals' activities in the coming years. To those ends, they will increasingly rely on such technologies as PDF, XML, digital asset management, and color management. Who Should Buy This Report... The Design & Production 2007 report offers trend analysis of the professional creative segments of the graphic communications industry, including Graphic Designers, Commercial Photographers, Ad Agencies, and Corporate Designers. In addition to aiding creative professionals in shaping their strategic direction, vendors, suppliers, distributors and even end-users of design software, digital photography, color management, cross-media technologies and most other innovations targeted at this segment, will benefit from this report. It provides sales and marketing professionals a better understanding of the market's future expectations, and requirements, as well as the changing dynamics of each segment. Methodology... The TrendWatch Graphic Arts "Design & Production 2007" report was developed by analyzing data from the TWGA 2002-2003 Design & Production Atlas, as well as reviewing data cuts from the TWGA historical database. The database was created from responses to our Design & Production questionnaire sent in from creative professionals twice a year. Our survey includes over 6000 creative professionals for the year with a 12-15 % response rate. Creative Professionals are defined as professionals actively working as Graphic Designers, Commercial Photographers, Ad Agency Creative Professionals, or Corporate Designers. Their responses, along with historical data collected through similar research, enables TWGA to determine reliable trends in the creative markets of the graphic arts industry. Availability... The 107-page TWGA "Design & Production 2007" 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 report is $1595. TrendWatch Graphic Arts eStore customers can download this report in PDF Acrobat format immediately after purchase.