Design Teams

Do you think one person produced the GoLive demo that we explored a little while back? One extremely talented person could have developed it, but most likely, it was developed by a team of multimedia professionals. Why is the team approach commonplace? Diverse skill sets are required to develop effective multimedia. Multimedia tools are complex to use and require specialized knowledge (of different types of media such as sound or animation) and extensive training and practice. Therefore, it would be difficult to find one person who possesses all the skill sets needed to develop a project. Using a team brings a wider range of creativity and personal experience to a project. In addition, since accelerating the time to market is extremely important in the Internet economy of the 21^st century, a team approach is essential to ensuring that products are developed quickly.

Below are the possible members of a multimedia development team. Not every project team will contain all of these players. The composition of the team is dependent upon the size and complexity of the project.

Instructional Designer

Equivalent Job Titles – Multimedia Designer, Interface Designer.

Average Compensation – Uncertain – Varies significantly depending upon training and experience.

Responsibilities

Instructional designers are the systems analysts of the multimedia world. They primarily work with clients and the development team to develop a plan for the project. Their main responsibilities are as follows:

• Development of problem definition statement – By meeting with the client, they determine the overall goals and objectives for the project. This includes identification of the target audience.
  
  
• Assessment and development of instructional strategies – Determining appropriate instructional strategies based on the concepts being communicated and the composition of the target audience.

• Creation of storyboards
  
  
• Designing user interfaces

• Work with writers and graphic artists to develop scripts and graphics needed for the package^x

• Develop working prototypes to develop the look and feel of concepts^xi
  
  
• Evaluation of finished product – As portions of the project are finished, the instructional designers review the work to ensure compliance with the storyboard designs and the project goals and objectives.

Skills

• Thorough understanding of instructional design and learning theories
  
  
• Training in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
  
  
• Understanding the capabilities and limitations of popular multimedia software packages to enable the formulation of ideas that are technically feasible to accomplish
  
  
• Ability to lead, inspire and motivate team members

Education – A four-year degree in education, art, digital design or new media is usually required. Master's degrees in instructional design are increasingly common.

Project Manager

Each team needs a leader and the project manager fills this role. Project management in multimedia is virtually identical to the same role in systems development. For more information on this career, click here.

Programmer (or Technical Specialists)^xii

Data must be manipulated and code must be written to construct portions of the multimedia presentations. Programmers, working from project specifications developed by the instructional designers, perform these tasks. Preparation for a multimedia programming career takes the same path as preparing for a systems development programming career. Click here for more information on careers in programming.

Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

Pretend your multimedia development company just landed a contract to construct a multimedia training product for nuclear reactor operators. You should have plenty of writers, instructional designers, media producers, graphic artists, project managers and programmers on hand to work on this project. However, it is unlikely that you have any nuclear engineers on your staff. In order to complete this project you are going to need people who are conversant with nuclear engineering and nuclear power plants. Therefore, you will need to hire subject matter experts (SMEs) to round out your development team. The SMEs will work with your instructional designers and writers to generate the design of the program and text and scripts needed to produce the product. In cases of complex topics (such a nuclear engineering), your SMEs may function as your writers also. SMEs also typically provide test items and exercises for the end-users.

There is no particular way to train as an SME. However, if you are extremely knowledgeable in a certain field, are personable and work well in teams, you should could consider going into multimedia development. Taking training courses on instructional design and multimedia development tools would be helpful. Then begin approaching multimedia development companies for work on a freelance basis. Salaries for SMEs vary widely depending on your level of expertise and demand for knowledge in your field.

Writers – If SMEs are not required due to the non-technical nature of a presentation, non-specialized writers can be utilized. The writers prepare the scripts for the talent recording sound and video clips as well as drafting any text required for on screen presentation. This career is similar to content creation careers that were discussed in the web development section. Click here for more information << insert link to content management/creation section >>.

Graphic Designer

Equivalent Job Titles – Graphic Artist, Computer Graphics Technician, Commercial Artist.

Median Income – $34,800^xiii

Responsibilities

• Work with instructional designers, writers and project managers to determine the graphics needed for the project
  
  
• Search for existing media – Clip media (art, photographs, video) can be purchased to save the time and expense of creating it. The company may already own suitable media bought or created for a previous project.
  
  
• Use computer software (or conventional media such as painting or photography) to create, digitize or edit media.

Skills

• Experience with various mediums including computer-generated art
  
  
• Manual dexterity to perform fine manipulations in computer graphics packages
  
  
• Creativity and imagination
  
  
• Good sense of color and form^xiv

Education – Demonstration of your abilities through a portfolio of your work, as opposed to displaying academic credentials, leads to being hired in this profession. However, to gain the necessary skills to produce a portfolio, most individuals enter a bachelor's degree program in fine arts, graphic design or visual communications.^xv Make sure you look for a program that teaches traditional art techniques as well as computer graphics.

Media Producers (audio/video)

Equivalent Job Titles – Sound/Video Engineer, Sound/Video Producer, Electronic Musician, Electronic Sound/Video Producer.^xvi

Average Compensation – $25,000 to $60,000.^xvii Salary varies widely based on experience, the nature of the work and the size of the company.

Responsibilities

• Work with instructional designers, writers and project managers to determine the sound/video clips and background music needed for the project
  
  
• Search for existing media – Clip media (music, sound, video) can be purchased to save the time and expense of creating it. If existing clip media cannot be located at the company, it will have to be purchased or created.
  
  
• Use computer software, sound recording equipment and video cameras to create, digitize or edit the media required for the project. This may include engaging subcontractors (especially for music scores) to produce the media.
  
  
• Selecting and hiring talent for narration, actors for video segments, etc.

Skills

• Experience with sound and video equipment including computer software and hardware.
  
  
• Creativity and imagination
  
  
• Familiarity with sound/video production techniques including lighting and set design.
  
  
• Flair for editing scripts to fit the mood being set
  
  
• Ability to meet tight deadlines

Education – Practical experience is often more important than academic credentials. However, having a bachelor's degree in new media engineering, video/film production or sound engineering would be helpful.

Editors – These folks are necessary to review and edit all script developed for a project. Paying special attention to detail, these folks ensure that there are no grammar or spelling errors, check for continuity between sections and perform fact checking and verification. Nothing will make you look incompetent faster than delivering a $500,000 multimedia project to a client with a spelling error on the first screen. People pursuing editorial careers find they are similar to writing or content creation careers, although they generally earn slightly less since they are not producing the content.

Multimedia Professional Certifications

Multimedia-based certifications are rare. However, Macromedia does have a certification program centered on their products:

• Macromedia Certified Professional (MMCP) – Comes in four different flavors: Certified ColdFusion Developer, Certified Web Site Developer, Certified Macromedia Flash Developer, and Certified Dreamweaver Developer. Each certification requires passing one examination. Details can be found at www.macromedia.com.

As areas such as the Internet and distance education continue to grow, so should the demand for quality multimedia products. Therefore, demand for multimedia professionals should remain strong for the near future.