CREATIVE INDUSTRY SEGMENTS Special thanks to Anne Gadwa Nicodemus (Metris Arts Consulting) for her substantial contributions to this Appendix. Firms and freelancers working in all the creative economy segments. environmental, product, and communications Cumulatively, the region’s design industries design make up the design segment of the employ about the same percentage of the Capital Region’s creative economy. They range workforce as they do in the nation overall from architects to industrial designers to (location quotient1 of 0.98). These workers printers to graphic designers. These workers command fairly high wages: $49,130/year, on and enterprises translate creative ideas into average, as of 2013. Average hourly wages blueprints for useful economic goods— range from over $70 for fashion designers to everything from cars to toothbrushes to about $13.50 for floral designers. buildings and interiors to websites and newsletters. The design segment in the Capital Region has COMMUNICATIONS DESIGN much to celebrate, from its prowess in Communications design includes all commercial lithographic printing to Hudson’s forms of design intended to emergence as an interior design hub to influence others through the creative forms of communication firms reinventing themselves to communications—graphic design, web design, adapt and compete. The region is home to a interaction design, branding, marketing, branch of the largest privately held printing printing, and commercial photography. company in the Western Hemisphere, the designer of large musical instruments made By employment measures, printing stands out out of old industrial content, and everything in as a heavyweight within the design segment. between. There were over 1,700 jobs in the region’s printing industries in 2013, with the vast Design employed just over 5,000 people in the majority (over 1,100) in lithographic printing, Capital Region in 2013, the second highest of which has a location quotient of 1.69. 1 Three companies, Quad/Graphics, IBT advertising, sound and video recording, app Hamilton, and Matthew Bender, account for the and software development, and other services. majority of these employment figures. For example, id29 in Troy uses web and Quad/Graphics employs 800 people in its one- graphic design to develop brand management million-square-foot plant in Saratoga Springs. strategies. In 2007, the firm helped market Headquartered in Wisconsin, Quad/Graphics’ the final Harry Potter book. Technology often Saratoga plant prints about 250 magazines, plays a big role in service offerings, from using catalogs, inserts, and other materials, computer animation for a marketing campaign including the annual Sports Illustrated to filming ads in in-house studios. Newkey Swimsuit Issue. The Capital Region’s second Media Solutions, located in Saratoga County, largest printing company, IBT Hamilton in heavily incorporates technology in its services, Troy, employs approximately 160 people. It which includes website and graphic design, primarily prints scientific, technical, medical, search engine optimization, and online and other professional materials. Matthew marketing, in addition to audio recording. Bender in Albany, owned by LexisNexis, prints law-related resources and employs approximately 220 people. Palio+Ignite and Fingerpaint: Two communication design success stories Unfortunately, the rise of digital technologies threatens traditional printing. Printing Palio+Ignite employs 120 people in its companies must adapt or risk obsolescence. Saratoga office (one of four across the country). This marketing and graphic For instance, LexisNexis plans to close Matthew Bender, which has operated since 1887, by the design company primarily serves clients in end of 2014. In contrast, Quad/Graphics has the healthcare and pharmaceutical worlds. Focus group members credited aggressively tried to integrate digital strategies into its printed products. One tool allows Palio+Ignite with helping spark the Capital readers to use their smart phones to scan Region’s growth in specialty communications design firms. Spin-off codes in magazines and gain access to a wealth of additional content. Smaller print company Fingerpaint’s success helps shops have adapted to pressures from digital prove this point. A Saratoga-based marketing communications firm started by technologies by diversifying their business models. Many now combine print media and two former Palio+Ignite employees, visual communication under the umbrella of Fingerpaint was the second fastest growing company in the Capital Region “graphic communications” or the “graphic arts industry.” Industry consultant Andrew Tribute from 2008 to 2012, when its revenue explains that the best way to add value to their increased over 1,000 percent. Today, it employs 80 people. In July 2013, it products is to “provide total services for clients in print and information management from acquired an Albany-based audio and video creation to delivery.” production company, whose work credits include Curb Your Enthusiasm and Beyond printing, the other subsets of the Smallville, to expand its services. More design communication group have also recently, in November of 2014, it acquired reinvented themselves. Boundaries Olson Communications, a Phoenix-based increasingly blur as firms incorporate services company that will expand Fingerpaint’s in branding; marketing; graphic, web, and services to include public relations and will interaction design; as well public relations and allow it to have a West Coast presence. advertising in the media segment. Firms typically offer clients some combination of graphic and web design, marketing, 2 Other companies that incorporate strong support network in the Capital Region communications design include Trampoline focused on educating and celebrating Design, LLC, a certified, women-owned individuals working in advertising, public business in Warren County, located in relations, marketing, and other related fields. downtown Glens Falls since 2003. An award- winning design and marketing firm with nine ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN employees, Trampoline's areas of expertise include branding, corporate identity, Architecture, landscape architecture, advertising, campaigns, illustration, packaging, and interior design make up the and interactive. Allegory Studios, located in environmental design component of Saratoga Springs, is yet another local the Capital Region’s design segment. marketing and branding firm. The Capital Region claims both prominent In this day and age, communications design architecture firms and training programs. technology is a rapidly evolving niche. Two Nationwide firms have branches in the region. University at Albany (U. Albany) Ph.D. For instance, EYP Architecture and Engineering students, for instance, launched Dumbstruck, in Albany is the region’s largest architectural an app downloaded tens of thousands of times firm. Its portfolio includes the U. Albany’s that records the reactions of people receiving $365 million NanoFab X building. Mosaic text messages and sends them back to the Associates Architects in Troy, another text sender. In another example, MadGlory in prominent firm, capitalizes on talent from RPI’s Saratoga develops software and apps for well-respected architecture program. One- clients that include Warner Bros. and Billboard. quarter of Mosaic’s employees are RPI It spun off from Troy-based video game graduates. RPI offers undergraduate, company Agora Games. master’s, and doctorate degrees in architecture. RPI also offers one of the The region’s strong higher education network country’s only master’s degrees in lighting and helps ensure new generations of talent for the a unique Lighting Research Center that engages in design-centered work. communications design industries—from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and Interior design in the Capital Region is on the Russell Sage College (Sage) to the College of rise. In 2014, there were approximately 400 Saint Rose’s highly regarded graphic design jobs in the region’s interior design services program to SUNY Adirondack’s signature new industry, a 24 percent increase from 2004. media degree. Focus group participants, Major firms include Phinney Design Group in however, acknowledged that keeping talent in Saratoga Springs, Davies Office in Albany, and the region has proven challenging. Hudson Design in Hudson. The region trains interior designers through programs like Sage At least two robust professional associations in College of Albany’s Interior Design program, the region have created strong networks which offers interior design students among individuals engaged in communications opportunities to lean about drafting, lighting, design. AIGA, the professional association for and design history, theory and sustainability. design, has a strong Upstate New York chapter Hudson’s growing reputation as a hub for that offers education, networking, and support antiques a stone’s throw away from New York to the design community, including both City has had spillover benefits for interior students and professionals. The Albany Ad design service companies. Not only do New Club, an association of professional York City designers and decorators travel to communicators founded in 1961, is also a Hudson to browse the antiques and 3 collectables, they also launch new interior Hudson is also home to two other noteworthy design galleries in the city. For instance, both designers of interior products—Digifabshop and Mark McDonald and Michael Davis