The multimedia industry today is comprised of numerous applications of multimedia across many different markets. Perhaps the most important question to ask is what justifies the use of multimedia for various applications? Is it the level of control that it delivers to the user? Is it the presentation of material in new and informative ways? Is it the ability to captivate and engage the user? Is it that multimedia saves time, resources, travel, or other costs? Is it that the brain absorbs and retains more information when the information is presented in multiple formats?

Each solution brings different challenges. For example, the steps in the process of developing a consumer multimedia CD-ROM for children are in some ways the same, but in many ways different from the steps in developing an interactive kiosk application for the large business market.

Multimedia developers can save enormous amounts of time by understanding the steps, technologies, and skills necessary to complete each stage of the development process.

The role of the artist and designer in laying out the interface and aesthetics of each project is a critical element of multimedia development, an element less emphasized in traditional software development.

Multimedia projects can employ teams with as many as 30 different roles contributing to a project. The model for multimedia development may be more comparable to a Hollywood production studio than it is to a software development model. Many new people are trying to learn new skills and manage complex environments involving both artists and developers. One challenge is managing these diverse variables to produce successful multimedia products.

Although there are many multimedia developers creating products these days, their numbers are small when you consider the digital boom of trillion-dollar industries. There is PLENTY of room for many more players and individual styles. Will you be part of the revolution?

As a multimedia developer, you have to be aware that there is a lot more involved then just designing and making that interactive CD work, you have to interact with clients, business professionals, legal eagles, marketing and sales experts, and don't forget your audience. Some of them are discussed in their categories:

Audience

Each type of project is likely to appeal to a different audience and channel of distribution. Traditional media and subject matter have their loyal followings. Readers have their books and magazines, moviegoers have films, and music fans buy CDs and cassettes. In many cases multimedia appeals to the same audiences along traditional lines of interest. Multimedia, however, expands the media through interaction, offering greater depth and providing added materials. For example, dictionaries can be searched instantly or an action game about sports can provide multiple camera views as well as player and team information.

Clients

A client is a person or company that commissions a piece of work from an outside and independent grou0p. While some multimedia projects are created directly for the marketplace, others are created for clients under specific direction. Clients fund and sponsor multimedia producers to build specific products. Rather than acquiring equipment and hiring people internally, the client commissions the Production Company to design an interactive project based on either new or repurposed client content. A production company or production house is a group that designs and creates a product commonly under the sponsorship of a client. A large amount of multimedia business falls to custom projects commissioned by clients. Clients are motivated to bring a project quickly to market with low costs. The client typically provides content, thematic direction, and a background of their audience.

Business and Legal Professionals

Business and law often play meaningful roles in multimedia companies; however, not all companies need an array of business or legal resources. Where it is most helpful is in small companies that have plans to grow. A small consulting business or production house may not need complex accounting and inventory systems. But companies that want to create several titles or work on several projects at once often have a need to bring in specialists to put in systems or procedures to free others to create and develop. Developers may also need legal help, for example, when signing publishing agreements or content licensing agreements.

Marketing and Sales managers

Innovative and flexible marketing, sales, and distribution strategies can provide a competitive advantage in the rapidly changing marketplace of multimedia. Keeping balance in the midst of ever-changing technology, broadening audiences and converging industries are often compared to surfing, where the skilled surfers search out and ride the largest waves while the unprepared shy away and settle for the ones left behind. Aggressive companies make use of their marketing and sales people through out a project, relying heavily on their skills in planning as well as in preparation for distribution.

Content Experts

Content includes the text, video, audio, and illustrations that convey the subject matter of a multimedia product. A content expert is someone who knows a subject area intimately and can help a project team find and select materials for a multimedia product. Content experts come from all walks of life: teachers, historians, amateur researchers, or anyone who can speak with knowledge and authority about a subject. For example, a corporate training program about customer service can draw on the expertise of the company's customer service representative.

Writers, Editors, and Researchers

Many believe that interactive multimedia, with its emphasis on pictures and sound, will kill what little desire our children still have for books, others agree that multimedia will not finish off the printed word unless we let it. Long before electronic media, descriptive writing was the chief means of communicating experiences to a wide audience. With multimedia, text moves into a bigger arena. Words are no longer the only tools available to describe content. An image can be used instead and replace a page or two of text. Text is still a viable medium, but it must work with other elements, such as sound and pictures.

Graphics Professionals

Graphic skills are essential to all multimedia projects. They are needed to create pictures and the layout and visual design of the electronic product. They may also be involved in designing packaging, documentation, and supplemental print materials. Photographs and illustrations add meaning and create understanding in way that text or sound cannot. A graphic designer lays out screens, designs icons and symbols, establishes type specs and color schemes, and decides on the overall visual balance of elements. Therefore imagery must balance other media. For example, the mood of a picture should work with the mood established by music.

Sound Professionals

Sound design is integral to multimedia production, providing a distinct level of communication. Sound can communicate while other things are happening. Voice-overs and historical speeches can convey meaning and emotion in a completely different way than displayed text. Good sound professionals can make a big difference to any project. They should not be overlooked when animation or video is added. Studies have shown that good sound quality is often more important than good video quality. People consistently believe that a TV with better sound quality actually has a better picture than one with poorer sound even though the two picture tubes are the same.

Animators

Animation is a common element in many multimedia projects. It is the creation of moving illustrations that help users visualize a process, idea, or abstract concept in a way that it is not easily communicated through words or single pictures. Animation may be the only affordable way to show something, compared to the expense of video. Any type of product - kiosks, electronic books, and games - can use animations but they should be appropriate for both the content and the style of the product. An animator uses the illusion of movement and depth to present active ideas about processes.

Video Professionals

Video is a powerful and versatile medium. Videos can present intimate views, on-the-scene reports, or interviews with personalities. Video production can be one of the most expensive undertakings in a multimedia project and requires special planning and coordination of people and equipment.

Information Designers, Interface Designers, and Programmers

A multimedia project can have great content, but without organized access to information and a clear, usable and attractive interface, it may not find much use. An information designer is someone who is versed in different ways of organizing information. New and enriching revelations can arise by organizing information in nontraditional or more pronounced ways.

A good interface designer is someone skilled in both visual presentation and interaction skills in the electronic domain. Good interfaces and interaction schemes often go unnoticed. If people are spending more time trying to figure out how to work an interface than reading or entering text or looking at images or videos, than something is wrong.

It is almost always necessary in multimedia development to have someone with programming skills on the team. Programmers typically script for an authoring system.