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the theory is that adult sites drive innovation. whether its graphics, databases, bandwidth issues, layout styles, etc.. here is the most competitive of industries that virtually committed itself to online sales overnight - with one of the most fickle consumer bases ever. here designers get to test their best work, their most radical marketing schemes and have free reign for their most creative designs..
of course there is also the theory that adult sites are the only reason that anyone makes huge amounts of money on the net anymore...but that is another topic, for another forum.
now, although i have to say i have never built an adult site, i think he may have a point. i have *skimmed* (lol) a few and found their layout and sophiscation to be of extremely high quality in a lot of instances. certainly i can see how certain sites and their design firms drive a type of graphic concept into the mainstream.
what do you think?
Here's a great article on the subject
[observer.co.uk...]
I'm just guessing, but I believe that pornography, gambling, and other sectors considered to be seedy, bring in the largest levels of money on the web. I may be wrong, but if I'm not then all things being equal, it would make sense that those sectors drive innovation as, monetarilly, they have the most at stake.
thats a pretty safe reply. lol
but would you go so far as to say that designers are solving problems for these industries and we "just happen" to be getting the benefit of this work?
example: the defense industry works at breakneck speed to resolve aviation limitations, driving the process along as fast as possible to stay ahead of competition, threat etc.
commerical aviation pursuits reap the benefit of such research as it becomes available to the general public.
in the case of design. there are no top secret limitations at all. so the trickle down would conceivably happen faster.
what has been everyone's experience? are younger designers being drawn to do more adult work than in the past?
and it makes me say: what is the future of my industry? what is the future of small children? as we have been whole failures at preventing even the most obienant and innocent of children worldwide from being exposed to adult content. i mean really, tech industry is doing a horrible job of keeping adult content out of children's hands. and even the nicest kid is going to peek if she/he gets a chance. (whats the hullaboloo about?, they will ask.)
excellent article. i am forwarding it to friends and associates when i finish.
There were others that argued that what he was seeing was simply a secondary effect (i.e., vhs was cheaper to produce, thus yielding higher profit margins, thus was more adopted by porn industry which is much more interested in cost than quality).
I can't say that I've formed an opinion myself - they both seem to have merit - but these ideas were being tossed around in the late 1980's.
So its not so much that they ARE porn merchants in that are driving innovation - its more that they were the first movers and first profiters just because they were a natural (like they were for the early days of photography and moving pictures. (what the butler saw..)
The most innovation ive seen from porn sites BY FAR is increasingly sophisticated spam techniques.
Why do DVDs have the multi-angle button? :P
Or maybe these methods didn't really help the bottom line, but they were just worth a try.
perversion is just a credit card away.
One minister responsed to the story by saying that religion was another driving factor in the growth of technology.
The question then, is, who makes more money over TV? Adult channels or TV Preachers like Pat Robertson?
I find it hard to believe that VCRs and the Internet were driven by adult content needs. I do believe that once these technologies were established, the adult industry saw them as a great way to distribute product.
Think about it: Do you really think the invention of the telephone was driven by a desire for phone ***?
