New Challenges, New Skills, New Opportunities

Please forgive me that this article is a little more about my personal journey than the majority of my posts. In this piece, I intend to reflect on the changes within the design world and the ever-changing nature of the skillset needed and so it's easiest to do that by telling my own story and reflecting on the changes I've witnessed over three decades in the industry.

How it started

I started earning money as a designer in the late 1980s - working freelance whilst still a student. So if I counted my freelance years I could claim over 35 years to draw these observations from.

I completed a Diploma in 1988, specialising in Graphic Design, with a minor in photography. During those studies, I was taught the basics of typography by a world-renowned calligraphy expert, and photography by an award-winning journalistic photographer. Many of the core disciplines focused on could be categorised as basic drawing and hand skills. Ideas were important, but execution was probably more important to obtain the best grades.

During this diploma, I developed a specialist skill - that I'll circle back to later: I would develop photographs, with layered negatives, and complex masks and I applied the developing chemicals using brushes, to create an almost watercolour, painterly effect to the final image. This was highly complex and meant hours of work in the darkroom - sometimes days. The relevance of telling you this will become clear later.

In 1989 I enrolled on a BA (Hons) in Visual Communication - again specialising in Graphic Design.

For the old-school graphic designers reading this, one of the modules of my first year taught us 'casting-off', and other text/type skills, that even then I knew were soon-to-be-dead skills in the professional industry.?

I had already encountered Apple Macs, whilst freelancing at an agency in the Midlands, and had foreseen the end of typesetting gallies - and the demise of the highly skilled people that worked those Linotype and Berthold machines. One of the biggest upheavals seen in the graphic design world was just beginning. Macs were just hitting the art schools in the mid-late 80s and their impact was still in its infancy. But the trajectory of travel was clear to see.

Starting work

I graduated in 1992 and began work immediately for a national charity. The studio had large drawing boards, Rotring pens, cow gum and a Spray-mount booth. We used a grant camera, scalpels and 'non-print blue' pencil leads.

Artwork for print was created on paste-up boards in black & white. None of these things will mean anything to anyone who started working much later than the mid-90s.

From that first paycheque, I immediately started saving to buy myself an Apple Mac and the software of the day. By the time I left this first job (in 1996), I had successfully introduced Apple Macs into the design studio at the charity and initiated the transition to desktop publishing.?

By the time I left that next job, in 1998, everything we created, except the occasional illustration, was done by computer.?

Those hours and days of work in the photography darkroom could now be replicated in a faction of the time within Photoshop (with more controllable results too) and so no one was prepared to pay the fees that my specialist skill had once commanded.

Most of the hand skills I spent years developing were now no longer a recognisable part of the regular design process. Text was now designed 'live' on screen, both paste-up boards and drawing boards had vanished from studios, which increasingly looked more like computer rooms - with workstations and banks of external hard drives, networks and servers all becoming the norm.

Magnetic tape and floppy discs, gave way to DAT tape then came CD Roms, USB sticks, Zip drives, Jazz drives, followed by Lazer discs, then external hard-drives and NAS storage. But these simply represent the ever-changing nature of our tech-driven world.

In terms of design new programs meant the start of the new skills ladder to be climbed. Technology is always moving forward and doing so at ever-increasing speeds. The programs we use alter, some disappear, others evolve and develop, and yet more new tools arrive every few months. In more recent years the industry has transitioned again to embrace cloud working and storage.?We no longer tend to own the software we use, we rent it via subscription models.

Changing Times

Graphic designers have transformed from creating primarily print-based communications to being at the driving edge of a digital world. Every brand needs an online presence and the majority of social media is image/video biased so the visual storyteller's skills are evident everywhere.?

Modern logos have to be considered in both static and motion formats, indeed, every aspect of a visual identity has to have thought applied to address how it will present in all scenarios and through any delivery media - using the nature of that media to best effect.

Graphic designers are now expected to be able to bring User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) thinking to their projects. But also to be coders, image editors, videographers and editors, plus a host of other skills.?

The ever-growing skill set is matched by an ever-increasing list of software programs that their employers expect them to be fully conversant with. I'll freely admit I'm not all that comfortable with this continuously expanding scenario as I firmly believe that the programs should simply be viewed as tools and nothing more. It concerns me when the programs themselves seem to direct or dictate design outcomes, rather than having great creative ideas driving the design process and the programs employed as needed for execution and delivery.?

Most of the programs that I purchased with my first Mac, way back in the 90s, still exist today - but they are unrecognisable in everything other than their names. Market leaders then are now 'also rans' having lost most of their market share to rivals that arrived with a more holistic and integrated software approach. Some 'must have ' programs have disappears completely from the modern graphic designers' arsenal. Each new iteration and update release of those we do use brings new advancements and new features. The learning curve for any working designer simply to be able to keep working is a steep one and seems growing ever steeper.

I recently had a conversation with someone coming back into the trade after several years?career?break. They felt completely overwhelmed by 'what they didn't know' and how out-of-touch they felt with what many employers seem to consider the basic tools of the trade.?

I had to remind them of what they did know. Their ability to craft engaging design work. Their ability to understand a brief, relate to their clients and offer different perspectives and interpretations of a brief. Their ability to empathise with both clients and their audience and craft work that addressed both those agendas.?

Their design education and experience?are?still of value, but they will probably have to enrol on a few training courses to familiarise themselves with modern software programs. Technical and practical tasks can be taught far easier and quicker than the time it takes to mould a truly creative mind.?

Juggling

But the same conversation also happened with a recent student whom I mentor. Now working and trying to build a life, career, and relationship they felt they couldn't keep all the plates spinning. They also expressed that as a student they had time to dedicate to the different programs and had great technical ability but they approached me to mentor them as they didn't feel they had a grounding in how 'the business' works and wanted to understand the strategic work we do with our clients ... the brain power and working with clients stuff. (Perhaps I should suggest these two work together as between them they have all the skills they need - until the next new program hit anyway!)

However, there are plenty of courses that can teach the "how to" of new software. Keeping pace with ALL the new programs and tools, I suggest, from this time onward, will be a struggle for any working designer.

Trying to do it all will, in reality, mean probably mean that the general proficiency level will remain quite shallow across that broad range of 'graphic design activities'. I don't think this is ideal for either designers or their clients.?

Spread thin or deep-dive

Branding, identity, logo, print design, layout, artwork creation, packaging, advertising, publishing, direct marketing, motion, animation, photo-editing, video-editing, presentations, pitch decks, illustration, vector graphics, infographics, email design, digital design, website design, HTLM, social media, content campaigns, GIFs, memes, communications design, photography, videography ... I've seen recruiters adverts that request all of the above and some will add copywriting and proof-reading skills as well as Microsoft office expertise and project management too.?

I've also seen recruiters?state specific?programs by name: Canva,?Figma sit alongside the "traditional" creative programs - asking for digital archiving experience or various specified coding languages. I get that companies may already have assets in certain programs but being so wedded to specific software strikes me as a risk to any business (and indeed to our industry).

If we did a classic SWOT analysis this is a scenario that would be firmly in the Threats box.

Some of these diverse requests seem to stretch the definition of a graphic designer in several diverse directions at once. And I'd suggest, stretching them rather thinly too.

If one individual can cover all these skills and programs in sufficient depth then I'm yet to meet them. Each specific skill stated is, in reality, a missed opportunity.

An opportunity to add quality and strength in depth. An opportunity to maximise what 'advanced thinking'?and 'specialists'?bring to a business.

This is where we add value to clients. Not a thin veneer of skills across a wide plethora of tasks - but diving deep into a select set of truly honed skills. I would suggest, this is a better way for each?individual?designer can address the challenges our ever-changing industry poses.?

The changes witnessed in the graphic design industry do offer new challenges. But there are many new opportunities too.

Personally,?I have chosen to concentrate on brand strategy and brand design - which are the areas I enjoy most but also through which feel I can offer the most effective and transformative value to my clients. This is where I can add the most ROI for them.?

If the scope of the?client?brief means we need a website builder then we've nurtured relationships with numerous specialists whom we can collaborate with. If they need a specific coding language then, again, there are various experts who can be drawn in.

Back in the day, Creative Directors and Design Managers used to be hired on the strength of their work and on their 'little black book' - the connections they had and the people they could call on to deliver a project. These days our networks of connections tend to be more visible (eg. LinkedIn) but also more fluid - however, the collaborative nature of creative teams remains and functions in exact the same fashion.

The flip-side of the 'seasoned designer' trying to keep abreast of new advancements, I have noted, is also evident. I have met young designers who are so immersed in the digital world that they simply don't always consider the technicalities needed for design assets to exist as physical entities.?

I've also encountered clients who don't understand that these different 'end-use' requirements and file destinations will necessitate different approaches - but they rarely listen when told their requests can't be carried out. Online items can't simply be resized for print. In the same way that an A4 magazine ad can't be simply resized to create a billboard. Knowing the end-use at the briefing stage is crucial for efficient?work-flow?- so the team can create the relevant files from the outset to deliver ALL the final items needed.?

When I've had people complain to me about designers who have charged additional fees, almost without fail when I explore the situation a little further, the issue is usually that?the scope of the project?has altered from that agreed and costed in the original briefing. Perhaps the designers should have interrogated the brief a little more thoroughly. Perhaps the clients should have been a little more forthcoming with information. Most probably the truth is a little of both. But it's invariably true to say that these tensions point to the fact that communications could have been better throughout the project. Team members that work together rather than in silo usually have far fewer tensions, better communication and I think often generate the best creative output.

I have contemporaries who are no longer hands-on designs, but who now make a living as the conduit between clients and design teams. Ensuring that the brief is fit for purpose and that the designers have all the information they need. They spend their days facilitating smooth communications throughout the design and production process. (It's another new specialism if you like - or it's the old Production Manager and Account Manager roles reimagined as one entity).?

I try to build a collaborative work dynamic from?the client?to each specialist involved in the delivery. When everyone feels invested and?that we?are all working together to the same end goal, then I generally find the results are far superior.

We all recognise that progress happens and with technology, it's proven to be an exponential increase in speed. We can not stand still.

We all know that change is uncomfortable - that growth comes with growing pains, and happens when we are outside of our comfort zone.?

There are and always will be new challenges. I've not even mentioned the impact of AI and the potential game-changer it might be as that could be an entire article in itself.?

I might be wrong. Maybe, I will not be working as a designer in a few years because I've lost touch with the new delivery programs. Perhaps.

But I've chosen my path. I'm banking on the creative, problem-solving nature of 'design thinking'. I believe those are skills that will be needed for a long time yet. And I believe that they are skills that will open more doors than knowing the correct keyboard commands to do something or the right?spread-sheet?formula.