The manifesto of Design luddism
In a world where Design is becoming easier and more accessible, what is the role of the designer today and in the future? In a climate where anyone can design their own website with little training and little time, what is the point of a web designer? When an AI can create a beautiful illustration in 10 minutes, what is the point of an illustrator? Although many would throw their hat in the ring, the truth is that nothing could compare to a well-educated and skilled professional Designer. There are subtleties to Design that the untrained eye could never pick up on, and no matter how easy technology makes it, these things take a lot of time and effort to do. There are seven primary ways that a Designer can prove their worth in the modern world of Design.
1) They must use their creativity that can only be found in the human mind. If you are an artist, your creativity is your most important asset, and it should be used in a way that no one or nothing else could ever do.
2) Although not always necessary, hand-done work takes much more effort than working at a computer. A physical product will typically outshine a digital image on a screen. Although good work can be done digitally, there is more care and effort in a physical product.
3) Riding on that, Design should not be a copy and paste strategy where you just plug in words and images into a design and call it a day. Everything should be considered and unique to the experience, which will make the design truly special. Every project should be done uniquely for it’s own purpose.
4) Another important way to ensure the importance of a Designer is that they can see and recognize Design trends. Whether you want to stay ahead of it, ride the trend, or simply avoid it, trends cannot be properly managed by a machine or a layman.
5) When you look at the biggest most influential designers in Design history, you see many big names attached to famous designs, typically the designer being more famous than the work. It is important for the future of designers their name can be associated with the work, rather than the work being a faceless image. By keeping the artist in the art, the work will always have personality and life to it.
6) An important aspect of not only Design but all Art, is understanding the context of imagery and using it intentionally. Every decision in good Art should be considered and used with proper knowledge on why the artist is doing what they are doing. To randomly put text and image on a composition can create a design, but it does not create good design.
7) Last but not least, always stay ambitious and being experimental. Design done by a non-designer could be good design, but it will always be safe. The most important aspect in the history of Design is how rebellious and experimental it could be. A machine cannot experiment in a meaningful way and it takes a good understanding of the rules of Design in order to break them.
Advances in technology in recent years have made Design easier than ever. In just months there have been massive advances in AI image generation that was thought impossible not long ago. This asks a major question, what is the role of the designer in the years to come, when technology could almost entirely replace the job of a trained graphic designer when there are so many cheap alternatives. The reality is that there is no need to worry, because nothing can replace the human touch and creativity of a graphic designer.