Design Killers

In the last few months I have seen some trends that spark some fear for my profession. I believe some of the following practices and/or trends may be leading to the dilution and even destruction of our profession.

Free Work
Spec work could potentially be the ultimate design killer. In the past, I have applied for a several freelance jobs in which they’ve responded a full day’s work is necessary just to prove that I could the job and only then, would I be qualified to be considered for the job. Did they not look at my extensive, ten-year in the making portfolio? Since when did design work become a lottery raffle? More importantly, why do I have to compete with a nineteen-year-old design student who is willing to do anything, for any price? What makes this even worse is the clients who are propagating spec work to get the quickest and cheapest result, regardless of quality. Good design is not a commodity and not something that should be exploited.

Inspirational Showcases Galleries
It seems like every week a new showcase or listing of top notch websites pops up, and more often than not, I question the validity of the chosen and the requirements by which the sites are picked. Who are the judges? Where do they find the sites? Do they have a list of criteria? Do the submitters generally know the judges, or do they just submit so often, the judges showcase the site eventually? I suppose rewarding the B student is the new standard. Rewarding designers for learning how to use Wordpress will only weaken the pool. There are a few quality showcases of course, but lately there’s more showcase galleries than there are quality sites.

Originality
Remember that time, when you had to come up with your own ideas? Now it’s all done for you. Because of the internet’s overflow of ideas, developing an original idea is becoming more and more difficult. More often than not your “genius idea” has all ready been done, and done well. For example, these three highly rated designers have somehow used the exact same layout, wording and basic color scheme for their portfolio site. Interesting. Perhaps they are working together as a conspiracy.

Do it yourself.
Pretty soon there will be a shop like Home Depot, or Lowes for designers. With the future of free, open source software, weekend warriors are given the tools to design their own logo, business cards and build their own website. Much like carpentry, there are well qualified craftsmen and then there’s my uncle who has a few hand tools and likes This Old House. In either case, they both could build you a house. Who would you choose?

I’m willing to say that Wordpress, for example, is assisting in the destruction of well thought out design. Every day out comes another list of 50 or 100 free Wordpress themes. Smashing Magazine, in response to my accusation that they are taking work away from professionals, commented, “These themes are for learning. We wouldn’t assume people would steal them.”

Really Smashing Mag? It appears to me that half of the designers out there are changing a few graphics from an existing theme, or combining several components from other themes into one. Their innovation is limited by the understanding of code.

Post by matt on 04/15
Business • Web • (0) Comments •