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the future of design

Today a condescending salesman informed me that automation will make the future of design obsolete. He introduced me to his multitalented intern who just does his company’s graphic design for free, since it’s her easy self-taught hobby. He told me that in 5 years all graphic design will be automated, rendering the profession obsolete. From this man’s comments I see that in order for the general public to grasp design’s true potential, there’s a need to reconceptualize the way it’s commonly understood. Since I would like to retain my belief in active imagination as a powerful agent in the world, I’d like to step on a soapbox to the future of human-generated design is undoubtably fruitful.

Much of this argument feels absolutely redundant in a time when people seem to be screaming from their rooftops about the importance of creative work in our future. “Creative” is now a broad moniker used to describe professionals in fields ranging from design to project management, and rightly so, for an exclusivist members-only mentality about creativity greatly limits the amount of necessary collective innovation required for a bright future.

The recognition of creativity in a broader range of professions has been accompanied by a rising number of self-identifying designers. Increased access to affordable software and intuitive digital tools has cultivated a do-it-yourself culture, which has created a shift in the traditional course of specialized production. People’s contagious desire to dispense all insights has been met with endless opportunities for information sharing—this has lead to the emergence of the entrepreneurial self-taught designer. The profession’s widespread popularity and quick adoption has lead to a decreased understanding of the nuances in the design process. The true value of design method, not the result. There’s a stress on conceptual thinking in design schools, but the details of the process are often neglected in accessible design tutoring resources online. I do not mean to imply that a good designer needs a classic training. This is far from true in our ever evolving digital landscape. The criteria for becoming an expert—once indicated by a fancy education, accolades and an impressive resume—has significantly lessened. In this new culture of designers it is crucial to highlight the importance of the process. By strengthening imaginative thinking in the design process, the profession be immune to the threats of automation.

Shortcut approaches to design so common because avoiding the details of the envisioning process makes the medium feels more approachable. Design is an accessible tool with the ability to empower the masses to share their message, to positive effect. Graphic design allows more people to feel they have an agency to create change, and successful design has the powerful ability organize movements lacking coherency in order to form and direct resistance.

So yes, expanded design access is largely valuable, but it does come with a few drawbacks. The design services that are presently automated— logo and color scheme generators—create the illusion that design merely requires a simple formula. Templatized solutions reinforce this idea, and their popularity makes it easy to overlook the complexity of the design process. Design undeniably relies on rules, but these rules should provide a framework for human creativity, and not a formula for computers. Quick design solutions produce a culture that has little understanding, respect, or appreciation for creation. We can help insure design’s vibrant future if we acknowledge the many nuances in the practice.

Flooding the world with immediate design will threaten to dilute its power, rendering it so scattered and incoherent that it escapes any definition. We are approaching a future where dispersed design threatens to become so abstract as to evade understanding, so it is important for us to train and strengthen the design thinking process in order to generate truly thoughtful solutions.

When this insensitive salesman commented on the oblivion of the design profession, he was exposing his limited understanding of what design actually is. He saw design as a system of colors, as a pretty typographic system or branding bible. It’s quite easy to equate a design with its product. Picture, text, timeline, comic strip, map, network grap, venn diagram, scatter plot, bubble chart, bar chart, pie chart, type, icons, gifs, emojis, etc. this list goes on…all design examples, yes?

This lazy comprehension emerges from an incredibly simplified recognition of design as merely a product. This denies the awareness of graphic design as a social practice. This type of reductive design understanding also creates a sort of race to the bottom in design production—who can be the most efficient and inexpensive. Design is not simply a product, but an activity, composed of various processes of research, ideation and prototyping. It is crucial to appreciate design as a process rich discipline capable to generating a meaning beyond the monetary worth of its products.

I would also like to recognize the power of honest and beautiful design in our distressing times. There should forever be a welcome space for charming and delightful design in our world. Although apolitical (autonomous) design is often viewed as disconnected within the context of our current political climate, there should still be a welcome space for simply pleasing design in our future. Diamonds that emerge from the political and social chaos of our times feel like a protest in their own way. The ability to breathe a little ease in our taxing reality is a currently undervalued element of design. Since It’s harder to feel defeated and powerless in the face of a little thoughtfully designed delight, seemingly apolitical work can illuminate a hopeful path forward. This requires a sensitivity that artificial intelligence could never possess. Wit and humor could never be replicated by a computer. The human brain’s unique ability to detect sarcasm and humor and delight are an example of it’s ability to interpret information beyond computerized processes.

To believe that designers will silently slip into irrelevance is to underestimate their ability to adapt to evolving environments. We must have faith in designer’s ability to demonstrate reflexivity and inventiveness beyond the inherent innovation required in the profession. This is already being seen with the rise in environmentally conscious design solutions and increased animation as designers anticipate the needs of a modern audience. I believe in the ability to transform and adapt pre-existing design systems for our future.

In fact, in the near future I believe that there will be an increase in popularity of design with an obvious human touch. As our world becomes increasingly pixelated and perfect, we will in turn began to crave more humanistic elements in our surroundings. The appeal of a bump, curve, or crease uniquely produced by a human touch will increase in value. The imminent novelty of human imperfection will lead us to crave it more.

I believe we will only be vulnerable to a similarly dark future if the maker easily follows rules, becomes safe and subdued, and fails to develop their unique ideas, values and imagination. The design process in turn will becomes rigid and mechanical. If we maintain this seeming objectivity in design practice, the resulting alienated human body will distance us from ourselves in a way that will allow for the easy automation of our work in the future.

Examining the persuasive technologies available in design with a harshly critical eye reveals it as the dominant language of propaganda, promoting fast cycles of consumption and aiding the goals of predatory political and economic mechanisms. Design already has the tendency to serve as the favorable tool to support the various forms of life commodification. The serviceable nature of visual communication on behalf of dominant power structures has a long tradition, but today it’s role is more disguised. Maintaining an awareness of design’s obedient tendency and recognizing it’s worst uses will help us to stress it’s tremendous potential to benefit society. A humancentric practice is a position that is most conductive to radical change.

Good design observes, great design interprets. We need to consider why we design and what are our motivations. A humancentric practice is a position that is most conductive to radical change. Our greatest hope for the future of design relies on recognizing design’s potential to educate people to care for peace, health, justice and community.

Autonomous design and personal practices in design are the medicine that will ensure the long-term health of this discipline. It is within these contexts that critical design can exist free from the compromising demands of a client and the diluting formalization required of design in the commercial market.

So yes, design might just be an easy hobby for an intern to pick up. And yes, by all means, I would encourage they do. There’s plenty of work to go around. But for the sake of our future, let’s make sure we are understanding design as a practice, not a product. A practice that can activate new forms of engagement that allow for deeper and more meaningful interactions. A practice used to facilitate interpersonal connections to increase awareness, conversation, and coordination in our politically turbulent times. A practice to help us build a better world.