PRESS PAUSE PLAY DOCUMENTARY

PressPausePlay focuses primarily on the music industry. In what way do the issues resonate with you as a designer?

The film highlighted the fact that these days everyone has the potential to be a film maker, photographer or producer. In the design industry, access to software such as Adobe Creative cloud, has meant that now literally anyone can afford to access professional creative software. Not only that, but now there are a wealth of online tutorials available, meaning that anyone can teach themselves how to use software which was once only known by the professionals. The secrets of the design industry are freely available to all.  Also, there is so much free software online now which make designing so much easier for the novice. ‘Picmonkey’ for example means that even for people who don’t want to spend time learning how to use the professional software can still create modern and personalised designs in minutes. Similarly, developments in technology now mean that anyone can build their own website using platforms such as ‘wix’ and ‘wordpress’.  This has massive financial implications on the graphic designer because many small businesses are opting to bypass the creative person and create logos, business cards and websites themselves. The downside of this trend is that we see a lot of bland design that lacks uniqueness. Consequently, businesses lack a sense of identity and look like every other one.  So, while the design industry may be experiencing a decline of work coming from the smaller businesses, who are looking to save money, some businesses who want to stand out above all the mediocracy will be willing to pay a professional graphic designer for something unique.

Advances in technology and software have also meant that graphic designers can produce accurate work, more quickly than in the past. The negative side of this however is that designers have become too reliant on technology and the more traditional design skills, like photography, painting, drawing, etc. are becoming rarer.  Also digital artwork can have an almost, boring, sterile precision and lacks the imperfect, vulnerably quality of handmade art. The challenge for the designer is to stand out from the rest and demonstrate originality and talent that clients will be willing to pay for.

While the evolution of the internet has removed the cap on creativity and made it accessible to all, it has also opened up new opportunities for the designer that had never existed before. Opportunities for the designer to work for themselves from the comfort of their own homes, rather than working for an agency have increased.  Clients are able to contact designers directly, cutting out the agency in the middle. This of course offers flexibility to designers, potential to specialise in their areas of interest and work on projects that they really enjoy. Designers are able to utilise the internet to network easily and create an online brand very quickly. The down side to this is a lack of regular consistent income, but the potential to earn more if the designer is able to stay ahead of the rest and to use all the right networking tools to their advantage.

Some have tried to argue that the music industry is dying out. People have also begun to question the future of the graphic design industry. I believe that if we, as designers, continually look for new and creative ways to adapt to the changes and use them to our advantage, there will always be a future in graphic design, albeit a different one than we might have expected.