Graphic Designers Are Becoming Irrelevant…Here’s Why

Summary

The Angry Designer Podcast

Episode: "Graphic Designers Are Becoming Irrelevant…Here’s Why"

Air date: May 19, 2026

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Overview

In this dynamic episode, hosts Massimo and Sean confront the tough reality that the role of the graphic designer is rapidly evolving—if not at risk of outright irrelevance. The discussion dives deep into how advancements in technology, especially AI, have shifted the designer’s value from hands-on execution to the less tangible but more critical roles of problem solving, leadership, and taste. Listeners are challenged to reckon with the death of traditional production skills as a competitive edge, and to focus on the irreplaceable human qualities that keep designers relevant in an AI-powered world.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Accelerating Change in Creative Professions

• AI and Automation Take Over Production Roles
  ⁃ The hosts open with real-world examples: Freepick rebranding as an AI platform, and the first AI-generated film submitted to Cannes (02:02).
  ⁃ "[This film], in a fraction of time, is going to prove that all these other roles are going to become irrelevant." — Massimo (03:48)
  ⁃ "You're connecting with the characters in this film—and they're not even real." — Sean (02:39)

• Reflection on Past Waves of Technology

  • The transition from switchboard operators to administrative assistants (10:45), photographers moving from dark rooms to digital (11:36), and travel agents supplanted by online booking (12:31) all highlight roles that didn’t disappear overnight, but diminished as tech replaced production at scale.
  • "It's not that these roles disappear overnight... but they stop being needed in large numbers." — Massimo (13:32)

The Vanishing Value of Execution

• Design Execution is Less Scarce and Less Valued

  • Tools like Canva, Fiverr, and advances in AI have democratized access to “good looking” design, lowering the value of technical execution (05:57, 06:18).
  • "Execution isn't necessarily valuable anymore. It's expected." — Massimo (06:20)
  • The hosts argue most designers still define their worth in execution rather than higher-level skills—putting their careers at risk (16:19).

• Social Media Obsession with Results vs. Process

  • Social platforms glorify the final design or flashy new tools, not the critical-thinking and process behind decisions (16:43).
  • Alan Peters is cited as an example: "It's his choices, why his choices, how we use the white space, how he got to the white space. That was the big reveal." — Massimo (17:14)

What Keeps Designers Relevant?

Massimo offers a punchy, actionable list of the skills and approaches that will keep designers indispensable for the foreseeable future (20:23–26:45):

1. Seeing What Others Miss (21:19)

• The designer’s superpower: spotting hidden problems, reading between the lines, and challenging unclear or flawed briefs.

2. Challenging Bad Ideas (22:02)

• With the rise of AI-generated slop, it's critical to push back and steer clients away from poor directions—even if uncomfortable.
• "If you deliver on that bad idea, then you’re the one who looks like an idiot." — Massimo (22:35)

3. Making the Tough Calls (22:38)

• Designers need to show leadership, decisiveness, and defend their creative recommendations—instead of hiding behind endless options.

4. Getting People Aligned (23:19)

• Designers are the glue that gets teams and stakeholders on the same page, bridging marketers, assistants, and brand managers.

5. Taste & Judgment (24:48)

• The unique, cultivated aesthetic and strategic sense that sets a designer apart—what aligns design work with client goals.

6. Being Human (25:01)

• Empathy, conversation, and human understanding can never be truly replaced by AI, despite what tech promises.

Notably: None of these traits are about mastery of tools, trends, or layout skills. They're "soft skills"—and they're now the hard requirement.

The Future: Adapt, Shift, and Play to Strengths

• The landscape will continue to change, but creative problem solvers, critical thinkers, and those with a well-cultivated point-of-view and personal brand (like Alan Peters or Lincoln Design) will thrive.
• "It's not that designers are dying, but their relevance is shifting." — Massimo (27:22)
• The mass pool of “executors” will shrink; differentiation lies in taste, judgment, and leadership.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Do you ever stop and wonder if what you do as a designer actually still matters?... Because let's face it, it's never been easier for people to create decent looking work. Tools are faster, they're cheaper, and they're everywhere." — Massimo (00:00)

• "Execution isn't necessarily valuable anymore. It's like it's expected." — Massimo (06:20)

• "A junior's going to be able to, out of the gate, design like a senior just by using the tools." — Sean (18:08)

• "The value that [Alan Peters] delivers is in his explanation... the true gold in what he does. It's his choices... that was the big reveal." — Massimo (17:00)

• "If a designer’s value is solely in just being able to execute... that whole pool of executors is going to slowly start shrinking." — Massimo (27:22)

• "No matter how advanced AI gets, it can never have that conversation with people. Being human allows designers to understand people." — Massimo (25:01)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00–03:59: Framing the threat—AI and the changing creative landscape
• 04:00–07:29: How tool democratization killed the value in design execution
• 10:44–13:32: Historical parallels—photographers, switchboard operators, travel agents
• 16:43–19:45: The danger of applauding only execution; the importance of process
• 20:22–26:45: The list—what keeps designers relevant in the AI era
• 26:43–27:22: The pivotal role of individuality, taste, and human brand in survivability
• 27:22–end: Final thoughts—how to stay relevant & invitation to connect

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Takeaway

The episode calls on designers to stop measuring their worth solely by what they make, and start embracing the distinctly human skills—problem solving, judgment, leadership, and empathy—that machines cannot replicate. Mastery of tools is no longer a differentiator; who you are, how you think, and how you connect is the future of creative relevance.

Transcript

[A]

Do you ever stop and wonder if what you do as a designer actually still matters? Not your passion or your love for it, but the value of what you bring to the table. Because let's face it, it's never been easier for people to create decent looking work. Tools are faster, they're cheaper, and they're everywhere. And clients, they're starting to think that they can do it all themselves. So where does that leave you? Still needed or slowly becoming optional, maybe irrelevant. In this episode of the Angry Designer podcast, powered by Wix Studio, we're going straight at that question. And why the future of designers as we know it isn't as safe as most people think. Because the real thing to think about here is what if the part of design that you've spent years mastering is the exact part that's losing the value the fastest? Let's go. All right.

[B]

Okay. Well, welcome back. Back.

[A]

Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Feels a will. Yeah. Feels like it's been a little while.

[B]

It has. It has indeed.

[A]

And. And again, you know, things just fly by like this, that's all. Like time, honestly, tech, everything, you just blink.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

And there is.

[B]

Shit's changing again. Woo. So. So I. Freepick doesn't exist anymore.

[A]

Oh, you saw that? Yes. Free Pick has turned into Magnifico.

[B]

Magnifico.

[A]

Which is kind of shocking cuz that was a tool for designers. Know, big resource library was really good, license friendly. It's turned into an AI platform, basically. So again, it's like no more tools for designer. This AI is now a tool for designers. So add another one to the mix.

[B]

Another one on the pile. Yeah.

[A]

And then, and then I sent you an awesome video today. YouTube.

[B]

Oh my God.

[A]

So there is an AI company out there that is submitting the first AI generated film to the cans.

[B]

Wow. Now before you start groaning.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, There's a lot.

[B]

Check this shit out.

[A]

But I mean, again, it is a team of 18 people, okay. And in four weeks fucking time, okay. And for under a million dollars, okay. They're building something that would take teams of hundreds of people to put together and cost millions of dollars and take several years.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And I have seen some of the clips of what they're already building. Mind blowing.

[B]

Crazy.

[A]

And the fact that you can actually. This team is doing such a good job. You are connecting with the characters in this film.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

And they're not even real.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. Which is real people. Right.

[B]

So, so.

[A]

And not that they're trying to put anybody out of work, but they are doing this to prove a point that the times are changing, okay. And what took teams and, and, and budgets and all this time is now being condensed into this just incredible final product.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

That still, you know, is. Requires a team of people.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

But not that giant team of people. Okay? That giant team of people, okay. The giant people that, that, that aren't required in this project, okay. They're the production side, okay. They're the ones that were, were on field. They were the ones doing the work, the hands on. They were the ones that were actually the labor part of this.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

Yes. And unfortunately their roles are becoming irrelevant with AI because why would somebody set up this giant studio with all these lights and props and 50 people on set for one scene? Not to mention the theme builders or the builders of the sets. And it's sad.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

But this film, in a fraction of time is going to prove that all these other roles are going to become irrelevant.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

Let that sink in.

[B]

Yeah, that's heavy.

[A]

That's huge. It's sad for the film industry.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. I absolutely can see it. And in all fairness, okay, in all fairness, CGI did basically the same thing.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

Think about it. CGI replaced when George Lucas and Star wars when they were building their little models and flying and. Well, CGI replaced that. Okay? So people, you know, can't be hating on AI to replace CGI because basically it's just a much better, better version of that. Of cgi.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

And I argue about this all the time because he, he's totally anti A AI And I'm shocked. I'm like, dude, I'm dead. Do you not know what I. That's a whole other argument altogether.

[B]

But he needs to see that video exactly of these guys and what they've

[A]

created because I think he'll realize then that there still is a massive, huge component to this that's still required.

[B]

Yes, okay.

[A]

A human component. But the funny thing is this isn't just happening to the film industry, okay? And if designers, you know, think that has just happened to the film industry. Yeah. They, they're, they're obviously not paying enough attention to what we're going through because again, this is happening to design right now. You know, there's no question that there's been a huge shift right now in everything that we're experiencing. Ourselves in the agency, in, in, in in the world. Right. And the shift is bas used to reward designers was their ability to execute.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

You know what I mean? Everybody thought you're a rock star.

[B]

All the skills that you honed over the years, all the tools, you know,

[A]

because it was scary.

[B]

The bezier points and all the tools and getting.

[A]

You knew how to use the Adobe suite. Right. Used to make us really cool.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And it was. Because it was scarce. Not everybody could do it. Okay. And again, you were a designer and that was, that was. That was your deliverable. Okay. And more and more as time went on, that's what we were associated with. Okay. And all of a sudden, everything else important that we didn't, behind the scenes, you know, kind of was taken off the table because everybody focused on that end product.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Along came Canva. Along came, you know, all these templates everywhere. You know, Fiverr, even freaking AI. Okay. And all of a sudden, tools are now faster. Okay. They're accessible to everybody. You know, every. Everywhere you go, everybody, in theory, now everybody is good at execution or can be good.

[B]

Can be good. Exactly.

[A]

Execution.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. And that's. That's the thing, right? So now execution isn't necessarily valuable anymore. Okay. It's like it's expected.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. That whole new. And we've talked about this, the level of quality has now, the bar has been set much higher. And it's just like it's expected now to be able to deliver something that looks like a million bucks. That's on target. It doesn't mean that it's correct. True. God knows we've seen stuff that has come through here that, that looks great. Looks like a. A graphic designer with 2, 3 years experience could have done it. Still, crap messaging is horrible. You know, AI produced it. And, and the person behind, you know, that prompt to give us this stuff obviously didn't know what the hell they were doing, but it looked good. Okay. So that's, that's the whole thing is, is what happens to a designer, okay. When the value of execution all of a sudden drops. And that's. That's not what they're known for anymore because now people feel that they can do it themselves.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And again, does that make designers irrelevant?

[B]

Interesting. I'm going to say no, but, yeah, I don't. I don't think so. There are a whole certain skill set that, that. And we talked about this earlier. The skill sets that we make will bring to the table that are the most relevant now are not sexy.

[A]

Oh, they're not at all sexy.

[B]

And it's really unfortunate because we have been talking so much about how these things are so important and they're gonna set us above the pack when it comes to being a relevant designer.

[A]

Well, absolutely. Right. But people aren't focusing on that.

[B]

But they're not. It's the turntable in Illustrator, you know, where you can.

[A]

It's great. You're right.

[B]

It's just a thing. It's just a widget. It's just a. Another.

[A]

It's great.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

It's awesome.

[B]

It's awesome.

[A]

It's like Adobe is coming up with tools to help designers execute, right? AI is coming out with new prompting languages and new and new benchmarks. And this to help people create. Everything is, is focusing on the execution and even social media applauds this. But all they're doing is helping designers become irrelevant faster. Okay? Because again, they're pushing and pushing and pushing. They're pushing to the point where it's like, now anybody's going to be able to be, you know, creative. And then again, if the value a designer does is an execution, then their job on a whole, yeah, can become irrelevant. And now a word from our sponsor designers. Let's be honest, Web design should be a graphic designer shop. It's bold, it's creative, it's experimental, and at its core, it is design. Layout just brought to life online. But somewhere along the way, graphic designers lost it. Developers took over, tools got complicated, and creativity took a back seat to code. Thing is, clients still expect us to bring their brand to life everywhere. And if we're not offering web design today, you're leaving money and potential opportunities on the table. That's where wix Studio comes in. It's the web platform built for designers with a drag and drop interface that feels like a designer's tool. Plus, no code, animations and AI powered tools, you can create fully custom websites that match your vision. Every pixel, every layout, every detail. So whether it's a simple branded brochure site or an online course portfolio, or even a full blown e commerce experience, Wix Studio makes it all possible for graphic designers with tools that think like a designer, not like a developer. The web doesn't need more templates. It needs you and your creativity unleashed. And WIX Studio is going to give you that opportunity. So stop giving your creativity away and take back the web for designing. Visit Wix studio studio.com and designed the web the way it was meant to be. There was a point in 1920, okay, being a switchboard operator, okay, for real, represented between 2 and 3% of the work workplace. That's how many work, that's how many switchboard operators there were. There was like, there's a point where there's over a quarter million switch operators out there. Right. Which is crazy. Okay.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And what happened? Technology came. It didn't replace the switchboard operator completely.

[B]

No.

[A]

But on. AT scale, they disappeared. Then they became like administ, Administrative assistance. They worked in offices. They. They'd be the switchboard operator at a business. Right. But it wasn't receptionist or something for Bell, you know, or for. It wasn't for like at&t. It was now all of a sudden on a different scale. Right, okay. Right. Film photographers. Okay. So again, there was, you know, anybody could shoot the picture, but it was a very few people that had the skill, you know, to be able to work a dark room. Okay. And to be able to, you know, process, you know. And then in the 70s and 80s, there was the giant machines by Kodak and everything. Right. Remember, you'd send the film away and like two weeks later you'd get your pictures back. It was a weird world. And, you know, there was no instant gratification there first.

[B]

Not at all. You had to hope.

[A]

But the reality is, okay, there. There came a point then where the photographer itself didn't disappear, but the whole back end processing did. With digital photography.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. So again, this whole new front world came and. And the art was still there and the talent needed to take the picture was still. But that whole production side, the back end.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Gone. Gone again. It became irrelevant.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But a photographer would have developed or. Or had developed, pardon the pun, would have got a skill on the other end like. Like us with. With Photoshop and things like that, right?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So instead of doing your dark room stuff, you learned a new transferable skill.

[A]

The ones who did, the ones who survived into the digital, you know, some never did, some stayed traditional.

[B]

And there's always a place for that.

[A]

That's fine. But you're right, the other ones adapted and kind of evolved.

[B]

You kind of rolled with the new technology.

[A]

Another one, travel agents. So there was a point where any trip you wanted, you had to go through a problem. You needed a Florida.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You'd call up the agent, you wanted to do a resort, you would do it through an agent. They would plan everything out. Well, 95%, if not 98% of all trips now are booked by yourself online. But travel agents still exist. I used one to book our trip to Cancun. We didn't know what to do online. We didn't know where to go. We wanted to talk to somebody who's been there. We actually, we used Costco. Great travel.

[B]

Just so you know.

[A]

Great travel agents. But again, they gave us Their advice, they set it up for us, they planned it. All right. Didn't cost us anything. Kind of liked it, actually. It was kind of awesome. It is. But you know what a shift it went from. There was travel agencies everywhere to like nothing. Yeah. Okay. So again, it's not that these roles disappear overnight. Okay. Because they don't. Right. But they stop being needed in these large numbers.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Okay. And that's what happened with this film thing. It's not that they completely got rid of all the roles and it's one guy behind a computer. Okay. Just typing everything and typing prompts and making this film together. It's not right. It was a team of 18 people.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Okay. There was writers, there was art directors, there was a director, there were designers on this team and you know, there were sound engineers and they all worked together. But now the power one person had versus, you know, what you needed for a production studio. Right.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And again, it still took time. Right. They didn't say that, you know, doing the, you know, 20 minutes of this movie was able to be done in a day. It still took them weeks to do.

[B]

Yes, right.

[A]

To do the full 80, 90 minute movie is going to take them four weeks.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Saw their production schedule was pretty intense. Yeah, yeah, okay, it was. And again, it's just the difference is instead of, you know, it being millions and millions of dollars and a huge, you know, tax on this, on, on, on, on the system, on the environment, you know, it's a different kind of environmental tax, I guess.

[B]

I suppose. Yeah, it would be.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah, I guess you can argue that one.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But the reality is people, you know, 18 people it took to make this movie that they're using versus hundreds and hundreds of people in production roles. Okay. Under a million bucks they're planning on doing this crazy versus hundreds of millions of dollars and you know, like years and CGI production. Hell. Right. This is all happening. But the thing is, it's happening still with a team. Okay. So again, the roles, unfortunately, that are being. Becoming irrelevant are going to be those production roles in the end. That's right. And by production in this case in specific, it's like, you know, all the gaffers, the mic people.

[B]

Yes, yes.

[A]

It's again, it's all those, I hate to say it, but it's just a large numbers game.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. And that's the thing too. And you know, and for anybody who. That's going to poo poo the whole do doing everything in AI. I mean, you know, some of these, some of these Guys that were saying, like, there's over 20,000 prompts that they use for scenes.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Like, you can't tell me that. That you're not using your ultimate creative muscles exactly. In order to achieve what you're. What you're doing. Do you know what I'm saying?

[A]

Like, 20,000 prompts. They. They were basically. It took them less than half of a percent to get that right prompt.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

So it was like, out of 10,000 prompts, I think it was like only 50 of them actually hit the mark.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And they're constantly adjusting. Adjusting.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

It's was a lot of work.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

It was just very different.

[B]

It's not. It's not slop. It's not somebody just typing in one

[A]

sentence and then having exact. Done exactly. Right.

[B]

Print. So.

[A]

So I guess the point of this is that it's not that necessarily the execution jobs disappear.

[B]

No.

[A]

Okay. Because that's not it at all. But what did disappear is the scale of the production involved. Okay. That's required. And that's unfortunately where most designers still build their value today. They're not building the value of on the front end. Okay. They're building it, you know, and they're letting everybody see it on the back end. That's why social media applauses, you know. You know what they see the process to get there.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Alan Peters. Okay. And again, I know I use Alan as an example a lot. His videos. Okay. Obviously, I love his videos.

[B]

Yeah, great.

[A]

Okay. And I guarantee most people that watch his videos, they probably. They look at the final product, they're like, yeah, I rocks.

[B]

Damn.

[A]

The value that he delivers in his explanation.

[B]

Right.

[A]

How he got there, why he got there. I don't think enough people pay attention to that because that is the true gold in what he does big time. It's not just, oh, he fixed this, he designed that, and here's the final product.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's his choices. Why his choices? How we use the white space, how he got to the white space. That. That was the big reveal.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

That's why I keep using him. Because again, he's just more, you know, more people need to follow that part of his process.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

Versus obsessing over the final product. Sorry, Alan. Your final product is awesome, obviously. But. Yeah, but what I'm saying is the gold.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Isn't how he gets there.

[B]

Yes. Right.

[A]

And I'm not sure people are realizing that because again, more shortcut tools, you know, more videos on how to get there faster.

[B]

Right.

[A]

That doesn't help a designer at all.

[B]

No.

[A]

It's proving the point.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Of, you know, once. Once this gets there, you know, and, and once the execution part is going to be, you know, a lot easier to replicate and there's going to be tools that already are tools that automatically align this. Automatically slap. You know, adjust to that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Next to this.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Holy crap. Like soon it's like a junior is going to be able to out of the gate design like a senior.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Just by using the tools.

[B]

Just by doing the tools that are provided. Yeah, exactly. But you're absolutely right when it comes to Alan like that, it's his. It's his life experience and everything that he's learned and brought to the table.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

That's not, that's. That goes into that 30 second video that you see with him executing an amazing logo. Right. And if you think that you could just type in a prompt and say, yeah, make this logo look like this, please.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not gonna work.

[B]

It doesn't.

[A]

It's not gonna get that.

[B]

It's exactly.

[A]

It's not gonna get to that.

[B]

It's his knowledge base and that's what he's doing.

[A]

And that's the key here. It's not that I think AI prompting will ever get to the point where you can type it in and prompt it in and it will give you an Alan Peters final product. It won't. I don't think it will. Okay.

[B]

But.

[A]

But those tools are going to get to the point where they're going to superpower, like I said, juniors to be able to do like seniors.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And if people aren't paying attention to Allen's process. Okay. Versus just the execution, they are going to get caught in the crossfire and they're going to become irrelevant. Okay. Because what they're doing is by only focusing on that end product execution, by applauding all the great stuff. Okay. They're getting better. But at the least relevant part of the whole process, you know, it's like a race to zero because execution isn't going away. Okay. Yeah. It's that part. It's. It's still going to be part of the job, but it's not going to be the whole part of the job. Right. And it's not going to be part of the job that makes a designer valuable.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That's the key. Because there's so much more that is going to be required in the future to keep designers relevant. And I think that's what people, they don't realize, they don't get, especially by applauding and focusing on that execution.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

The big question, of course. Okay. Is in no way do I think design is disappearing. Okay. It's absolutely not disappearing, but I do think parts of design is disappearing. Okay. And if that's the quite. If that's the case. Okay. Then the real question that designers should be asking is what parts of what we do still matter? Right. What parts still make us relevant.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And I think that's where, you know, this list here that I got is kind of, is kind of where I think how I would position the most relevant parts of what we do, you know, for a customer. Right. And that will continue to be relevant because I don't think the role of the designer is ever going to go away.

[B]

No, certainly not.

[A]

Do think it's changed?

[B]

It will change. Yeah, absolutely. It's. It is going through a change.

[A]

Absolutely shifting.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And the funny thing is, you know, the, the parts that are relevant here are parts that we still do. Some of the designers still do it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But for the designers who just focus on the execution, they really need to pay attention here because I think this, these are the parts that actually are going to matter in the future and going to keep designers role. Keep going. Right. Like, number one, a designer needs to be able to see, you know, what other people miss. And what I mean by that is, you know, you're in a discovery call, you're listening to what the customer is saying. You know, you're observing what the company's doing, you're seeing the competition.

[B]

You know, you're in your homework.

[A]

Right. And you're able to spot problems that nobody else can see. This is already happening. We always say designers role is to solve problems. Okay. To be a good problem solver. And that is by being able to see things that other people just completely miss on a regular basis. Right. Basically, you know, being in that room and catching what other people aren't actually saying out loud. Right. Or other people seeing, you know, that moment when, you know, the, the CEO says one thing, but he completely means something else. Or when somebody sends you a brief, but then the reality is it's an AI slop brief.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And it makes no sense. And you can follow that brief and deliver, but it's not going to perform well. Right. A designer's job is to be able to speak up.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

In the future. Okay. That will keep them relevant. Okay. Basically not be scared to say what needs to be said. Right. Okay. And that is challenging bad ideas. God knows we do that all the time. There's a lot of that. Well, it is. And again, I'm seeing more and more of it because a lot more of what customers are giving and are horrible ideas.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

Okay? They're AI generated ideas. They think that they're gold. We're getting them. They're crap. Right. So again, you. You can't be scared to challenge a bad idea, even if it's an uncomfortable situation, because if you deliver on that bad idea.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Then you're the one who looks like an idiot.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

Making the tough calls. Okay? A lot of designers aren't able to do that. Right. And what I mean by that is they're not, you know, stepping up and choosing a direction and going with it. Okay. That's because, again, what they do is they hide behind 20 options and be like, here you go. Here's. Here's eight variations. Which one you like?

[B]

Yeah, yeah, no, like, I don't care either particular one.

[A]

They're all good to be able to present some.

[B]

Right, right.

[A]

And be like, this is the right idea. And here is why. You'll be able to defend that action. You're making a decision. Customers want leadership. Okay? And let's face it, AI is not giving you leadership. Okay. It'll tell you you're doing a great

[B]

job, you're the best, or something.

[A]

Shit. You know, another thing that, you know, makes what designers do very relevant and can never be replaced is getting people aligned. And I don't just mean vendors, as important as that is.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Okay. But aligning vendors is something that we do well because we know what it takes to get from, you know, beginning to delivery. Okay. But also getting custom aligned. And oftentimes you're not dealing with one person. You're dealing with a team. It's, yeah, marketing director, you're a marketing assistant, you know, possibly someone in brand. And it's your job to try to bring everybody's vision together and get them all aligned in the same place. You don't want to sit back and let somebody else dictate how to do that. You know, we've talked about taste and judgment. Okay? A designer's taste and judgment, okay, will always keep a designer relevant, whether we're creating the artwork, where the production is, whether AI is okay, knowing what. What works and what doesn't. And, like, this has nothing to do with, you know, what's trending right now in the marketplace. But this has to do with, you know, what, Aligning what you're creating with their goals. Right. Understanding their goals. And again, your taste and judgment, be it early on or be it through 10, 20 years worth experience, they're always going to be relevant to every single project that you approach on this. That's why people choose it. That's why people choose certain designers to work with and certain agencies because they like their taste, their judgment, and they know what they can expect from this.

[B]

Yeah, absolutely.

[A]

And I think one of the most important things. Okay. That'll keep a designer relevant is being human. Okay. And this is something that I can't stress enough. No matter how advanced AI gets.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

It can never have that conversation with people. It can never have the small talk to discover what the pain point is. Somebody's having that. You're like, hey, I've got an idea for that and we can build you something that'll solve that problem. Okay. Being human allows designers to understand people.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. And that is our job. Okay. And AI can never do that. It can emulate it, it can simulate it. It can't ever really do it. And none of these things have anything to do with tools. Nope. Have anything to do with execution, trends, layout, design. None of this has. Right. This. These are all really important things. You can almost say that they're soft skills. I know, right? Soft skills thing that. That really keep designers relevant. Okay. Versus that whole delivery part. So designers need to know, you know, where they stand. You know, like in the sense of can. Can you challenge a brief? Absolutely. You can. Can you make that call if you need to? Absolutely. You can, you know, explain your thinking clearly. Like, these are things, things that designers need to embrace. They need to keep going. They need to obsess over to keep themselves relevant. Because the reality is on a large scale, okay. That. That production part, the execution part is slowly going to be replaced. And more designers are putting themselves in that bucket of being replaced versus, you know, focusing on the parts that are irreplaceable and are. Will keep you relevant in the future. Someone like Alan Peters, okay. Who, you know, displays a very, you know, distinct look and has a voice and has a process, you know, AI is only going to help his. His world.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. Because what's going to happen is his taste and judgment will never change, be matched. Right. So, you know, even if his tools are going to get better, people are still going to go to Alan Peters. Right. For that. For his execution style.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Okay. Even if he's just prompting it behind, you know, a screen and that's it. Right. If that's where it ever goes. To Lincoln Design.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. Those guys, again, they have their taste, their judgment, their style. People are going to pay for that brand, you know, that personal brand of them.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Regardless if the tools will replace their illustrators or if it just enhances their illustrators or if it doesn't affect them at all. And they're still doing it by hand.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The reality is, you know, for them, people are paying for that. So there's a lot of factors involved, big time. And so we're not talking about every single case, but if a designer's value is solely in just being able to execute and that's how they're positioning themselves, okay, that whole pool of executors is going to slowly start shrinking, and that's what people really need to realize. You know, it's not that designers are dying, but their relevance is shifting. You know what? Let us know how you feel about this. I'm. I'm curious what people's takes are. You know, you know, where to find us on our. On. On our socials, Hit us up on Instagram, hit us up on YouTube. And, you know, don't be scared to reach out directly in private messages, because we try to get back to everybody. It's sometimes slow, but we try. All right, everybody.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

My name is Massimo.

[B]

And my name is Sean. Be creative and stay angry.

[A]

J. Ram.