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- [00:00]
A
All right, so I almost didn't record this episode. And it's not because I don't have theories and thoughts, because, trust me, I've always got thoughts. Ask everybody. But because I kept running into the same question over and over and over again. Was this year actually bad for designers? Or does something just feel off in a way that we just can't figure out? Because I keep hearing that same question from every designer. They're saying just something feels. Feels weird. Design didn't die and clients didn't disappear, and nobody flipped a switch and replaced every designer with AI. But at the same time, the industry didn't feel the way it used to either. I don't think it was just a single thing. It was everything landing at once. And designers quietly wondered where the hell they fit in all of this. In this episode of the Angry Designer podcast, powered by Wick Studio, I want to talk out loud about why this year just felt off for so many designers, including some really experienced ones. And even more importantly, I want to talk about what actually still matters underneath all of this noise. Just the parts of the design process that didn't actually break, even when everything around it felt messy. Let's go. All right, so what changed? Design itself didn't really change this year, or at least the way I saw it. I mean, the fundamentals didn't stop working all of a sudden, and strategy still didn't optional overnight. What changed were the conditions around all the work we were doing. And that matters because when the environment is making a lot of noise, even solid design instincts feel unreliable. It's kind of like driving down a road that you've been driving down for years. You've got your same awesome car, your. Your same skills. All of a sudden, there's construction everywhere. Lanes are now replaced by barriers, and signs are temporary detour signs pop out of nowhere. You're not a worse driver by any means, but the road just stopped behaving the way that you expected it to. And that's kind of what this year felt like. All the stuff that we relied on to judge our quality and our value got drowned out by all the noise. More tools claiming to replace us, more templates, more apps devaluing what we do, More people skipping things that looked finished but really weren't thought through. You start wondering if you're slow or if you're overthinking and if maybe you're doing it all wrong or actually slowing down, even when deep down inside, you know better. That's the part that nobody really talks about here. Not the panic and not the fear. Just that quiet second guessing yourself. And the irony is the designers who actually care about the work are the ones who are affected the most. When the industry starts rewarding done over right, it throws off your compass and, and if you've been doing this long enough, that just hits harder. It seemed like the noise stopped respecting the parts of the design that actually matter. Is this the new design world and should we start changing and adapting? This is what I think it's all actually translating to. And this isn't personal feeling. This is what I'm experiencing within our agency and with the conversations that I'm having with a lot of our angry designers. For a while, anything shiny and new gets treated like the answer. Speed became the selling point. And for a minute, people thought faster meant better. So clients started doing more things themselves. They'd generate crap, they'd spin up ideas, they'd move really quickly and then all of a sudden they'd, they'd hit this wall because the work, it looked finished, but it wasn't working for them. Surprise, surprise. Designers started getting pulled back into the process not to make it necessarily look pretty, but to fix the thinking behind it, to fix the direction, the strategy that, that never really happened in the first place. And that's the part that's been exhausting lately. It doesn't feel like we're designing anything. We're untangling crap, we're cleaning up decisions that were made way too fast by people jumping the gun and didn't realize what they were actually skipping. Tools give people this false sense of ability and everybody rushes in, turns things around quick and corners get cut and then brands get fuzzy. But then they start to realize that the tools aren't actually the craft. A better hammer isn't going to all of a sudden turn you into a carpenter. Speed doesn't equal strategic decisions. And good enough doesn't produce good enough results. Yeah, you like that. You can already feel the shift happening. Clients are realizing that AI didn't remove the need for designers at all. And it just maybe changed where designers add value in the basically fixing the mess that shows up when thinking gets skipped. And that's not a downgrade of our role because I strongly feel that this whole thing is just temporary. It's really not any different than when design moved from manual paste up boards to digital screens. End of design is here. Not even a bit. And now a word from our sponsor.
- [05:12]
B
All right, designers, let's cut the bowl. How many times have you had a killer website design? Only to watch it fall apart because of code or developer telling you no, no, no. Or maybe you've held back from web design altogether, thinking it's just too complicated and too technical or totally out of your wheelhouse. Either way, it's time for a change. Wix Studio is designed for designers, removing the barriers that limits your designs. Whether you're tired of developers watering down your ideas or too intimidated by the technical side of web, wix Studio puts the creative power back in your hands. No code required. With a drag and drop interface that feels designer intuitive. Plus no code, animations and even AI powered tools, you can create fully custom websites that match your vision. Every pixel, every detail. And if you're worried about the learning curve, don't be. Wix Studio is designed to feel as intuitive as your favorite design tools. Some designers here even say more. So that means you can jump right in and focus on what you do best. Designing badass brand aligned websites that'll take your business to the next level. So whether you've had enough of developers holding you back or you're ready to finally step into web design, check out wix studio.com and take control. That's wix studio.com go and take back web design for graphic designers.
- [06:50]
A
So if this is a temporary phase, and I really do believe it is, then the question isn't how do I keep up. The question is what do I focus on while everybody else is chasing the wrong stuff? Because honestly, moments like this, they don't reward reacting, they reward preparation. And there are three things that I'd be paying attention to right now and I will be teaching to my team. These are things that get valuable when everything else is noisy. First, decision making. Not how fast you can design, but how well you can decide. This is the part that clients keep skipping. Anybody can generate options, but very few people can say this one. And here's why. If you can explain the trade offs that you're making, the consequences and the intent, you instantly stand out from everybody else. Because that's the part AI still doesn't own. And honestly, most people don't own it either. Second is taste and restraint. When everything is possible, knowing what not to do actually becomes the skill. What to remove, what to simplify, when to say no. That doesn't come from prompts people. It comes from experience mistakes paying attention. And this is where experienced designers might have a leg up on the competition, even if they don't feel like it right now. And third is communication. Not presenting work by any means and not even defending work, but actually explaining your thinking in a way that clients understand and care. Because now, now clients are overwhelmed. They don't need more options. They need more clarity. And if you can walk somebody through your thinking without any sort of BS jargon or ego or hiding behind tools, you now become the calm expert in all this chaos. And calm is confidence, and confidence gets hired. So when you zoom out, this absolutely is not an end of design moment. This is just a correction. The industry got loud and tools got faster and smarter, and the hype of it all got ahead of reality. For a little bit anyway. What we're seeing right now is the messy middle of every major shift that the creative industry has ever gone through. And the part that you need to remember here is that noise never wins. Long term results do. Clients are already realizing that speed doesn't make things better. And guess who gets called when that happens? Boom. Designers. Designers who can actually think, who can make decisions, and who can slow things down just enough to make better calls. So if this year made you pause or hesitate or question things just a little bit, good. That wasn't weakness. That was you refusing to lower your bar while everybody else was chasing shortcuts. And just remember, this phase will pass, but good design fundamentals won't. And the designers who can stick through all this are the ones that are going to be standing at the end of it. Don't forget to, like, subscribe. Comments. Let's keep this nice thing going. All right? On behalf of Sean and myself, stay creative and stay angry. Peace. It.