How hard can it be?

There’s bound to be an on-line resource to show me what to do, after all, there’s now ‘Canva’ (“a tool that makes design simple for everyone”) to do your ‘graphic design’ so I’ll have time on my hands…

Not sure how this one slipped through, but given the massive growth in templated web and UI design it was really only a matter of time before entry-level access to this type of design language sprung up (and only a matter of time the look this particular vector takes, to begin to saturate our lives).

So should we ‘professionals’ (of any of the disciplines) be worried? Not really.

Giving vent to the creative urge for some potential clients might actually be a useful safety valve and, ironically, help professionals who are asked for work for next-to-nothing say ‘no’. Especially as we can now tell them ‘to do it themselves’. Literally. Look how much time you ‘d save, doing your own brochure. Yourself. Speak soon. Oh, do send me a copy.

Now, before going any further, I should confess I’ve taken advantage of the generosity of the digital’s great unsung, of their openness (and open-sourced-ness) to learn my way through aspects of on-screen design by unpacking and understanding how templates and executions work. So it would be quite easy to level the same criticism  – of doing the work others are more- or better-qualified to do – of me.

Having muddled through my on-screen learning, I would never underestimate the real value of developers’ skills and experience and always defer to them. The truth is, doing this really well, well enough to make business’ successful, takes more than templates.

One thing, however, is now that everyone is ’empowered’ to design (and with the emergence of every Pinterester, tumblr-er, cheap-logo-design-machinist and creative blogger) our collective awareness of – and appreciation for – graphic design has never been higher. So while we can bemoan this as another of the thousand cuts, all this affection has given our audiences a greater appetite for type and layout.

If this type of activity helps us reach further- towards more sophisticated ideas and visually original and arresting executions – by reason of needing to rise above the tide lines left by Canva and its inevitable ilk, all the better. In fact, bring it on.

Graphic Design Tool Offers Skills To The Masses Apparently.