Before 1984, graphic design could boast that it was a discipline, something valuable in the hands of a competent designer.

Then came desktop publishing and the graphic design brand started it’s gradual decline. Today anyone with a computer and a few hundred dollars in software believe themselves to be proficient in the execution of graphic design. What got me writing about this, was a comment in a recent post from a graphic design listserve that I get daily in my email. The listserve is populated with graphic designers from across Canada.

One person wrote in that her nephew in his quest to be a graphic designer, decided that he needn’t attend a sanctioned secondary education on the subject as he read several articles on graphic design off the web and now “knows everything there is to know on the subject”. He’s got the software, knows all the “tricks” and is now set to conquer the world.

As business people, we all chuckle at this young person’s naiveté and plain ignorance. But what has lead to his belief that a few articles on the web is all there is to becoming a graphic designer. How many of you who are reading this article, work or own companies who’s marketing materials were either done in house by the IT people or had a friend do it on the cheap? In the business world there is more respect and attention given to interior decorating than to marketing. Marketing to many is a necessary evil. Hiring a graphic designer to facilitate the production of materials in a marketing plan is an alien concept to many.

Graphic design to be fair to businesses is the most at fault for this loss of brand professionalism. The industry has done nothing to encourage professionalism in schools who churn out young “designers” who by all rights should not have even passed the course, let alone put out their shingle. I would love to ask that young man who knows everything to explain kerning to me. Can he explain what a widow is or where he might see a river in a body of text? Would he even care what trap and choke are? What they do know is every filter in Photoshop. They will never design a logo with a font that doesn’t exist. The first time these people send a file off for printing, don’t understand why a 11 color file doesn’t make sense because it is cost prohibitive, and an early sign of an amateur. Printers love these people - they cost people money.

The difference between a graphic design professional and everyone else is that as professionals, they have to design to sell. Every idea they have has to communicate. The industry has allowed non-talents to flourish. Designers regularly under-charge for their services. They regularly present spec work. Businesses think nothing of letting the secretarial staff design their materials. This is not the case however if they need legal work done. The books are not handled by the janitor, they have an accountancy handle it and rightly so. Many pass off the in-house design as a way to cut costs. What they fail to see and apparently forget from business 101, is that marketing should communicate their brand message and differentiate them - NOT something that must be accomplished for peanuts, by anyone who knows there way around photoshop. The computer industry defines this nicely - Garbage in, garbage out. Garbage doesn’t make you money. The sad thing is, the lack of response to these amateur materials only strengthens businesses belief that marketing is at best a crap shoot, and the first things to cut in a slow economy.

There are of course many TRUE graphic design professionals. They have experience and know what works. In their hands you will increase market share and grow your business. Their own personal brands are strong, but even they must constantly battle the poor brand of the graphic design industry as a whole. Imagine what difficulty your own business would have if you had to fight not only competition, market conditions, buying cycles, your own short comings and issues unique to your category - but ALSO a general public perception that anyone with a computer can do what you do cheaper if not free. That is the world of the graphic designer in the year 2008. Graphic design has fallen into the biggest pit of poor branding and has become a commodity. The road back is long one, and the world’s best have the ability to do it one em at a time.

corporate branding, ed roach, foundation, icons, personal branding, personality, sales, selling, sense of self, success