Bad Design

Being an art director/designer at a small interactive shop, I get to interview my fair share of potential interns. It goes with the territory. But, recently I’ve become very disconcerted with a trend I see emerging from these interviews. Bad design. Now, yes, we’re talking about interns here who likely only have student work in their book so of course some of it is going to be very rough—that’s not what I’m referring to. Looking at someone’s book at least tells you about their potential and their character, as well as where their passion lies (presuming that they have any passion in the first place).

So I am going to attempt to rationalize this trend by attributing it to four culprits: understanding, education, technology, and entitlement.

Understanding.

It all begins here, with understanding. The advertising industry has been glorified for many years as a profession where rules don’t exist and imaginations roam free like the wild buffalo of the midwestern prairie. Where people work hard and party even harder (okay this is more or less true), and the more crass and politically incorrect you are, the more successful you will be. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a job at one of these places affording you can condescend to your friends that they sit in cubes and your office is an open environment full of colors and  completely devoid of any fluorescent lighting. And you may get lucky some day.

The problem with this understanding is that it doesn’t include the design part of being a designer. It does, however, include the part about having thick-framed glasses to augment the tight jeans and afghan look while carrying around a Moleskine journal for documenting fantastically creative ideas (a journal which likely remains suspiciously empty).

Good designers require more than just a uniform and a few key accessories. They require creativity and a unique perspective. They require discipline, passion, devotion to finding the right solution to the problem they face, and an open mind to try new ways to solve those problems.

Design should not be trivialized and reduced to some 19-year-old’s chic, hipster idea of what being a designer should look like and face the reality of what being a designer actually is.

Now that we understand the root of this problem we can move on to the second issue..

Technology.

If you’re like me, you’ve noticed the number of “designers” growing exponentially. It seems that there are more and more of them graduating each year and I think one of the most obvious reasons for this is the ease and accessibility to the industry that Adobe has afforded so many over the last decade. As the programs became more sophisticated and intuitive, the number of people that decided they could be a designer cause they got a pirated copy and did a logo for their cousin’s band back in high school sky-rocketed. Unfortunately, knowing about Photoshop filters doesn’t make you a designer. The number of graduating design majors would be drastically reduced if design was done the way it was 20 years ago—with elbow grease and much swearing.

The other issue with technology is this: it seems that a lot of schools, even design schools, focus much more on how to use these programs and how to be technically savvy rather than stressing craft. These programs are just tools; a means to an end, and shouldn’t serve as a distraction. Knowing all the keyboard shortcuts doesn’t make you better at your craft.

Education.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that, despite the marketing industry relying heavily on interactive design, social media and other applications, the art schools seem to be lagging in formalizing degree programs geared towards this. The fact of the matter is that the topography of the interactive marketing terrain is changing so fast with every passing day that it can’t be ignored. This poses a challenge, not only for institutions of higher learning, but also towards the agencies that produce the work. This is why it’s not enough to just want to be a designer for the perceived glamour and pretentiousness of it, but it requires a high level of devotion. Reading about it, thinking about it, and constantly trying new things to realize their potential are necessary, daily practices for a designer if they want to stay relevant in a field this dynamic.

This should be drilled into the young designers’ mind, in school and in professional practice.

Entitlement.

The last factor I’ll discuss is a perceived sense of entitlement by a lot of young “creatives.” It consists of an attitude that seems to say “I got my degree from the College of Being Awesome and Creative and Having a Bad-ass Job” so now that I’ve graduated, please hand me my job. Unfortunately, that is not how it works. Again, this is where passion becomes a necessary trait for the young designer. If  you want something (like that dream job), you are going to have to put up a fight for it. Be confident and maybe even a little arrogant. Show the world that you believe in your work and your way of viewing problems. Show the world that you have a unique perspective on design and are willing to experiment—essentially, that you are willing to be creative. After all, that’s why you wanted to be a designer in the first place…I hope.

*Note: This isn’t intended to come off cocky, nor is it intended to make it sound like I believe I have mastered my craft. On the contrary, I am learning every day and am just as guilty of making bad design-decisions as anyone else. The important thing to take away from this rant is to focus on learning and having a drive to improve. There will always be a designer that is better than you. If you’re smart, you might put your ego aside and try to learn from them.

As the great Paul Rand once said: “Don’t try to be original, just try to be good.”