Chapter 1
“I know something you don’t know. I am not left-handed.”
5 min read
I've been engaged in various aspects of design leadership for nearly 20 years. Over the past year or so, I've noticed that the profession has almost completed a spiraling cycle of fundamental changes that has lasted, well, nearly two decades. This cycle doesn't follow a typical linear pattern or bell curve, but rather a spiral structure, seemingly coming back to a starting point, yet continuing to develop and enrich the profession with each shift. The current shift, driven by AI, may well be the most dramatic change since the arrival of the computer and the internet.
Between 2000 and 2021, the number of visual designers in the world roughly doubled. Consider this example of growth in the US: In the Occupational Employment and Wages, 2000 report by the U.S. Department of Labor (April 2002), 135K designers were employed in the graphic design profession. (By the way, the average annual salary at the time was around $35,000.)
By 2023, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 267,000 American designers were working in the field, earning a median annual salary of $58,900. This didn't happen by chance; the rise of tech companies created a new and growing demand for designers as part of the technological development chain, and new disciplines were invented. Simultaneously, the technologies developed by these companies generated digital real estate and economic models that required even more designers.
For instance, when Facebook was founded in 2004, it needed designers to build its platform, interfaces, and marketing materials. This foundational need formed the first layer of the design network. As Facebook's business model evolved, it provided digital real estate for businesses, which includes ads, business pages, video campaigns, and more. These businesses, in turn, required designers to support their presence on the platform, forming the second layer of demand. With each technological advancement and shift in consumer behavior, new layers emerged, expanding the network into a thriving, talent-rich ecosystem that grows alongside innovation.
The bottom line is that by 2021, there was an abundance of experienced design talent and a substantial amount of money in the market. As a manager, if I needed to strengthen brand design and 3D capabilities within my team, I would sit down and draft the ideal candidate profile without hesitation. I would hire the best brand designer in town and the top 3D designer available. Why choose when you can have both? Why settle for anything less when you can have the very best?
In a market that is rapidly growing and has both zero interest rates and abundant resources, those two questions perfectly summarize the overarching sentiment of the time. Thus, creating an environment that welcomed and encouraged specialist designers.
By 2024, the situation had shifted significantly. Post-pandemic waves of layoffs in tech companies and market turmoil forced organizations to adapt to a new reality of tightening their belts, streamlining processes, and cutting expenses. Inevitably, design departments were also affected. Now, tough choices had to be made: Is this still an environment that nurtures and encourages specialist designers, or are we moving toward something different?
This trend has been noticeable since 2023, following the pandemic, across many professional fields, as demonstrated by Tanner's 2023 research. However, it is only now, a year or two later, that it is beginning to impact the design field. Some design leaders and schools are still skeptical of this shift.
As we know, design exists primarily to solve problems; yet, we've reached a point where many designers in the industry can only solve problems through highly specific, limited means, focused narrowly on their own professional expertise. In other words, instead of a versatile "Swiss Army Knife" designer, we now have a "bottle-opener" designer, a "file" designer, and so on. Many designers today lack the ability to pull off an "Inigo Montoya maneuver" - and they're the first to lose because of it.
Remember the scene from The Princess Bride when Inigo Montoya, played by the legendary Mandy Patinkin, is locked in a sword fight with the masked man? At the height of the duel, with a smug smile, he suddenly says, "I am not left - handed," switches his sword to his dominant hand, and, of course, wins. It's an unexpected, clever, and powerful move that demonstrates his ability to do both like a football player stepping up for a penalty kick and landing a perfect shot with their "weaker" foot, leaving the goalkeeper stunned.
Inigo Montoya has more than one way to fight - and he knows exactly when to use each. In contrast, many designers today have nothing to switch to - no surprise moves, no secondary skill set. They've been fencing with their right hand for over a decade now.
In a 2024 project featured in Brand Identity, Christopher Doyle - Creative Director of Christopher Doyle & Co., articulates something I've long felt myself:
"We may already be in an age of multi-hyphenated roles, with many creatives stuck in a 'How do I describe what I do in a 280-characters-or-less rut,' so what if that went further? Are we on course for a ‘generalists-only’ hiring renaissance, where everyone brings a multitude of talents to the table? Specialisation giving way to generalisation, making versatility and adaptability the must-have."
Doyle adds, "The best designers are always the ones who are willing to try things and get outside their core skillset." While the future may point towards the rise of generalists, this has always been the case.
The output anticipates an increasingly hands-on approach, with all team members contributing to client relationships and project success. The democratization of technical skills through new tools and AI is likely to blur traditional role boundaries further, fostering a more collaborative and dynamic work environment. Roles within studios may blur and intertwine, depending on the studio's scale and requirements.
In my opinion, this hyper-specialization developed artificially, rather than organically. While the reversal of the trend may very well shake the profession and industry, I see it as a genuine and necessary opportunity for correction.
Generalism in design is a superpower. As Gilles Deleuze described in A Thousand Plateaus, creation is not the privilege of a single discipline; it is the constant reinvention of connections between distinct fields.
The understated generalist designer needs to be harnessed, managed, and let's face it, could use a reputation facelift. I'll do my best to illustrate all of this with a series of metaphors, examples, and ideas.