Design as strategy — not decoration

While the prevalence of the desktop computer has meant the democratisation of design and enhanced creative possibilities, it has also meant a devaluing of the graphic design profession, and that affects both graphic designers and those who need them.

Increased access to professional design software, fonts, stock images, and templates has exacerbated the problem as designers struggle to establish their value proposition in a flattened and changing landscape. In addition to this, international markets devalue the going rate for services.

The hourly rate model positions designers as service providers who compete on price, and to keep costs down, designers are often brought into the process as the last step before printing or web development.

Suppose freelance designers continue to position themselves as decorators, brought in at the end of the design process to "pretty things up". In that case, clients will eventually turn to off-shore service providers or solve their problems with premade templates. The solution is initially cheaper, but the rise of templated designs for the non-designer has resulted in a homogenous landscape.

If the design industry is allowed to continue down this current path, the future for in-house designers does not look bright either. For example, artificial intelligence software packages have been developed to manage branding systems. In addition, many traditional design roles have been devolved to non-designers, such as admin, sales, and marketing departments.

The solution is not to bemoan the devaluing of design but instead to celebrate the freeing of designers. By embracing the automation of menial design tasks, professional designers are freed up to elevate their roles to be more strategic and entrepreneurial.

Good design is a process. We already know that businesses grow "by design", but we have forgotten to include designers in this design process. If designers are freed from the role of decorating, they can be re-engaged as decision-makers.

Before the technology revolution changed the design landscape forever, design was embedded in the decision-making process in just about every industry. However, somewhere along the line, essential parts of the design process were prized apart and pieced out to other people.

Initially, this was celebrated as more efficient, but enough pieces have been removed to undermine the process and cause it to crumble.

I went through my traditional graphic design training at Swinburne University right on the cusp of the technology revolution. We learned traditional typesetting, bromides, illustration, markup, paste-up, film photography, and a litany of analogue skills.

In my final year at university, two things happened that were to change the face of the design industry in Australia forever.

The first was the introduction of the desktop computer—banks of tiny black-and-white Apple Macintosh computers appeared overnight, and the computer lab was born.

The second was the Dawkins reform which meant that university degrees were no longer subsidised. As a result, the once elite ranks of design graduates, who had been whittled down to 12 survivors from an intake of 120, would swell to full fee paying capacity. As a result, we now have a situation where the market is flooded every year with thousands of new design graduates who inevitably have to compete with each other on price.

After working in the industry as a graphic designer, I experienced life as both a studio designer and hired gun before switching to design education. Unfortunately, during those 20 years, I have witnessed the decline in job satisfaction of my graduates.

The solution, as I see it, is two-fold.

1. Designers working in a freelance capacity would do well to reimagine themselves as creative entrepreneurs. If you cannot beat them, join them. Suppose clients want to use templates instead of your professional design services. In that case, it makes sense to reinvest your design skills in designing high-quality templates and productise your design services.
2. Designers working in-house or running studios and agencies should be adding strategy to their list of services and working to position themselves at the start of the process rather than at the end.

The designers who have already taken these steps have successfully extricated themselves from the race to the bottom. As a result, these designers feel valued again, and their clients benefit from embedded design strategy in growth and planning processes.

The time has come for designers to re-evaluate their role in the design process and for users of design to re-prioritise design as strategy, not decoration.

Banner image design: Caitlin Bolton

Associate Professor Dr Dominique Falla has been a design educator for 25+ years and is passionate about helping creatives to become Creative Entrepreneurs, through her Creative Spark podcast. Dominique is the Deputy Director of Learning and Teaching at the Queensland College of Art and Design (QCAD), Griffith University. She is also the founder of Typism, a unique type and lettering conference, book, and online community for creative entrepreneurs. Dominique's doctoral research investigated Tactile Typography and established her as a creative practitioner of international standing.

www.dominiquefalla.com