Introducing: I’m No Expert, But Can We Start Asking Questions?
The best way to learn anything is by asking questions, so I’ll start by asking some now.
What is going on in the graphic design industry today?
No, seriously. There is a never-ending supply of talent yet a slow crawl into visual conformity that places a box over everyone — but it’s not as bad as you think, because we can paint the walls any colour we like.
Is that a problem? I’m not sure.
Are we breaking new creative ground and innovating, or are we chasing made-up trends that come from popular designers on Instagram? Again, I don’t know.
Am I approaching the design process in the right way? I hope so.
These are some of the questions I thought about over the past week, but it’s often hard to find answers in all the noise. For example, one of the few articles I found with any perspective was from 2016 on LinkedIn addressing the idea of trends. But that article was it, so I suppose the matter was settled then? The problem is nobody has addressed the issue again. It’s one of the most talked-about topics, but there’s almost no written discussion, so we just end up with another one-off article or blog post added to the pile.
What we have instead right now is an overabundance of creative click-bait. When you do a Google search on a topic involving graphic design there is a seemingly endless stream of tricks and tips with titles like: Top 10 Tips For Better Design, 20 Graphic Design Trends For 2020, or 15 Portfolio Websites We Love For Inspiration. They seem to go on and on, coming from everywhere and are never in short supply. They often hold little value by writing about design principles in simplistic terms with no understanding, and offer their take on the trend we will see this year without the awareness of the motivations found in a movement. In the end what they do is act as a filtering system for projects on Behance or Pinterest.
There is a home for critical thinking about design, but it is often singularly focused on picking apart a brand’s logo redesign like it’s a steak dinner at a new diner. As someone with very little interest in logo design, it seems to me that the industry is obsessed over this one small part of the profession, which is on full display by an increasing number of logo-designing YouTubers and Instagramers.
But how does any of this help me develop a deeper understanding of what I do? In a creative field like graphic design, why do we lack the analysis found with writing, film, or music? Why don’t we discuss the effectiveness or over-saturation of minimalism or a message in the same way the marketing industry might? Why is it hard to find any serious introspection in this field that talks about more than logos, font pairings, and inspiration with little more than a blurb? Why is it that there are more top tips for “finding a job” type articles than addressing serious problems?
When I started the redesign for my portfolio website, I had some ideas I wanted to implement but was not sure if I should. In my research online, searching for answers to my questions either through advice or perspective, it seemed like our industry settled on what a good design portfolio should and shouldn’t be years ago, because it seems like nothing about the design structure has changed or been improved upon. We have settled on a collective style guide that is now considered an industry norm. There’s no serious deviation to the look apart from a new graphic technique, colour, or trending typography which are all cosmetic trends that make no substantive change presenting our work. The advice I found online about the subject makes me wonder if we have become a blind cult of the “show, don’t tell” creative philosophy? It’s a noble goal to strive for, but even movies sometimes need narration to tell a story.
Meanwhile on the UX design side of the internet, they are ablaze with critical analysis about trends and offer portfolio advice that takes a closer look at what they do or their approach to it, and have far fewer inspirational blogs. The same can be said for content writers, resume & cover letter writers, and artists.
What I came up with for my final design was not a product of graphic designers looking at the industry but from elsewhere. The result was well-liked by everyone I asked to take a look, except by anyone called a designer. Everything that wasn’t the industry norm was quickly called out and addressed as a “don’t do that” issue. Explaining the reasoning behind it sometimes turned it into a genuinely contentious argument on sites like Reddit, and friends would give me a doubtful, you-do-you tone when they let it go. I was told “that’s not how it works,” “it’s not the industry norm,” or my personal favourite “recruiters only have 30 seconds to look at your work”.
Am I right? There’s a chance I am not. While I had some immediate positive feedback and some interviews, I still don’t have a job as of writing this. But the point in this story isn’t my portfolio; it’s the doubt, the resistance to something different, the lack of questioning what’s expected, and its following the crowd for no reason.
The most prominent call-out I received was always about my introduction or how much I wrote alongside my projects. As I defended my choices, it became clear the designers I spoke to saw little value in the message the words carried, with one designer calling the space a “missed opportunity.” This opinion was not shared by a recruiter who said it immediately made him stop and intrigued to see more. While this does not prove I am right, it proves there are questions to be asked about the way we present portfolios, but no one is discussing it.
I’m no expert. I’m a graphic designer early in my career, I have questions that need answers, and I want to share what I find and how I arrived there. While I am not an industry authority or an academic, the answers to questions that are more philosophical or experimental will be more subjective than definitive, meaning many different conclusions can be made. The conclusions that I make will at times mean I will likely show my ignorance, and I welcome any responses wanting to point it out. It is why I decided to title the project “I’m No Expert, But” because I want to stress that everything I write will be an opinion. Any ideas I may write about should only be there to stir up your own thoughts on a given topic.
The aim of this project is not to tear down the things I hate or hold up the things I love; instead, I want to grapple with the questions — I am sure many of us share — that centre around trends, convention, style, innovation, and art. My hope is that they spark a discussion and have us thinking more critically about how we design and be more self-aware.
My goal is to share my journey searching for answers to the questions I have as well as to share my thoughts on various subjects old and new. So I hope you will join me on this haphazard mission to be a better designer by gaining a greater understanding of what we do. Because I’m tired of the clickbait out there, so no more tricks, no more tips and no more inspiration — instead let’s talk about design.