It seems to me that creative professionals have always been in a technological arms race, fighting for their existence.

From the days of scribes seeing their jobs and livelihoods replaced by Gutenberg's printing press, to graphic designers navigating a world where clients have access to tools like Canva, DALL-E, and ChatGPT.

But I would argue that the advances in technology and the increasing ease of access to digital tools actually highlight the true value of creative professionals in the business world: our ability to provide nuance, genuine "human" intelligence, style, and creativity. These elements help consumers value and understand goods and services. To my mind, this means moving from providing the nuts-and-bolts, tangible creative "goods" like brochures and social media posts, to providing systems that help clients leverage digital tools to efficiently produce sophisticated, high-quality communication assets. Anyone who has witnessed administrative staff unleashed on the endless possibilities of Canva can attest to the need for a visual framework.

In this way, graphic designers can spend more time doing what they truly love: conjuring up beautiful visual systems that make a meaningful difference to society.

In my time as a graphic designer, I have consistently applied myself to learning new skills and technologies to build better visual language systems for my clients. From learning to use 3D software alongside learning interior design principles for my restaurant and hospitality clients, to learning to create websites uniquely tailored to my clients' business visions and everything in between.

I am one of those old-school designers who learned to produce artwork for printing using traditional analogue technologies: paste-up artwork, process cameras for colour separation, and manipulating artwork for the unique ways different presses applied ink to paper. I loved the craft of that time and admired many amazing graphic designers who used those now-defunct techniques with incredible mastery.

I think that craft is still alive and well in 2025; it is perhaps now more cognitive than carnal. We have the opportunity to push ourselves into a new space where we can delve into the deeper aspects of visual communication, spend more time on the 'why' and less time on the 'how.' Think more carefully about the impact we make on society and how we can push our profession in a constructive direction.

I see myself more as a visual consultant, suggesting ways and providing semantic systems that help people reach their goals and make their worlds better. In this sense, I am grateful for tools like Canva and ChatGPT, as they are helping me transcend the ordinary and mine my own true potential to make an impact.

These software tools, such as Canva, Adobe Express, and VistaCreate, allow me to provide templates and guidelines that my clients can easily implement, as they are inexpensive and user-friendly. This offers a way for me to direct a company's brand communication efforts, which is very powerful and something of a windfall. It empowers clients and elevates designers. Furthermore, AI image generators like DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion allow for the rapid creation of visual assets, further empowering the client.

How I made this post: The post was written by me and edited with Gemini. The prompt for the illustration was generated with Gemini, and the illustration was generated by Google AI."