Anyone with a computer can call themselves a graphic designer?

Be afraid of the boss that thinks he can buy his "net guy" or "editor girl" a copy of Photoshop and force them to crank out logos, headers, and various other graphics with no training. Half the time it's not the poor schlep with the copy of PS on his gaming machine so much as it is his boss telling him that he's the new graphic artist.

How about the hack designers with art degrees who have no understanding of typography? Thanks to Dan for the perfect example.

After 12 years as a fledgling designer, I now create a pretty good 64 page quarterly magazine. And I can look at the "magazine" I designed 12 years ago and realize how profoundly my skills were lacking then. It really does take years of training and experience to excel.

People who dont go to uni dont have the 4 years to LEARN how to design, its as simple as that. I have been in the industry for 16 years and have yet to see anyone buy a mac and teach themselves anything but how to rip others off - and badly I might add... the only thing that'll save design from these hacks is a really good virus - bring it on!

I think the proof is in the pudding, as they say. 12 year freelancer, veteran of USA Today Graphics department and I remember when Photoshop was on the drawing board. These "hacks" will either figure it out for themselves and develop their craft, and excel in their field, or they wont. Sort of like we did. BTW, anyone else old enough to remember cutting color seps with a razor? lol

A monkey with a Macintosh... is still a monkey.

Well, I find it kinda sad, that this won first place. It seems that the person who created it feels inferior, fears job security, and competition in a captialistic society.

I agree that there are many "hacks" out there. But why do you guys care, since they supposedly suck? If they are not talented, then they will not make a decent living.

Some people don't spend 4 years undergrad, and 2 years in grad school studying fine art. Should they not be able to enjoy design and art? Maybe they should not be able to claim to be professional grafic designers, but should you deny them a chance to explore the field?

Should Mozart, Beethoven, The Beatles, and Elvis be denied writing music because they did not attend Julliard or Berklee?

Designers are underappreciated because they have arrogant attitudes. They think that they are gods. People tolerate them rather than appreciate them. You are a graphic designer, not a rock star, so don't expect to be worshiped.

I work for a multi-billion dollar international company. If I every encounter a person on one of our advert projects, with the horrible attitude of this 1st place winner, I would immediately ask the firm to fire him or her. If the firm refused, i would question their judgement, and possibly look for a new ad agency.

I don't want someone with a bruised ego or inferiority complex working on a 50 million dollar national advertizing project.

I work with many designers, on a daily basis, and they are so creative that they don't have to fear the competition. In the past year, we did a 50 million dollar P&G rollout.

They know that they are good, and don't waste their time worrying about the competition.

One more note. This 1st place winner is a negative ad. Who benefits out of negativity? Usually not the creator, but in this case, a design competition judged by people who feel that their job security is threatened, the negative guy wins. That's a rare thing, especially in the current state of our world.

So what should we do?
Kill all the "hacks"?
Are we snobby elitists?

Just get back to work, design something cool, and stop worrying about the "other guy ("hacks")"
If you are truely great, you will be rewarded.

If this Dan guy is the best they could come up with, then I've lost all respect for Adobe and their judges... either that, or Danny-boy was the only person who entered.

Don't get you panties in bunch with your pseudo-Freudian analysis.

I agree, we are graphic designers, not gods. We can make something look good, not make the world turn.

Did noone notice the poorly written copy in Dan's work? It is sad that he won this award, and continues to win awards. If he is the future of our design, we are in BIG trouble. This thesis is not an original idea. Many aren't. But the problem here is he didn't take it to a level that teaches us anything new. Beyond that, the design itself is stale and the type, well, yawn. This is a person who will expect to work in the best design shops around the country, and will because he knows how to play the game. Sadly, at this thesis show there were REAL works of design that actually took risks...not works that conformed to what his instructors works look like or what the thesis committee told him to do.

I hope that as designers we can actually design, and take charge of our own business sensibilities, and not run around griping about how noone appreciates us. Act the part, and you will find that people will appreciate you and pay you accordingly

I'm a freshman in college.
The GD program at my school now is lame so I'm transferring because I know that before I left highschool all my friends had d/l'd fake-licensed the Adobe Creative Suite and were futzing around with them like crazy - turning out some impressive stuff - but they aren't studying it in school soo... well I think that the education is key to being successful, not to mention the connections and interships that are MUCH more accessible through an actual institution designed to do so.

It's an ongoing debate. I've just come from a similar debate on this subject at this design forum, where they are all getting up in arms about some comments that a journalist has made. My views are that that, yes, a creative mind has to be taught and be at the forefront of design education. But being able to use the software is also a talent that shouldn't be ignored. Otherwise we get into that whole, 'oh you're only an artworker' snobbery.

I'm a professional designer. I have a degree, and many years of experience. Does that make me a snob when I see other people who have had NO TRAINING and NO EXPERIENCE considered the same level of designer as I am? That's a lot of bull - the sad truth is that in our profession, any one who can afford a computer is considered a designer. This is because the computer has made it MUCH simpler to create artwork than before, when people needed actual drawing, sketching, comping, typography, and design theory skills. Everybody doodles, does it make them fine artists? People know how to use a hammer, does it make them carpenters? And the comparison to rock stars is just ludicrous - so you mean to say that a rock star has more validity in his/her profession than designers do? You're confusing a profession with celebrity.

People who just go out and buy a computer and fancy themselves a designer have been bringing down the industry for years. These people underbid the professionals for projects, these people get hired at lesser wages than the professionals. Why hire a pro for 75k a year when you can get one of these so-called "designers" for 25k? They can afford to underbid as many of them don't have education loans to pay back, studio rent, subcontractors, photography, etc. etc. Is their work better? Some of the time, yes - I know plenty of professional designers who aren't as good as they should be. But most of the time, no. We're not talking about creating fine art, expressing our own creativity, or exploring design methods for the purpose of study. We're talking about being hired and considered a PROFESSIONAL DESIGNER. They get hired because too many corporations out there just don't know the difference between good design and bad - all they see is the bottom line - money.

Our job security is NOT on the line because we're prima donnas, or cry-babies, or snobs. Our job security is on the line because everyone and their mother considers themselves to be a graphic designer now, which diminishes our profession as a whole. Everyone sings in the shower. Does it make them rock stars??

bravo