For Designers, the Edge Isn’t the Tools. It’s the Taste.

The next era belongs to idea-led designers.

I started my first design job years ago. The exact year isn’t really the point. What matters is that the role felt clear.

I was a graphic designer, and I designed graphics. Simple as that.

As always, design is more than visuals. The real skill isn’t just what something looked like, it’s what it communicated. The thinking behind it was the work.

I cut my teeth on CPG identities and packaging, and there are still few professional moments more satisfying than seeing something on a store shelf that I helped bring to life, especially when someone I know buys it without realizing I had anything to do with it!

Back then, there were guardrails. The job had boundaries. We weren’t expected to be designers AND content producers, videographers, social media managers, or AI prompters, etc. There were clear roles and lanes.

What made those early years so impactful was the studio environment. I was surrounded by real talent, designers with deep experience in specific disciplines. Illustration wasn’t an add-on, it was a career. Typography wasn’t choosing a font, it was custom lettering shaped by hand, taste, and repetition.

We didn’t try to do everything. Design was a craft.

Act 1: Specialization & Standards

The early model of creative work was built on specialization.

Teams were composed deliberately, because the work demanded it. People had clear lanes, and they went deep.

And because design was never just about decoration. It's judgement. Restraint. Knowing what to leave out. Solving business problems with clarity and taste.

Yeah, the pace was fast then too, but there was still room to think. Time to refine. Late hours, but with enough space to earn the final decision.

Quality mattered. Standards mattered. And you learned by being surrounded by people who had truly gone deep into the craft.

Act 2: The Quiet Shift

Then things started changing. Quietly at first.

Tools got faster. Platforms multiplied. Marketing turned into a constant churn. Content demand became infinite.

Design started shifting from a discipline into something people treated like a utility.

The moment it really clicked was when design began getting packaged and sold like a commodity. Full creative projects offered at bargain prices, with endless revisions and nearly instant turnaround.

That’s when the market started believing design was just output.

Not judgment. Not experience. Not problem-solving. Just content. Stuff. Once that belief takes hold, expectations expand fast.

The barrier to entry collapsed, and suddenly making something started getting confused with being a designer.

So now the “designer” role contains anything and everything creative. Social content, websites, motion, strategy, analytics, AI, production, all in one!

Execution became easier to access, faster to produce, and harder to differentiate.

Act 3: Now What?

Today, speed and cost are no longer differentiators. They’re the baseline.

The next designer is not a pixel-pusher. They’re a translator between business and culture. And to be clear, this isn’t entirely new. The best designers have always led with ideas.

Taste, judgment, and conceptual thinking have always been the difference between design and decoration.

What’s changed is that the tools became so accessible, and the output became so easy, that a lot of people now confuse execution with design. When anyone can make something that looks good, it creates a false sense of mastery.

That’s the new challenge.

AI can generate options forever. But it can’t choose wisely. It can’t understand context. It can’t protect a brand over time. It can’t tell the difference between what looks good and what is true. That’s the dividing line now.

The brands that want fifty logo options don’t need more decoration. They need direction. Leadership. They need someone who can look at the noise and say: this is the signal, this is the story, this is what matters.

Because more isn’t more anymore. More is cheap.

What Actually Still Matters?

This part hasn’t changed:

·       Taste

·       Judgement

·       Conceptual thinking

·       Brand stewardship

Those are the real differentiators. Not the tools. Not the volume. Not the speed.

The designers who survive and thrive will be the ones who can navigate:

·       craft + strategy

·       storytelling + data

·       design + technology

Not as buzzwords. These are real expectations.

The work now isn’t just making things look good. It’s making things make sense. The tool is not the edge. The idea and judgment are.

Final Rant

The designer job I entered doesn’t exist anymore. It would be unreasonable to think it would.

The world doesn’t reward depth the way it used to. It rewards speed, volume, constant production. But I don’t think the answer is to become faster. Or louder. Or more prolific.

I think the next era belongs to designers who can truly think and lead with ideas. Who can edit. Who can solve. Who have a point of view, the confidence to stand behind it, and the ability to convince others of their beliefs. That’s the present-day differentiator.

One phrase I’ve always come back to, and still tell my kids, is: Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

And that judgment, more than any tool, is what the best future designers are going to need.