In the film Objectified, one of the designers asserts that "in the future, the tools to make design will be available to everybody." I believe that future is now.
image via spic.com
One would be hard pressed to find a modern American household—or a household any modernized country—that did not own at least one computer. Many households even have one computer per family member. Today's youth have grown up with computers and the internet their entire lives. Many of these computer users have access to photoshop or similar editing and/or design programs. Many of these photoshop users obtained their software from less than legal means, but ethics in design should be saved for another blog post entirely.
With the increased availability of computers and design software, design tools are becoming increasingly available to a wider audience. Also, the internet allows the user to have access to a wider variety of designs and designers then ever before. When browsing the internet, one is often bombarded with images—some well designed, and other poorly designed—and it can often be overwhelming.
Although design tools aren't available to literally every person on the planet, we as a culture are nearing the day when everyone is a designer. That is not to say that everyone is a necessarily refined or creative designer, but they possess the tools and the knowledge nonetheless. A surprising number of children under 15 know how to doctor photos. I could not find any official statistics on the matter, but in my own experience, I have been continually surprised at the number of children who can edit and manipulate photographs. In high school, this was an envied skill, as hordes of insecure girls rushed to the computer lab to mask their insecurities through photoshop.
I believe that for better or for worse, the era of design tools being readily available to everybody is upon us. Although it may increase competition for design jobs, the benefits of having so many fresh minds in the design realm will likely outweigh any costs.
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