Lowering Our Standards
“I remember when …” , ever heard that in reference to the way we used to do things in design? I used to think this dated me, to be able to say yes to this question, but it doesn’t, as this can be said today equally as it was fifteen years ago when I started working in a small design shop headed by an “experienced” designer. Then, the reference was to “mechanicals” or mock-ups made with exacting precision. To me at the time, I didn’t really understand all the fuss, as with the advent of computers, mechanicals were becoming a thing of the past, replaced by our equally meticulously crafted computer files. A change yes, but not a loss of quality and still something one could take pride in. So where am I going with this? I submit that our quality standards are lowering these days and that rather than the response being, “duh!”, it should be cause for concern, as this lowering of standards is a key reason our craft is being commoditized, affecting not just the quality of our work, but also our futures.
So, I’d like to open this up for discussion for any who care to chime in and I’ll also be making more contributions to this topic over the coming weeks.
