The design profession has a future. Description and features of the designer profession

At all times, man has strived to improve the beauty of his home, clothing, and even environment to be able to be in harmony with nature and yourself. Some made masterpieces with their own hands, while others turned to professionals who could create incredible views for help. IN modern world The specialization of such people is known as the design profession.

Who is a designer?

Despite the fact that the profession of designer became truly popular and in demand only in the twentieth century, the name itself has long story. Its origins date back to the Italian Renaissance, when the word "disegno" was used to describe the drawings and designs that were the basis of an idea.

Depending on the type of activity of a design specialist, there are several main branches of this profession:

• industrial (design and creation household appliances, transport, tools, furniture);
• environmental design (creation of interiors, design of buildings, sites);
• graphic (creation brands and signs, commercials using computer graphics);
• 3D design (creation of animations, presentations, layouts using special computer programs);
• landscape (work related to the design of land plots, parks, gardens);
• design of clothing, shoes and accessories.

The listed branches of design art are just the tip of the iceberg. Today, the scope of activity of a graphic designer is simply huge, so every year new directions in this art appear (phytodesigner, puppeteer, color corrector, stained glass artist, etc.).

Design objects are present everywhere and in everything that surrounds us. In addition to the currently popular specialists in the creation of clothing and interior design, developers are widely in demand in the modern world. jewelry, accessories, dishes, furniture, etc. In a word, anything can become a design object, from a needle to an airplane.

Important qualities

According to many applicants who choose an interesting and creative work, every talented artist can become a designer. However, professionally important qualities and skills should not be underestimated. After all, a real designer is a creator good product, a picky perfectionist who is able to concentrate not only on the external side of an object, but also on describing its details, internal essence and functionality.

To become a specialist in this field and have a stable financial income, you must have the following qualities and skills:

• observation;
• creative thinking;
• developed imagination;
• communication skills;
• ability to work with large amounts of information;
• patience;
• ability to work in a team;
• a sense of tact in communicating with clients.

Education

Contrary to the belief of many self-taught designers, this art requires special education. To become a true professional, you must not only have good taste, developed imagination and drawing skills, but also be able to work in modern programs for designing interiors, landscapes, etc. The art of design does not stand still. Every year new materials, techniques and methods for creating masterpieces appear. Therefore, in order to stay on the crest of the wave, both a beginner and a professional designer must constantly learn, improve their skills and keep abreast of all trends.

Today there are many specialized schools and educational institutions where art is taught. given activity. However, as practice shows, private courses are not always effective.

Choosing educational institution, it is important to remember that there are no generalist designers. Each graphic designer can be a professional in only one direction of art.

Place of work and career

A wide field of activity opens up for every designer. He can work for himself, offering his services on the Internet and mass media. IN in this case The graphic designer independently looks for clients and estimates the cost of the project. The success of such a freelance designer depends on his professionalism and ability to find profitable and highly paid orders.

A graphic designer can also work on the staff of specialized departments large companies, whose activities are related to the art of design. Moreover, the more prestigious the company, the greater the chances for career growth, and, consequently, to increase income and achieve recognition.

In addition to large companies, there are also narrow-profile design studios. And although the likelihood of career growth in such companies is small, working as a graphic designer will help to achieve success for a person who is only at the beginning of his creative career.

Advantages and disadvantages of the profession

Unlike many other professions on the labor market, design can bring not only pleasure, but also good financial profit. A specialist works to order, therefore, unlike an artist, he can always be sure that his work will be paid for.

However, on the other hand, the designer cannot afford to create only when there is inspiration. Sometimes an order needs to be completed in as soon as possible, because the client is not ready to wait. It’s good if creativity, as they say, is in the blood of a graphic designer. But if creative thinking requires excessive effort, then the constant search for new ideas often leads to moral exhaustion and depression.

Another problem may be the designer’s internal disharmony. The tastes of the client do not always coincide with the tastes of the designer, and then you have to do work that is not to your liking.

Of course, the art of design is not an easy craft, but it has many advantages. Design activity brings good income, which increases with increasing professionalism.

Another undeniable advantage of work is the ability to work from home. You can generate ideas and create projects not only in the office, but also in your room, since only the result is important to the client.

Thus, the profession of a designer can become a real calling for creative and creative people who are not accustomed to monotonous and routine work, but dream of creating, making the world more beautiful and receiving a good financial income.

Design is everything around us. This is much broader than the external impression of an object. It's not a style, it's something we think about and work on. Beauty is when I can make you dream and think differently.

Three dimensions

Two-dimensional design, according to Karim Rashid, has become obsolete. Most modern architecture is made up of rectangles and squares - it's so boring! The simplest geometry of Descartes surrounds us on all sides, but the forms of nature are much more diverse, and man himself is three-dimensional.

In his works, Karim strives“to eradicate everything connected with past experience”, to overcome the matrix of the two-dimensional world, to get away from boxes and boring planes. Therefore, the walls and other objects in his projects bend and take on the most bizarre shapes, as if flowing into each other. Once you give up the dictates of right angles, the world transforms and becomes different. And here a real scope opens up for the artist’s creativity.

Metamorphoses of color and light

Continuing to move away from two-dimensional geometry, design should not be static. It must change after its owner - a person. Different light scenarios, all kinds of transformers, toys and dual-use items work for this. Even graphics will undergo constant metamorphosis: according to Karim Rashid, companies will soon acquire three-dimensional logos that can be rotated in space and viewed from different angles. And the strength of brands will not be in the recognition of the sign, as it is now, but in the possible options for changing it.

LEDs have become a kind of symbol of futuristic design. Now we no longer need a separate object for lighting. Thanks to LED lighting, everything can glow: floor, walls, ceiling. You can create continuous lines of light and light planes, which is what designers and architects use successfully today. And it is LEDs that can flood interiors with multi-colored light, changing thousands of shades at the request of a person.

Personalization

A new era in design has already opened. Now anyone can become a designer by creating “the object of their dreams” in a single or multiple copy. In the future, people will embody the objects they want, revealing their individuality and getting rid of the dictates of global corporations. 3D technologies will satisfy the passion for metamorphosis: if you get tired of a thing, you can print another one.

Design for the five senses

The tactile characteristics of things have long become important: we often choose furniture by touch, checking how pleasant it is to touch. But future design must go further and address the rest of human sensors. Sounds and smells are no less significant than tactile sensations, and here the creators of new things will experiment more and more. For example, you can create a soft rubber bathtub that will smell like lavender, and the water in it will gurgle just like in a mountain stream. Touch design is an area that will go hand in hand with the development of new technologies.

Eco-design

The digital age has come to save the earth. I love plastic, but why do I need a chair that will last 6,000 years? Plastic is very democratic, but these polymers are dangerous. The future lies in decomposing materials, that is, in that chair that will disappear without harming the earth.

And 7 professions that will remain, according to design leaders from Frog, Ideo, Artefact, Teague, etc.

Algorithmic/AI design specialists

For 15 years, some designers we spoke to feared that their place would be taken over by machines. And although " applied creativity is fundamentally difficult to program,” as Rob Girling says in Artifact, artificial intelligence will create new possibilities in design, creating so many of these possibilities that Girling, and other designers we spoke to, believe that AI, and algorithms, are a growing field.

“People-centered design has expanded from object design (industrial design) to experience design (adding interaction design, visual design, and design of spaces), and the next step is the design of system behavior: the design of algorithms that determine the behavior of automatic systems."

Post-industrial designers

“As everything starts to connect—from your couch connected to your fitness tracker to your hospital room connected to your wallet—we need to start thinking about connected experiences,” says Artifact's Markus Wierzoch. Such experiences offer a broader value proposition, which means we need to change the design processes that defined objects beyond their current form and function.”

Post-industrial designers will need to think through the entire user experience of a product to create tangible experiences that bridge the physical and digital worlds."

For example, a future designer who needs to design an electric toothbrush will need to make sure it can connect to an app, provide brushing settings, and connect to future smart homes. It is no longer enough to simply design something that cleans teeth. "Someone needs to be responsible for putting together complex experiences," says Mark Rolston, of Agrodesign.

Design Strategists

Researchers may have less work to do over the next 15 years, but Artifact's John Russo thinks design strategists will be indispensable. "The importance of design strategy will grow," he says. “Future design strategists will need the skill to understand and model increasingly complex systems”—e.g. social media, or supply chains - “they will create new products and services in a volatile environment characterized by high level uncertainty."

Organizational designers

Organizational charts of the future will be different from those of today. That's why Brian Walker, a partner at Ideo, believes organizational designers will come in handy when it comes to making companies more "adaptive, creative, and profitable." These designers, he says, "will help reimagine every aspect of the organization, from its core structure, incentives, processes, to workspaces, digital collaboration tools, and communication."

Freelance designers

Get used to working in your pajamas. According to the designers at Teague, the future of design is freelancing. Creative AI and global creative markets will give individual designers immediate access to skills that were previously only available to large teams. The result will be fast growth specialization, efficiency, and independence of designers. They believe that freelancers will not suffer alone, but will create a network of targeted micro-consultations that will compete with more traditional companies.

Translation of an article by John Brownlee

Head of the School of Design Arseny Meshcheryakov- about freedom, money and the future.

- Why should applicants choose the School of Design?

Because design is a wonderful profession, one of the most sought-after professions of the present, certainly one of the most promising professions future, and of course, one of the most beautiful professions of the past.

- Why past?

Design is one of the ancient, to say the least ancient professions! It was always there, it was just called differently. Michelangelo, who painted the Sistine Chapel to order, is a designer. The great artists who created luxury goods for kings or industrial designs for corporations are also designers.

- What then is the difference between an artist and a designer?

The designer’s task is to work based on the client’s goals and desires, and the artist’s task is to create his own unique language, build his creative personality and sell only what is made according to his own understanding. But often this line is blurred: there are designers who insist on their exclusive style, and there are artists who work only for money. It is important to note that the technologies of contemporary art and design often coincide, which is why we are opening a new profile this year.

- Why is design a profession of the present?

The design gives almost immediate results: you can control your employment and your earnings. Most design students start earning money while still at university. It is important that you are not dependent on a specific employer and can remain free. All possibilities are in your hands and depend only on your skills and desires today, and not later long years sitting as a clerk in some institution. You don’t have to tediously build a career among dusty stacks of papers - you can become cool right away - here and now - and it depends only on you.

- What will happen to design in the future?

In my opinion, the profession will become even more in demand. Many will be replaced by robots or automated processes, but creativity will always remain the work of humans. The technological revolution is directly related to design: the tools and tasks of the designer will change, but the need to create something new or beautiful will always be there. We already see the role of design in the era of the onset of the information revolution: in interfaces, applications, computer games and the concepts of various products themselves.

The next revolutions are customized production through 3D printing technologies, where the role of the designer becomes key. This will be followed by a jump in data transmission speeds, which will create colossal markets for 3D, 4D and further-D worlds and neural interfaces (possibly directly related to the brain). Not to mention genetic engineering - in fact, the design of living nature and humans. Now this sounds scary and seems like a distant future, but designers will not be lost in it either.

- So you guarantee your graduates success?

Success cannot be guaranteed. We teach modern design skills and do not have the gift of foresight, but today we can teach you the main secret of success - not to act according to a template, but to think, build concepts, be able to learn and make decisions independently, focus on the latest trends and technologies.

The volume of knowledge in the world has become such that it cannot be learned in 4, 6, or 15 years, so the concept of education has changed dramatically, and from stupid memorization of specific facts, names and skills, we are moving to teaching competencies with which you You will be able to be successful in any circumstances, feel comfortable in constantly changing conditions and adequately respond to the challenges of today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.

We will force you to study the experience of previous generations and tell you how not to be afraid of the new. You will start to think like a designer - modern man, for whom creativity is the main thing in life, whose main tool is his head, and he knows how to use it.