The Future of Graphic Design

MBO Partners predicts that by 2020, half the U.S. workforce will be independent contractors (feeelancers). An article in HOW Magazine makes some further predictions about what the graphic design market will look like in 2020.

David C. Baker says that design work will move from the middle in two directions. Strategy work will move to agencies and consulting firms with access to the C-level executives. Implementation will fall to in-house staff and low-paid production artists.

Designers will find themselves working more and more with technology directors instead of solely marketing directors. Technology will continue to be an enormous part of marketing campaigns. Writers and experts in non-design fields will become part of the design team.

Baker says that more and more clients will find you through Google searches and LinkedIn. He predicts that specialists will thrive, as they can deliver exactly what someone is looking for.

Established networks of professional collaborators will team up as needed to provide the right mix of expertise for a given project.

Working with clients will change from email or phone communication during business hours to a system that can be logged into at any time. This model supports the new independence of people working remotely, from different time zones, on their own flexible schedules.

Baker has also noticed that "the big reveal" is dead. Most projects will move forward iteratively with a lot of collaboration.

Designers might find product design and other 3D modeling opportunities open to them, especially as 3D printers get more ubiquitous.

Information design will get bigger as we find ourselves with more and more data and less able to make sense of it.

Plenty of opportunities present themselves in these predictions. I personally have seen many of these trends in my own work. People are finding me on web searches. I am doing more projects with an independent programming team. Much of our communication takes place on Basecamp. I have hired a part-time writer and editor to help with content creation and social media.