Are we slowly being replaced by AI and desperation?
3yr
Roxane Lapa
In the last couple of years I've started making the shift to more of an illustration career instead of web and graphic design because I have less and less work coming in. All these cheap 'design your own logo' programs and 'build your own website with templates' platforms seem to be cleaning up the market. I know I can do a better job, but many clients don't have the eye to spot how misaligned their logos are, how wonky their sites look after they've tried to shove their own content into a template. The client doesn't know the code is bloated and full of validation errors. All most of them seem to see is 'free' or a 'fraction of the price'. So I lose work even though I can do a much better job. It saddens me to see the same thing happening in the art world now. I see there's an app making its rounds on social media that can cartoonify a face...and it does a pretty good job. I know I could do a better job, but how can I compete with 'instant' and 'free'?  Even concept art isn't safe. I see there's a website that you can blend two characters together to make a new character. Sure, a concept artist will do a better job, but a lot of indie studios will probably not save up to hire one - they'll use this free website instead. I'm sorry this post is so depressing. I'm usually a very optimistic person, but I'm just feeling more and more beat down lately. I just want to do an honest days work every day and get paid so I can pay my bills. I go onto freelance websites to pick up jobs and they're full of desperate people offering to design logos for $5 or to illustrate an entire book for $100. These people offering these ludicrously low prices all have thousands of 5 star reviews, probably written by their friends or bots.  Am I alone in feeling this way? How do normal people get fair paying jobs now days? 
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Dan B
Technology unfortunately cheapens everything. Ask furniture craftspeople how they do these days, or the old electronics repair shop. There is still a place for things handcrafted and demand for high quality, but it's reduced over time as the quality of automated production increases. I could probably rant a lot at how society's drive for convenience and efficiency concentrates knowledge and reduces appreciation for value (especially distorted by things like 'free' social media), but I'll focus on your second point, that people can't even understand the difference between quality and cheap or even determine 'value.' In your case, all these 'cheap' websites and logos etc come with no support, no long term guarantee, no building of relationships or service. I don't know where it'll end up but the web seems to be moving rapidly (already there?) towards a massive junk-heap. But don't cheapen yourself! Make sure you describe the value you provide and why you're worth the money. As an idea, find some crappy websites and contact them with a brief on how their site and logos are inefficient and what you could offer to help them?
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