Upload Section 2 of your Research Project, then complete two peer responses of your peers’ papers. Please do not complete peer response on any paper that already has two peer responses (this is so each person will have two peer responses).
Copy and paste the following list of questions into your response and answer each one in regards to the paper under consideration:
Does the paper have a brief introduction for the second section? Was it complete? Why or why not?
Did the paper have at least five sources?
Were at least three sources involving:
How my future career will be impacted by:
artificial Intelligence
robotics
high performance computing
autonomous vehicles and/or futuristic transportation systems
drones
surveillance
alternative energy
sustainability
augmented reality
virtual reality, and/or
3D Printing.
Was each piece of information properly cited? Was there a “Quote/Fact Sandwich” for each cited source?
Was there an excellent conclusion?
Was the Works Cited properly titled?
Was the Works Cited in MLA style, in hanging indent, in alphabetical order (i.e. was it done with Zotero???).
Paper #1
Graphic Design’s Future / Research
In this portion of my paper, I would like to explain the inner workings of my research and what I was able to discover. I previously stated that I would be looking into the number of jobs for graphic design and the growth or decline from the last 10 or so years. This proved to be quite difficult to find since there has been a history of failure to document many areas of graphic design in general. That may sound a bit far-fetched seeing as this career field has been around for over 100 years, but it is true. For some reason or another, there is a large gap in records for the profession, but I will do my best to give you what I have found.
I have scoured the web from Galileo to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and everywhere else I could think to look in between. I even got in touch with a friend of mine that works at a video game design company to speak to some of their marketing and game designers to get some information. They provided me with some insight on how AI has affected the number of jobs for graphic designers there, but there was not much in terms of detail. (D. Eddleman, personal communication, November 28, 2021). In other words, there was some basic information but nothing that I could consider concrete evidence, so that was somewhat of a dead end. Which unfortunately means it was a mild waste of time, but that happens when you pursue multiple avenues of research.
Now then, lets get into some numbers when it come to how much graphic design employment is expected to grow. The first source I would like to introduce is located in the Occupational Outlook Handbook by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics which states that, “Employment of graphic designers is projected to grow 3 percent from 2020 to 2030, slower than the average for all occupations.” (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Now this answers my question about how much of a demand for designers there is but does not really tell me that AI is the reason behind it being slower in growth than the average.
As far as the growth of graphic design from the last several years, Carrington College reported that the Bureau of Labor Statistics had a larger estimated increase in employment around 2011. Carrington College’s article stated, “In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says employment is going to jump from 192,240 in 2008 to 323,100 in 2018.” (“Graphic Design Careers – By The Numbers [Infographic]”). That number of over 300,000 is however not quite on the mark unfortunately though. The number of jobs reported from the Bureau of Labor Statistics from 2020 is around 250,000 which means somewhere in the last few years employment slowed drastically. Again, there is nothing regarding AI interference that I could find for a reason as to why growth has slowed. There are several possibilities that come to mind, one of which could be that people just enjoy the job enough that they want to keep working instead of retiring. Another could be that the way the economy is today makes it harder for people to retire, but these are just possible scenarios that come to mind.
After looking at the numbers and percentage of growth I want to investigate ways that technology is affecting my future career. 3D Printing for example was something I believed would be a possible threat to designers at one point. The ability to have a design 3D printed over and over after it was created sounded like it would decrease the number of jobs. Once the input into the computer was done it could be replicated by the push of a button over and over. However, according to Sam at Zeal 3D Printing Services it is more of a match made in heaven for designers and design teams to help improve their work, not replace them. Sam gives a hopeful explanation:
The marriage of graphic design and 3D technology is a transformative relationship that will change the way everything is designed, presented and experienced. From marketing material, building prototypes, embracing innovation, and data visualisation to typography, business cards, packaging and production, everything will change dramatically because of 3D printing technology. It will mean faster design and production times, more customisation and lower costs. Graphic designers will use 3D printing technology to create new products considered near impossible, not too long ago. (Sam)
It sounds like technologic advancements like this will benefit graphic designers and make their jobs easier, not threaten to replace them. With that being a reassurance, there is still another advanced technology that should be addressed. The technologic advancement I am referring to would be Augmented Reality.
I am sure everyone has heard of Augmented Reality or Virtual Reality at some point, especially with the release of VR headsets from companies such as Oculus. We have all seen someone using them to play games or immerse themselves in a virtually created world. However, Augmented Reality is slightly different than VR and has different uses. Authors Gregory Kipper and Joseph Rampolla explain:
Augmented Reality (AR) is a variation of a Virtual Environment (VE), or Virtual Reality (VR) as it is more commonly called. Virtual Reality technologies completely immerse a user inside a synthetic environment and while immersed, the user cannot see the real world around him. In contrast, Augmented Reality is taking digital or computer generated information, whether it be images, audio, video, and touch or haptic sensations and overlaying them over in a real-time environment. Augmented Reality technically can be used to enhance all five senses, but its most common present-day use is visual. Unlike Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality allows the user to see the real world, with virtual objects superimposed upon or composited with the real world. (Gregory Kipper and Joseph Rampolla)
With this type of resource, designers would be able to visualize every detail of their work even down to exactly where in the world they could put an advertisement for example. It could also be used to promote their creativity by giving them an enhanced version of the world to explore possibilities and put themselves in their target audience’s perspective. This only reinforces my hypothesis that AI and technology will be a help to graphic design, not a threat.
Lastly, I wanted to find out what the CEO of a graphic design company thought when it comes to the threat of AI replacing humans for this career field. Zaheer Dodhia the CEO of Logo Design is a successful entrepreneur and is a Forbes Council Member that shared his thoughts on the issue. Dodhia makes solid points in “The Human Touch” section of his Forbes article:
AI design is useful to a point, but you’re never going to get the understanding of the personality behind a brand, for example, by inputting design factors. How would an AI designer draft a brand visual that’s noted as “ethereal, punk or friendly”? What about one that’s listed in the brand specifications as “sleek, quirky or funny”? Those are the types of descriiptors that entrepreneurs use in creative briefs for their brands. But AI, generally speaking, lacks the awareness of what those descriiptors translate to in terms of visuals — although it can be amusing to see how AI interprets concepts like “ethereal punk.” (Dodhia)
Dohia in the same article went on to further elaborate on why he believed that AI design would not take over but would instead be a great help, and why the growth of graphic design slowed down so much. Dohia explains in the section of the article labeled “Filling A Need”:
So human designers are necessary, and AI design has its place. However, what humans provide in terms of quality, AI may make up for in quantity; graphic designers tend to take longer over individual projects, while AI design can be produced almost instantly, drawing from a library of pre-loaded imagery. And AI is certainly cheaper, given that many of the design sites provide free designs.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there are more than 250,000 graphic design jobs in the United States. However, the number of individual designers is projected to decrease by about 4% between now and 2029.
The main cause for this, however, is cited, not as AI but as the decrease in print-based publications. With fewer magazines, books and newspapers actually being printed, there are fewer positions open for graphic designers. However, the BLS job outlook also notes that the need for digitally based graphic design is growing, and it will likely continue to do so. (Dodhia)
This last portion of research made me realize that just because certain areas in the graphic design field were changing, it did not mean that graphic design was in danger. It just means that it is changing into a more digitally focused profession, and that is perfect for what I plan to do in my future career.
