On this episode of the Design Hustle Show, I’ll ponder the question “Is graphic design dead?” with my friend and former colleague, Jesse Nicoli. Graphic design has changed greatly over the years – since my first days out of college in 1996 to now with digital media playing an integral role in modern day marketing. Has graphic design gone the way of the dinosaurs? Is graphic design as we know it, dead?

Jesse Nicoli has a 13-year background in graphic design and front-end website development. He’s worked in studio and corporate environments and has been freelancing a variety of website services since 2011. Currently, he works in the marketing field as a Product Marketing Manager at Axis Communications and has expanded into video editing and production. He’s an avid disc golfer and content creator and enjoys spending time going to farmer’s markets with his wife Bonni, and dog Barney. When he’s at home he’s either editing content or woodworking in his workshop. Find him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesse-nicoli-860b9b57/

Topics we discuss:

1. If graphic design isn’t dead, has it changed and if so, how?
2. Is designing for print (publications, traditional marketing materials, etc.) still a thing? Is there a huge need for it today?
3. What do you think about services and applications like Canva? Design Pickle? Microsoft Publisher? Procreate?
4. Is being strictly a graphic designer enough these days? Should graphic designers know how to design for the web? Should they know basic HTML? This is a great episode for a couple reasons. First, if you’re new to the industry or looking to start a career as a graphic designer, we discuss what design jobs currently entail and how they have evolved and how we think they evolve going forward. Second, we talk about use case scenarios where designers are needed and how they are utilized with existing services and software like Canva and other subscription based services.

As generative AI matures, it’s quite possible that we’ll see in increase in AI designed collateral going forward, however that’s a topic for another time (or upcoming show, hint, hint).

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