Doug Lloyd of Flat compares Digital design to playing with a living system. He further discusses that design is a living system because one never knows where trends are going to go next, like that of a crop, one can not predict the final yield or outcome until it is done. The opportunity for potential failure is much greater than the potential possibility for great success. In a world where digital art tends to only last a few days. The potential for failure of a design increases within minutes of its conception. The real challenge that we face as graphic designers today is longevity. The lasting designs of such designers as Paul Rand with his work with ABC and Herb Lubalin with his work with typography have a quality that has enabled the longevity of their art. As students of Graphic design it is our task while studying to figure out what those qualities are and apply it to our careers while remaining original.

Continuing with the topic of amateur design, good design these days tends to move towards the audiences needs rather then toward the media needs. The so called “underground” world of art seems to be making an above ground appearance more and more these days. As the call for less mass media influenced art and thought is evermore present. Audiences are turning to an underground culture of art and design to get their visual kicks. The mass media is just not cutting it these days and in turn is reaching to the uncelebrated artists for ideas. But there is always the notion of selling out. Many visual along with musical talent take “selling out” very seriously and as a slap in the face to the devoted following that may have developed over the young careers of some artists. Once again a moral issue has sprung up in graphic art conversation. What is ethical of the artist? Does the artist have a certain amount of responsibility? And whom do these responsibilities effect. Along with many other ethical issues that a designer is faced with, one may be faced with the decision of loosing dedicated followers to make it big in the business. A well trained designer is like a super hero of sorts. Though we are not leaping from rooftop to rooftop physically, in moral realm we are. Its not often you hear someone say that the designers for Phillip Morris are their hero.

Large team design or small team design? In some cases a firm or individual designers may even say no team design. I have personally found singular design to be very tough these days. It is no longer a time of the great masters of design that design by themselves and know that their work will make it, but it is the time of the great design teams. The firms that put out the best work almost always work in teams. It is very rare these days that students look to one great current designer for decisions and inspiration.

Large team design however may not always be appropriate either. It is not easy to come to final conclusions with a large team. In Becoming a Digital Designer chapter four discusses this notion. There is an appropriate time to devise a large design team and it mostly depends on time allotted for a project. One might think that the more creative minds the better. But this is the furthest thing from the truth in the creative world. We are all self absorbed and we all think our ideas are the best. But the lot of us together and we have a time bomb or nothing at all.

Small team design seems to be a rather successful though sometimes a stressful solution to some design problems. Quick decisions are necessary for a fast paced digital world. A few brains and creative influence in a smaller group will more often times than not result in high quality design in a shorter period of time. This is a catalyst for many ulcers for some, but some designers work their best under strict deadlines and in high pressure situations. I personally enjoy a little bit of time to complete my design work. I like being able to take my designs to far reaching directions than what I originally construct, but I also find that under strict deadline I can pump out the same amount of quality work and sometimes better work. There’s no bigger pain in the world than pulling ideas out of your teeth when your mind is over worked and way over burnt on concepts. On the other hand it sometimes helps a designer skip all the bad ideas and gravitate towards the ideas they know will work, reducing the work load and time literally in half.