Graphic Hug has a short write up on a recent Design Week article urging design students to pursue other career options in leu of the economic crisis affecting job availability in various (if not all) design fields. And while I do agree that most professionals should look beyond their chosen fields to land a job in the meantime, I find it rather ironic that so many well-established designers are so adamant in saying there should be less designers in the industry (particularly one Mr. Michael Peters, who complains about there being too many designers doing mediocre work), all the while other professionals and design advocacy groups the world over (like the AIGA) speak about how they wish for design to have an even larger role in business and industry, which —to me, anyway— should mean that the various design fields must grow in population. And I don’t think we can expect any industry to grow without an increase in mediocrity.
It’s simple, really. The more people, the more mediocrity. It has happened in every single profession/vocation I can think of, and design is certainly not the exception.
On the other hand, I agree with Mr. Ian Cochrane:
[…] if you want to design restaurants, it is good to have worked in one or two.
Indeed, our job requires much research, and the more hands-on experience we have, the better. I, for one, have been looking for work in non-design fields that interest me, regardless of whether I wish to design for said industry or not. But Cochrane’s comment helps to add some perspective regarding the benefits that my design career may reap from the recession-schmecession-let’s-just-go-out-and-make-some-moolah jobs I apply for, and the one I shall finally (and hopefully!) land.