“The big problem is most contemporary design practiced today is not really graphic design, but graphic decoration. – Art Chantry”

I got an interesting email over the weekend from a person visiting CreativePublic.com and they asked me what I thought about this quote, “The big problem is most contemporary design practiced today is not really graphic design, but graphic decoration. – Art Chantry”.

Well, I thought about this for a bit and I have to say I totally agree. Here was my reply back —

“My thoughts on this is that graphic design has become more of a cut and paste world using other peoples artwork and nothing these days seems original. From templates to cheep stock photography, just about anyone with a computer and Microsoft Word can slap images together. With that said, those that do that have no real talent in design, they just think they do. True design comes from inspiration and true design comes from talent. Just slapping images together is truly just decorating, similar to moving the furniture around in your home.”

Now I realize design consist of all types and art itself can come in many forms, but I have to agree with the quote and I really think design has become very cut and paste. I especially see this online with everyone using Web site and Word press templates and those cheap logo sites.

Now some folks probably disagree with me and some that do use these templates can make things look nice, but original artwork seems to becoming less and less visible, especially with all of these Web, logo and print template sites. Design seems to be targeting the cheap and easy with little thought on true design and what your client really needs to establish a good and unique brand.

I think the future for custom design in getting more rare. It would not surprise me if Walmart started selling print and Web site templates. Heck, they  will probably sell stock photos and logos too for 50 cents (lets hope not).