Death of a Job Title

Lately, there’s been a wave of remarks going around - graphic design is dead, killed off by the latest ChatGPT update. Another AI tool drops, and suddenly we’re all wondering if we should pack it up and let the robots finish the deck.

But design isn’t dying. If anything, it’s just outgrowing the labels we’ve boxed it into.

Graphic design, industrial design, UX, service design - these titles help explain what we do, but they also keep us in our corners. And when you zoom out, the work overlaps way more than people want to admit. We’re all solving problems. We’re all building things that connect with people. Whether you’re shaping an interface or a physical product, a customer journey or a brand system, the goal is the same: make something clearer, easier, better.

Design is translation. It’s observing people, understanding their needs, and turning that into something tangible. It’s not just about making things look nice - it’s about making things make sense. The best design disappears. It feels obvious, intuitive, like it was always supposed to be that way.

That’s why the whole “silo” mindset doesn’t work anymore. Good design isn’t confined to a toolset or a department. It pulls from everywhere - strategy, systems, behavior, communication. It’s messy and collaborative and nonlinear. It lives in the space between roles.

So no, graphic design isn’t dead. Neither is UX or industrial or whatever other title’s being declared obsolete this week. But maybe the idea that we’re all doing separate things is the part that needs to go.

Because if you’re shaping how something works, feels, or is experienced by people - you’re a designer. And that’s not going anywhere.