4 posts tagged with “education

I’m happy that the conversation around the design talent crisis continues. Carly Ayres, writing for It’s Nice That picks up the torch and speaks to designers and educators about this topic. What struck me—and I think what adds to the dialogue—is the notion of the belief gap. Ayres spoke with Naheel Jawaid, founder of Silicon Valley School of Design, about it:

“A big part of what I do is just being a coach, helping someone see their potential when they don’t see it yet,” Naheel says. “I’ve had people tell me later that a single conversation changed how they saw themselves.”

In the past, belief capital came from senior designers taking juniors under their wing. Today, those same seniors are managing instability of their own. “It’s a bit of a ‘dog eat dog world’-type vibe,” Naheel says. “It’s really hard to get mentorship right now.”

The whole piece is great. Tighter than my sprawling three-parter. I do think there’s a piece missing though. While Ayres highlights the issue and offers suggestions from designer leaders, businesses need to step up and do something about the issue—i.e., hire more juniors. Us recognizing it is the first step.

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Welcome to the entry-level void: what happens when junior design jobs disappear?

Entry-level jobs are disappearing. In their place: unpaid gigs, cold DMs and self-starters scrambling for a foothold. The ladder’s gone – what’s replacing it, and who’s being left behind?

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Portraits of five recent design graduates. From top left to right: Ashton Landis, wearing a black sleeveless top with long blonde hair against a dark background; Erika Kim, outdoors in front of a mountain at sunset, smiling in a fleece-collared jacket; Emma Haines, smiling and looking over her shoulder in a light blazer, outdoors; Bottom row, left to right: Leah Ray, in a black-and-white portrait wearing a black turtleneck, looking ahead, Benedict Allen, smiling in a black jacket with layered necklaces against a light background

Meet the 5 Recent Design Grads and 5 Design Educators

For my series on the Design Talent Crisis (see Part IPart II, and Part III) I interviewed five recent graduates from California College of the Arts (CCA) and San Diego City College. I’m an alum of CCA and I used to teach at SDCC. There’s a mix of folks from both the graphic design and interaction design disciplines. 

Meet the Grads

If these enthusiastic and immensely talented designers are available and you’re in a position to hire, please reach out to them!

Benedict Allen

Human chain of designers supporting each other to reach laptops and design tools floating above them, illustrating collaborative mentorship and knowledge transfer in the design industry.

Why Young Designers Are the Antidote to AI Automation

In Part I of this series, I wrote about the struggles recent grads have had finding entry-level design jobs and what might be causing the stranglehold on the design job market.

Part II: Building New Ladders 

When I met Benedict Allen, he had just finished with Portfolio Review a week earlier. That’s the big show all the design students in the Graphic Design program at San Diego City College work toward. It’s a nice event that brings out the local design community where seasoned professionals review the portfolios of the graduating students.

Allen was all smiles and relief. “I want to dabble in different aspects of design because the principles are generally the same.” He goes on to mention how he wants to start a fashion brand someday, DJ, try 3D. “I just want to test and try things and just have fun! Of course, I’ll have my graphic design job, but I don’t want that to be the end. Like when the workday ends, that’s not the end of my creativity.” He was bursting with enthusiasm.

Illustration of people working on laptops atop tall ladders and multi-level platforms, symbolizing hierarchy and competition, set against a bold, abstract sunset background.

The Design Industry Created Its Own Talent Crisis. AI Just Made It Worse.

This is the first part in a three-part series about the design talent crisis. Read Part II and Part III.

Part I: The Vanishing Bottom Rung 

Erika Kim’s path to UX design represents a familiar pandemic-era pivot story, yet one that reveals deeper currents about creative work and economic necessity. Armed with a 2020 film and photography degree from UC Riverside, she found herself working gig photography—graduations, band events—when the creative industries collapsed. The work satisfied her artistic impulses but left her craving what she calls “structure and stability,” leading her to UX design. The field struck her as an ideal synthesis, “I’m creating solutions for companies. I’m working with them to figure out what they want, and then taking that creative input and trying to make something that works best for them.”

Since graduating from the interaction design program at San Diego City College a year ago, she’s had three internships and works retail part-time to pay the bills. “I’ve been in survival mode,” she admits. On paper, she’s a great candidate for any junior position. Speaking with her reveals a very thoughtful and resourceful young designer. Why hasn’t she been able to land a full-time job? What’s going on in the design job market?