Today I learned the cost of good design.

Every designer strives to take the complexities of a solid design and make them manageable for the client, to make the resource files for a client’s brand so simple to edit that the client could even do it on his or her own. Be it designing everything so they can create new packaging with just 2-3 clicks or designing a t-shirt in 5 minutes.

Right?

The problem I ran into today was that in my effort to make the creative process as simple and easy as possible for my client, I feel like I designed myself out of work. By that I mean the materials I designed acted as tools that were so simple to manipulate, the client could take his vision for the company and create some amazing things on his own.

This is actually the best thing for this young company—letting its creative C.E.O. directly influence the product development and perfect every menu and every product label. It hurts me because as he gets deeply involved with articulating his passion directly into the designs, I lose my value as the designer. I am no longer the filter between his mind and the medium…

The cost of good design is that I am no longer needed.