Graphic Designer/Receptionist Wanted

I saw a disturbing ad on Craigslist the other day.

“Graphic Designer/Receptionist Wanted”

I’ve been a graphic designer almost 25 years. When I started most graphic design was done on boards with an Xacto knife and glue. Photos were screened on a camera and the thought of type on a curve gave the best of us anxiety.

Typography and proof reading were separate skills performed by separate people, and photographers, designers and copywriters all worked together and sung for peace. There was structure and a hierarchy to the graphics industry and there was happiness throughout the land.

When desktop publishing came along I knew that this was the future so I bought a Mac and a copy of Adobe Illustrator (3.0 I think) and locked myself in a room for a week. Then came the “I can do that” mentality from clients who bought a Mac and a copy of Quark or PageMaker and soon realized that there wasn’t a “Create Brand” or “Design Logo” filter in Photoshop.

The next path on the journey was the World Wide Web. Seeing the writing on the wall I started learning Dreamweaver, Flash, and acclimatized myself with the idiosyncrasies of web design. This was a necessary evil but did give us a preview of what was to come. Actionscript, Java, PHP, and a multitude of other programming languages soon reared their ugly heads.

“Social Media” was next. We had to promote for our clients using SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Blogging, e-blasts, the list goes on.

Now we are expected to design, photograph, program, write, promote, and sell. All separate careers a few years back.

I guess my point is to ask the question “where will it end?” Don’t get me wrong. I’m up for a challenge. I actually like designing web sites in Flash, I use Facebook and Twitter on a regular basis and obviously, I blog. I find SEO interesting (What can I tell you; I’m a geek . . . . Well, at least we’ll inherit the earth!) but all of these things should be a bonus to anyone who wants to hire me, not a requirement to even get an interview.

So, Here is an ad for the next wave of graphic designers:

“Graphic Designer/SEO Specialist/Shiatsu Massage Therapist Wanted.
Must be fluent in HTML, Ebonics, Morse Code, and Aramaic.
Compensation: Dependent on ability to juggle (balls, fire sticks and chainsaws)