Imagine waking up tomorrow and AI is brilliant at graphic design. I'm talking about better than you can even imagine. Logos that really work, layouts that feel like they have 30 years of experience behind them, and next level package design.
All with a cohesion and without any issues. Now, be honest. What would you actually do?
I'm not saying that happens tomorrow or even in the next 20 years. I don't know when AI will reach that point. Nobody really truly does.
But I really do think the question matters because a lot of advice for designers depends on AI always having some obvious weakness. So if your rent depends on design remaining difficult for a machine, every new technological advancement in AI does feel personal. But this video is about a different question.
How do you put yourself in a stronger position even if AI keeps improving? Now, I've spent a lot of time working through this for my Adapt Wise brand and course, and I want to take the most useful parts and apply them to us designers right here today in this video. And a quick note that you really do need to hear from Mustafa Solomon, the CEO of Microsoft AI before we do continue onto the positive stuff in today's video.
Now, Mustafa said that most computer-based professional tasks would be automated within 12 to 18 months. And just think about that for a moment and then think about 5 years from now, 10 years from now. Okay, but the positive stuff, the reason you're here, you need to follow along with this.
Maybe open up a note or grab a piece of paper or just something on your desktop because by the end of today, I want you to have the beginning of an actual plan. We want to first make a real solid plan be adjacent to whatever design work you already do right now. So, first write down where your money is coming from at the moment.
Is it just one employer, a few regular freelance clients, or one platform bringing most of your work? Next to each source of revenue, write roughly how much you earn from that each and every month. Then ask yourself this question.
If the biggest one disappeared tomorrow, how many months could you cover your essential costs? if you have savings and so on as well. Now, you don't need to share that number with anyone, of course, but you do absolutely need to know that for yourself.
This part is to show yourself how vulnerable your income is. It's that age-old saying of don't put your eggs into one basket. AI might affect my career is a frightening thought that you can't really do much with, but the saying or the thought, I have 3 months to replace this income, gives you something concrete to work on.
Now, make a second list. Five things you know how to do because you've worked in design or graphic design in the past. Try to go beyond software and deliverables.
Maybe you're good at researching an audience, explaining complicated ideas, or spotting what isn't working somewhere. You might be good at presenting concepts and having conversation with clients or getting people to agree on one decision. Just write down five solid good traits and skills that you have that you know you have.
If design changed dramatically tomorrow, those abilities wouldn't vanish from your brain. And that's a really, really powerful thing to know, and we're going to use it moving forward. So, look at this list and circle one ability you could use to help people in another way.
This is the beginning of a plan B. It doesn't need to be a new business by Friday, and it doesn't have to be another design service as such. So, if you've worked with fitness brands for a few years, for example, you might understand a question their customers ask better than most people.
That knowledge could be useful in social media content, education, research, or something you've not yet thought about. But to further illuminate this and make you understand, look at the skills that you wrote down and ask where else they could take you. You want to drill three columns on your page.
In the first column, put your strongest skills. In the second, put subjects you know or genuinely care about. And in the third, put problems people have within those subjects.
We're trying to find overlaps that could eventually become a plan B alongside your current income. So, let's follow one hypothetical person through this. They're a graphic designer who realize they are pretty good at photography.
They've been taking photos for client projects and they understand composition and editing. And they might even spend some of their free time learning about cameras and lenses. So in that first column, they might write down visual storytelling, photography, explaining creative choices.
In the second, they might write photography and camera equipment. But the third column is where this becomes a real true opportunity. Who could they help and with what?
So perhaps beginners who keep buying expensive lenses without understanding what they need. Perhaps new photographers can use their cameras, but they cannot work out why the images just look flat and lifeless. Or perhaps local couples who want someone to photograph their wedding.
Those are different problems, and each could actually lead somewhere different. So, our designer, our hypothetical designer, could make a YouTube channel with tutorials or a newsletter about cameras and lenses. They could teach photography.
They could buy and resell equipment they understand or build a wedding photography business. the same interest opens up several different paths and that should be really obvious to see right now. So, circle one problem and one group of people you'd like to explore first.
And for our example, let's say the designer circles beginner photographers who are confused about lenses. Before starting a YouTube channel or ordering a suspiciously expensive studio light, they might spend a week listening. What questions appear again and again in the comments and photography communities?
What do beginners regret buying? Which explanations still leave them confused? They speak to a few people and they write down the answers in those people's own words.
Then they run a small test while keeping their design work going. They might publish three simple videos answering the questions they heard most often or offer a beginner camera session to a handful of people. They pay attention to what people actually use and ask for what value.
If there's a response, they can build on that. They can make more useful videos. They can make a new newsletter, perhaps a workshop or a guide.
And if there isn't, they've actually learned something without betting their income on a single idea. wedding photography might turn out to be a better path for them instead, but that would be a separate test with its own skills and demands. So, do the same with the overlap you circled.
So, choose one small experiment for the next 30 days and write it down on your page. Keep your main income source going while you explore this and write down how many months of essential costs you could currently cover. That financial breathing room gives you your second path time to grow.
It doesn't have to pay your rent for Tuesday and onwards, of course. And remember, this is just one way to find a new revenue stream, a side project, or even to make a plan B. And that plan B eventually might even become your main income source.
The point here is to make directions for yourself. So when or if AI becomes insanely powerful, you are not then lost. And by now, your page should show you what you rely on today, the skills and the interests you could use elsewhere.
a real group of people with a problem and one way you're going to test helping them out. Our example started with a designer who happen to enjoy photography. It might eventually lead to teaching, media, equipment sales, or paid photography work, and yours will obviously look different.
The point is to discover that your current job is just one way to use what you know. It's not the only way, of course. Now, I do love design, and I'm not suggesting you walk away from it.
I'm suggesting you build another option or options while you still have the time and income to do it thoughtfully. And you've made it this far in the video and so I'm actually willing to bet that you are serious about this topic and your immediate future. And so do check out my 100page course that walks you through all of this and more, giving you stability and financial security no matter what AI does tomorrow or next year.
And that link is down below. But hey, aside from that, click the video on screen to keep learning vital design education today. And until next time, guys, design your future today.
Peace.
