Simple enough for anyone who can wind a watch!

In this new era of technology, speed, and convenience I believe designer's importance in the world will shift. With the development of the computer, more and more people have design tools at their fingertips. When all people can master the computer, as it becomes even more prominent in our lives, the ability to use design programs will become less cherished. The understanding of design programs is now offered as a course for aspiring graphic designers, but the next generation will surely understand technology with less effort. Many people now can use Photoshop and paint to create and edit images, so in the future will all people be able to use even more advanced programs to design their own graphics? If so, this leaves us with the question, where will the professional designer fit in? 

When hand written books first emerged as illuminated manuscripts, only the well educated and highly skilled had the opportunity to work as scribes. Your ability to master the skill was all that was required. In our world today, and in the world of the future, nearly anyone can use computer programs to create and manipulate images. The skill is no longer what makes a designer important. Designers must bring something else to the table, something that not everyone has. Designers' most useful tool will not be the emerging technology, but their creativity and imagination. When George Eastman introduced the Kodak camera, putting photography into the hands of the public, the ability to take a photography lost some of its marvel. This pushed photographers to find more creative ways to portray a subject, like photographer Julia Margaret Cameron's portraits. I believe the same is happening and will continue to happen with the computer. 

I also believe as the computer gains total control, designers will seek out other means to express themselves. The computer makes things simple and designers will have to find a way to make them more complex. While the computer is a great tool for designers, artists will eventually realize the importance of using other tools to create. Paintbrushes, pencils, spray paint can all be mimicked by the computer, but as we progress I think designers will begin to see the difference. The computer will never completely replace using our hands. Computer design offers a designer perfection, but perfection is not near as expressive as faults.