I just received an email where the ONE.org (organization) asked the members to send in their ideas for a new t-shirt. They received over 500 designs, and the expert (?) judges selected 3 finalists, followed by more than 58,000 people voting for their favorite. The winning t-shirt was designed by Valerie Strecker of Slidell, Louisiana. Okay, my first question is, is Valerie a graphic designer? I just googled her and I cannot find anything about her. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with her design, I’m just wondering if she’s done other things and I as a designer, would like to see them. If anyone can enlighten me, I’m awaiting the comments.

What is interesting to me is a quote by Chalya Shagaya (ex fashion model turned fashion stylist and holds a degree in Justice and another in Computer Information Systems; her company is Stickman Concepts), which cuts right to the heart of the original message I was was trying to convey when I first launched this site in 2006… which was to wear clothing that says something about yourself or helps spread a message, not just a brand or designer’s name. Chalya said,“What we wear says a lot about who we are…the right design has the power to go even further, and spark a global conversation. It starts with, ‘I love your shirt, what does it mean?’ and ends with greater awareness of the role we can all play in ending poverty and disease in some of the most vulnerable place on earth.”

Now, I must say that I’m very upset about this new arena for graphic designers. We are being watered down by a population growth in the industry and at the same time so many companies are outsourcing and driving the value of what we do down. Throw into the mix the new websites popping up where they’ve asked designers to enter contests for FREE, and compete against each other for a small winning fee. This is as shameful as the industry can get. We must start a campaign to close down this practice.

As a designer who has been working for almost 30 years, I know we deserve more respect and I’m horrified with new designers entering the profession each year and what they must think. If the only way for them to win assignments is to compete against their friends and the industry throughout the world for FREE, it’s a sad situation for the design industry.