It’s late October 2008 and the most exciting election is almost here. It’s exciting because for the first time in American history a black man is not only running for presidency, but may have a really good shot at winning office. If he doesn’t, we will have our first female Vice President. These are possibilities that we, in the past, had only hoped our children might witness. We are fortunate to witness them in our own lifetimes. In terms of candidacy, times are revolutionary, financially, the nation is heading for the worst of times. What will this mean to designers?

Despite Obama’s and McCain’s promise of counteractive proposals consisting of either tax cuts, tax breaks, and/or government sponsored health care, we as designers, will have to step up, gather our strengths, and smack them down on the desks of prospective employers. Even if it comes across as a bit ballsy, we will be forced to prove how indispensable we truly are. The market is going to get even more competitive. Anything that can be freelanced will be freelanced. Anything that can be contracted, will be contracted. Small or large, businesses will struggle, and in their desperate gasps for air, they will first cut advertising. They always do and we always feel a little strain from it. Even though cutting advertising can be like cutting an artery on branding, companies tend to see advertising as a frivolous expense, followed by marketing and large unproductive salaries. In difficult times, struggling companies tend to want to allocate most of corporate budget to product sustenance.

The truth of the matter is that most designers will never work for large companies, and even more will freelance at one point in their careers. We will freelance even while holding down full time positions with brick and mortar businesses. We are an adaptive breed who typically never hold down the same job for more than two years. We are used to the ebb and flow of small and large businesses. We secretly relish starter ups because they allow us to grow without outdated commitments. We expect change. It inspires us, keeps our easily bored selves religiously happy.

As promising as government aided public health care appears on paper, it means for us that getting even shitty health care will be a little harder than before. Many designers work for small companies that already bend over backwards to pay half of our health care expenses. Some designers pay for their own health care because they work for themselves. According to the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) 2007 Salary Survey, as much as 36% of designers freelance. 19% of designers work in offices with less than 10 employees. 24% work for companies with less than 100 employees.  More than half of designers will carry insurance if working for someone else than themselves, and primarily, it will be only individual coverage. I don’t have to summarize what this all means for designers, except to reiterate that the industry is going to get even more competitive.

As if we don’t wear a lot of hats. We will have to tighten the one we wear for ourselves. It will be uncanny that the biggest product we will design may be ourselves. The next four years are going to be tough.