A revolution in design tools

Arguably the biggest change in graphic design in 2023 won't be what our designs look like or how they function but how we make them.

"If late 2022 was defined by the emergence of AI in art and design, I think we're really on the edge of a design tool nirvana," believes Nick Hill of Re Design.

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The extended use of software.

"Plugins and tools have always been around but stuck behind tricky workflows," he explains. "Tools like Figma helped democratise the 'plugin', and at Re, we now use the software for so much more than what it was clearly originally intended for.

Apps like Runway have made in painting and masking content, which used to take hours of specialised work, available in minutes. There's been are cent resurgence in parametric type design that I'm really excited about. And tools such as Cavalry are bringing procedural and node-based design, previously only possible in expensive 3D software, into 2D."

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The tension is whether we can use this growing space almost 'invisibly' or that the tools become too evident and repetitive in work.

More focus on the big ideas.

Most importantly, this removes the barrier of entry or the skill threshold to the design profession. "The playground is growing far wider, and it's becoming easier for creatives to plug in and play," Nick notes. "Maybe that will mean creatives can focus more on the big ideas and the curation of themes than on a single output.

"The tension is whether we can use this growing space almost 'invisibly' or that the tools become too evident and repetitive in work," he adds. "I've got no idea what tool or app might become a 'can't live without' by the end of 2023...and that's pretty cool."

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