Thank you for your thoughtful article, Michael. And for sparking the discussion.

When I was hired as a Design/Illustrator at Boeing in 1967, the layoffs of draftsmen were just beginning. There were well over a thousand draftsmen there at the time. The then-new mini computer and the first versions of CAD software were replacing them. Some became CAD programmers, and others drifted into other jobs. Many were unemployed for years. These changes are not pretty.

I believe it's time to think of ourselves as creatives contributing to others rather than designers contributing to corporations. The corporate world will replace designers as rapidly as possible to save costs and to provide increased security. We creatives will find new ways to contribute and sustain ourselves as we always have.