There was a time when hiring a design studio wasn’t even a question. If you wanted to be taken seriously as a business, you needed professionals on the job. Logos, brochures, websites, packaging, this was essential infrastructure.
But maybe that’s starting to change.
With AI now handling much of the design industry’s everyday workload, leaflets, invites, social posts, small-budget projects, what used to require a studio’s time and talent is being done by machines in minutes.
And for a lot of businesses, that level of “good enough” design might be all they need.
Design as strategic luxury
Is commissioning a design studio shifting from a business necessity to a kind of strategic luxury? Not luxury as in indulgence for indulgence’s sake, but luxury as a deliberate choice. A signal.
Like opting for a bespoke suit when an off-the-peg one would do the job just fine. Or choosing a Hermès Birkin bag instead of a standard handbag.
The Birkin isn’t just a bag. It’s a statement, one of craftsmanship, scarcity, and strategic intent. Each one is handmade by a single artisan over many hours, using the finest materials, and only produced in limited numbers.
Owning a Birkin signals more than wealth; it signals patience, taste, and a refusal to settle for the ordinary. In the same way, commissioning a top-tier design studio might be less about ticking a box and more about making a statement – “We don’t settle for generic. We are here to stand apart.”
Could we see a resurfacing of “designed by…” on the bottom of websites, the edge of ads, the back of packs. If that’s the case, should design studios rethink their offer?
If it’s no longer enough to be a reliable supplier of design work to the many, maybe the future is about becoming a more premium visible brand, to serve the few – be selected because it is smart to be seen to be selected, on top of what the selection delivers.
A move towards signature design styles
AI is setting a new baseline of competence. It’s flooding the market with polished, predictable outputs.
Maybe the studios that will thrive are those who can offer something AI can’t – lateral thinking, human insight, and a signature strategic distinctiveness that algorithms can’t replicate. But more than quirks that AI finds tough to replicate (at the moment) – to be seen as a company of people that stand for more than delivery.
Rather than “just” be highly professional and deliver good things, do agencies need to become more quirky?
Become a highly recognisable source of creativity. The same we see from photographers like Mert & Marcus, filmmakers like Wes Anderson, songwriters like Lin-Manuel Miranda. All immediately recognisable – all enormously flexible.
There used to be agencies that ran on highly visible signature moves. Almost illustrative, studios like Tomato (those Underworld album covers, the Orange ads!) and Why Not Associates, whose Next catalogues designers raced to get hold of, and not because of the clothes.
These studios carried almost instant seals of approval from the cool kids in design – seen before they were heard. You could tell immediately that they had designed that catalogue, that poster, that book, that album cover. Could we see a return to that?
At SomeOne, our work has a signature approach of creating brand worlds, with proven business outcomes, but not really a signature visual output. Everything looks very different.
Perhaps we need to change that? Do we need to push for a visual twang that connects work back to us?
A new design landscape
Maybe that’s the new luxury for those commissioning commercial creativity. Pick your player based on what they look like, not what they promise.
Don’t sign up for hand-crafted design for its own sake, but for distinctly human-led, work that drives business outcomes by adding value beyond output.
The value comes from audiences knowing who did it. That it’s a shot by Rankin, that’s it’s a design by Foster+Partners…
In a market where AI-generated design is everywhere, could deeply idiosyncratic, human-led design become the advantage? Not simply fulfilling a necessity, but a more emotive and powerful and visible choice?
When budgets, time and effort are in scarce supply, AI may do the trick. But when audiences realise a brand has been made without care, without effort, will those humans care?
If a brand’s communications are simply churned out, will customers turn up? If they do turn up, will they expect to pay fast food prices when brands are hoping to see restaurant returns.
It appears that in a new commercial reality that delivers ultra processed creativity, agencies may need to emphasise their celebrated ingredients to offer healthier returns – and stay in demand.
Simon Manchipp is co-founder and executive creative director at SomeOne.