Back in 2019, I'd spend a whole afternoon sketching thumbnails for a client's book cover, but now I just feed the brief into a generator and have 50 options in 30 seconds... does that make me part of the problem?

The first time I used Midjourney for a quick mockup instead of starting with my own pencil, I felt a weird mix of relief and guilt, like I was cheating on a part of myself that took years to build.

4 comments

4 Comments

emmaking2mo ago

Yeah but is it cheating if the client gets a better result faster? That guilt feeling is real though. It's like we were taught that the struggle and the time spent WAS the value. What if the value is actually in our taste and choices, not just the hand moving the pencil?

mark_green2mo ago

Wait, you were taught the struggle was the value?

ruby65927d ago

Totally see this with cooking now too. My grandma would spend all day on a sauce, but I just buy a good jar and tweak it. The meal is still great, and I get to focus on picking the right sides. The old way made the cook tired, not the food better. The real skill is knowing what to use and how to make it yours.

shanew592mo ago

We've swapped the hard work of making for the new work of choosing.