Oh what to preface this article with? How about one exceedingly strong, opinionated, yet slightly exaggerated statement? Photoshop tutorials are one of the top ten most annoying things of this decade.
Things that these tutorials have provided:
- Emphasis on tools instead of process and original thought
- Confidence in abilities that don’t exist in the first place
- People ripping off other designers
- Mindlessness!
The one thing that bugs me the most is the emphasis of tools instead of process. Photoshop is a fantastic tool and has provided designers a new method of making their creations come to life. But, for many designers it is destroying the conceptualization and process stages that were always carried out before projects even began. Sadly, pencil (pen for some) and paper are beginning to be used less. While they are, without a doubt, the best tools in a designers toolbox for the initial stages of design.
Design provides answers to problems and beauty amidst the vast amounts of information that are consumed on a daily basis. These tutorials are baseless, colorful, and unoriginal ideas mashed together in a how-to guide for design. If anything it’s a manual of conformity based on someone’s absolute view of what design is. This in itself does not make any sense. There is much more to design than putting together pretty pictures on a computer.
It’s frustrating to see art devalued like this, it’s things like this that give people a skewed sense of what designers do. I heard a great quote on Read Between the Leading (fantastic show, you really should give it a listen) in reference to art movements making statements through their content,
“…We need a backlash against the idea that designers make things pretty. It’s been said in an offensive way and it’s been said in a place of ignorance, where, maybe you think that’s what a designer is.”
In the end I’m left at a bit of a loss, or a question I should say. Does the blame lie in the hands of the people providing these so called tutorials? Or the people following the tutorial? What do you think?
And by the way, it was a very painful experience to make these images… I hope you like our homage to our favorite typeface and browser.
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I don’t use Photoshop tutorials to learn design but instead to learn different ways to accomplish techniques in Photoshop. Going through tutorials often teaches me new and better ways to use the tool. I agree that some people use them as an unoriginal replacement for design, but I don’t see that as a good enough reason to stop producing them.
Wow! For once, someone has actually said what I think a lot of designers are thinking. This is a great post, and an even better reflection on what should drive someone to pursue a career in the creative arts.
Should we strive for popularity by making things look pretty? Or should be strive for truly evoking a life changing experience through intelligent communication design?
I think I felt this same way when Helvetica hit the theaters. I thought to myself “Oh God, here we go! And just when I though that typeface couldn’t be overused anymore. Now it’s really going to become oversaturated in everyone’s work.” And of course, it did. Which sucks, because it’s a beautiful typeface, but only when used correctly.
Great post, Dave! Love what you guys have been covering. :)
Comic Sans.
IE in 3D text.
I am slain.
You’ve captured what most designers don’t have the balls to say. For that, I thank you.
I thought the point of photoshop tutorials was actually to help you learn what the tools can do. I love my design teachers but you just can’t cram 200 ways to use blending modes into a 10 week term along with all the other stuff you need to know. I’ve found a lot of the tutorials to be helpful in adding to my knowledge of how to use the program, just like any photoshop text book, magazine or website.
If they were meant to help develop your process and original thought they would be called Process Tutorials not Photoshop tutorials.