Graphic Designers Want You to Stop Calling Them Rock Stars

We all know that graphic designers are rock stars. Some even work in the service of rock, designing the best band logos. But are they really rock stars? To be pedantic, they usually aren’t – with the exception of Freddie Mercury, who had a degree in art and graphic design and designed the Queen logo himself.

That doesn’t stop clients from calling graphic designers rock stars, even in job ads. But judging by a thread on Reddit, graphic designers are tired of being mistaken for successful artists.

Some suggest that ulterior motives are at play, and that the epithet is a strategy to make designers feel special in hopes of hiring them “on the cheap.” Rockstar designers rarely make rockstar salaries. “Rockstar = being prepared to do the work of 3-4 people for the salary of a junior designer,” wrote one person. It means “doing the work of a video editor, copywriter, web designer, UI/UX manager, social media, etc., etc., all for the salary they pay interns,” said another.

Some commenters on the subreddit had more positive interpretations. “It’s because we do crazy stuff and they don’t even know how to do it,” one person suggested. “Oftentimes, in-house designers are the only designers in the entire company they work for and tend to be more skilled because they have to fill many different design roles. Also, their skill sets are vastly different than the rest of the company, so to the rest of the company, they seem special and capable of doing something that others can’t,” someone else wrote.

Some designers seem to have a rock star lifestyle. “That’s because some of us do cocaine to work long hours and crush on groupies at lunch,” one suggested. To which another designer replied, “The rest of us do Vyvanse and eat lunch alone in our cars.” Others noted a broader trend: In addition to rock stars, some companies like to talk about design “ninjas” and “wizards.” And web developers who also do design are apparently “unicorns.” One person described getting a job as a “design ninja” when “there’s no way I’m a 14th-century assassin.”

Personally, I’m not sure this is unique to graphic design. I’ve been called a rockstar freelance journalist at least once, which struck me as particularly incongruous. It made me sound like I lived a Hunter S Thompson lifestyle. But whatever the reason, please stop. Graphic designers are sick of it. “I think it’s a bit weird, like an office that considers itself a family,” wrote one person. “It’s a dead ringer for the company thinking this is a ‘fun job’ rather than a professional position. Expect to be treated like one,” complained another. Yes, graphic designers are great, but they’re not rock stars.