Design is all around us, from the fonts we see every time we read to the cars we drive, our cell phones and even the cardboard cups we drink our coffee out of. Everything has had thought put into how it is seen and experienced. Because of the absolute ubiquity of design and the steady march towards an internet-centric social and economic world, design is more important than ever. Luckily, people have seen this change coming and have developed a whole world of new options for design professionals to engage with.

It has always been important to stand out in the world of design, and the nature of design has an ever-changing zeitgeist that the best designers stay tapped into. As new technology emerges, designers capitalise on and quickly master tools as they become available to them. New trends, ideas, and methods for creation are developed constantly, and staying on top of that change can truly set a designer apart.

In the business world, a keen eye for design is becoming more important to every aspect of a company’s success. Marketing directors do more than just the day-to-day tasks of conducting market research and evaluating data. Good marketing directors closely watch these developing technologies, recognising the potential to successfully capitalise on them, and encourage their their teams to adapt to these new technologies. None of this is possible without the help of a design team, and though the marketing director will dictate the plan to their team, it is the designers themselves that bring their ideas to life.

Egalitarian Video Editing

While many pros won’t use anything less than Adobe Premiere Pro CC to edit their video, the world at large has collectively demanded high quality video editing software for free. While this niche has been filled by many programs over the years, the most widely used program may have been YouTube’s native video editing software. Anyone, regardless of skill level, was able to make professional-quality videos using the YouTube video editing software.

Unfortunately, YouTube has decided to nix the popular feature, leaving many of YouTube’s less-experienced content creators scratching their heads looking for an alternative. Clipchamp currently provides that alternative by offering up a free, browser-based video editing application that requires little to no experience to use. This streamlines the process of video editing and puts powerful editing tools back into the hands of anyone with the inclination to use them.

Millennials in particular appreciate this egalitarian approach to video editing and design, as they value principal-based business in all their interactions. Both Windows and Mac have their own proprietary video editing software, and either can be used to create beautifully designed videos for the web. Free software no longer struggles to keep up with its paid counterparts, and now people who want to create great content have one less issue blocking their way.

Inventive Internet Marketing

With so much time spent on the internet in both a personal and business capacity, marketing has had to adapt to this new world. Marketers have done well keeping up with technological advancements thus far, introducing new and exciting three-dimensional interface design for websites, and capitalizing on emerging technology like Instagram and Snapchat’s Geofilters and story functions. These allow influencers and companies to directly market to their target audience through a design feature that feels more organic than traditional marketing.

The internet is constantly changing, often unpredictably. For instance, mobile optimization has become one of the top internet marketing trends because of the rise of the now ubiquitous smartphone. More searches are now being done from phones than from standard desktops or laptops, and design has had to evolve to meet this new demand. Aesthetically pleasing, intuitively designed mobile sites have now become the norm instead of the rarity that they used to be.

Mobile technology is the new wild west, and app development and design has become a very hot commodity in the tech world. While mobile applications got off to a rocky start, now there is quite literally an app for everything you could want. Regulation is still a problem no matter what operating system is being used, but the fact remains that apps are a successful marketing method, no matter what the business may be.

Incorporating New Technology

Design will never stop evolving, and while designers may draw inspiration from older aesthetics, they will always have to keep looking forward to the future. As new technologies become available, folding them into your business strategy or design goals is one of the most important things you can be proactive about. The internet and smartphones have changed the way people interact, purchase items, sell goods, find dates, advertise to potential customers and so much more, but these are not going to remain the standards forever.

For instance, AR and VR technology are interesting examples. Long thought of as the stuff of science fiction, these new technologies are already changing the world around us. As this new technology improves in quality and becomes more affordable, it is being more widely used by a varied audience. Design is one of the most important factors in AR and VR, as the whole idea behind them is to immerse users in a wholly new and exciting experience, and in order to suspend reality and take users to that place, a well-designed and aesthetically pleasing program is necessary.

These new and exciting technologies spur on innovation in the artists and designers responsible for creating within the new space this technology provides. Designers are the artists that turn the metaphorical block of marble into a beautiful statue on this front. It is a brave new world for designers, and it only looks to become more exciting as we move forward.