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Designers should pay attention to a new report from the World Economic Forum.
Worried about your job in graphic design? If not, then maybe you should be. Because the latest Future of Jobs Report from the World Economic Forum (WEF) has delivered sobering news for the profession.
The 2025 report surveyed 1,000 employers representing over 14 million workers across 55 countries and identified graphic design as the 11th fastest-declining job category over the next five years.
That’s a stark turnaround from the previous report, which categorised graphic design as a “moderately growing” profession. And there are no prizes for guessing the main culprit.
Yes, it’s AI, and this technology increases the capability to perform knowledge-based work, including creative tasks traditionally handled by human designers.
From the horse’s mouth
The warning signals extend beyond the WEF report. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s recently tweeted that, “Soon, AI tools will do what only very talented humans can do today. (I expect this to go mostly in the counter-intuitive order–creative fields first, cognitive labour next, and physical labour last.) Great for society; not always great for individual jobs.”
In a linked tweet, he wrote: “Using artists as an example, when anyone can create amazing art, there will be incredible upside for humanity, but downside for most individual artists […] Artists will be much more productive and have new capabilities, but the barrier to entry will be much lower. And as the tools get better, ‘regular people’ will be able to do almost anything they want themselves.
“Eventually this will happen almost everywhere […] This transformation, while potentially beneficial for society at large, poses significant challenges for individual practitioners in the field.”
So there you have it. Both business leaders and the AI industry itself agree: AI is coming for your jobs, and no one is safe.
Not all bad news
That said, it’s not all bad news. The WEF report suggests that while traditional graphic design roles may decline, the broader design field shows promising growth in other areas. Most notably, UI and UX design ranks as the eighth fastest-growing job category, indicating a shift in demand rather than an overall decline in design-related work.
Plus, as we’ve been saying for some time now, graphic design isn’t really about being able to “use Photoshop”; it’s about applying the skills of creative thinking to real-world problems. And according to the report, that’s something that humans remain much better at.
Employers consistently rated AI’s ability to replicate creative thinking as “very low” or “low”, with creative thinking ranking fourth among skills expected to grow in importance by 2030. This suggests that while AI may automate certain technical aspects of design work, human creativity remains difficult to replace.
However, this optimism comes with a caveat. While employers believe AI has a limited capacity to replicate creative thinking, they express more confidence in AI’s ability to perform design and user experience tasks. In other words, while the demand for “pure” creativity is likely to remain, the technical execution of design work may increasingly be automated.
Not just designers
We should remember, of course, that it’s not just graphic design jobs that are on the line but a whole host of jobs across the broader workforce. The WEF report notes that by 2030, employers expect an even distribution between tasks performed by humans, tech, and human-tech collaboration, compared to the current split where human-only tasks predominate.
This carries significant implications for employment in general. While 47% of employers plan to transition employees from AI-disrupted roles to other positions, 41% anticipate reducing their workforce as AI capabilities improve.
This suggests that pretty much everyone in society, not just graphic designers, will need to be proactive in adapting their skills and potentially diversifying their expertise going forward
How to save your job
So what can we do? For current and aspiring graphic designers, the report’s findings suggest several strategic responses:
Develop expertise in UI/UX design, which shows strong growth potential
Focus on strengthening creative thinking skills that AI currently struggles to replicate
Invest in understanding and working with AI tools rather than competing against them
Consider specialising in areas where human insight and creativity remain essential
Explore opportunities in emerging fields like sustainable design and green technology
Overall, the future of graphic design seems to be one of transformation rather than elimination. While traditional graphic design roles may decline, new opportunities are emerging at the intersection of design, technology, and sustainability.
Success in this evolving landscape will likely depend on our ability to adapt, upskill and embrace new technologies while leveraging uniquely human creative capabilities.
The challenge for the design community lies in navigating this transition period, ensuring that the fundamental principles of good design continue to thrive while embracing new tools and methodologies.
