Designers are freaking out about AI, and for good reason. Clients are skipping strategy, bringing AI-generated logos to the table, and treating designers like disposable decorators.

But while most designers are still obsessing over execution, the smart ones are building brands, owning strategy, evolving and becoming irreplaceable.

This week on The Angry Designer podcast, we sit down with our friend Dan Janssen of Lincoln Design Co. to unpack the real shift happening in the creative world and why most Graphic Designers are totally unprepared for it.

Recorded live at CropCon 2025 in Austin Texas, Dan lays down

• Why ignoring brand strategy is the fastest way to get replaced
• How to build a personal brand that clients actually value
• What clients really think when they hand you AI-generated work

By the end of this episode, you’ll know why brand strategy is your new superpower in this AI powered world, and how to use it to stay relevant, respected, and paid.

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Graphic Designers aren’t being replaced by AI.
They’re being replaced by their own clients using AI.

The real threat to a Graphic Designer isn’t AI. It’s lazy marketers, overconfident interns, and clueless execs showing up with AI-generated briefs, Frankensteined logos, and bloated brand docs pulled straight from a bot. And they expect you to clean it all up like a design janitor.

This week on The Angry Designer podcast, we expose the uncomfortable truth about the actual enemy designers are facing, and it’s not the tech. It’s the people using it wrong.

In this episode, we break down:

• Why Grpahic Designers are being reduced to decorators (and how to stop it)
• The rise of “confident garbage” and the illusion of quality
• How to push back, simplify chaos, and reclaim your authority

If you’ve ever been handed a “professional” AI brief that made zero sense… or had your strategy questioned because “AI said so”, this one’s going to hit hard.

This isn’t just a rant. It’s a damn wake-up call.
Because AI won’t replace you.
But your client, who THINKS they know how to use AI absolutely will.

Stay Angry our Friends
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Many graphic designers are stuck and they don’t even know it.

They price based on feelings, take feedback like a punch to the gut, and chase originality over clarity…all because they’re thinking like artists, not designers.

This mindset starts early with crayons, sketchbooks, praise for creativity and it feels right. But in the real world? That same mindset is quietly sabotaging your career.

In this episode of The Angry Designer podcast, we’re exposing the artist mentality that’s quietly sabotaging graphic designers keeping them broke, burned out, and overlooked. You’ll learn how to spot the subtle red flags, shift your mindset, and start thinking like a designer – strategic, purposeful, and unshakeably valuable.

By the end, you’ll know:
- The real difference between artists and designers
- How the artist mindset is ruining your reputation and pricing
- What to do instead—so you get paid, respected, and future-proofed

Whether it’s pricing your work, dealing with client feedback, or trying to stay relevant in the age of AI, this episode delivers the straight-up truth that most design schools never teach. Let go of the starving artist myth. Start thinking like a designer. Your career depends on it.

Stay Angry our Friends
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Good design is losing.
Not by better design — but by faster, cheaper, half-assed garbage.
And the worst part? Clients are eating it up.

Welcome to the new reality where timelines matter more than talent, and “good enough” is winning over great. Designers are watching their best work get ignored while AI bots, Canva templates, and $5 Fiverr hacks get the green light.

And yeah, we might have been the ones to let this happen.

This week on The Angry Designer podcast, we rip into the real reason good design is losing to fast design and what graphic designers need to do to stay relevant in a world that values speed over skill.

In this episode we discuss:

- Why clients think fast = progress (and how to flip that on them)
- How designers became their own worst enemy
- A better way to deliver work without compromising quality
- The process tweak that keeps clients off Canva and on your side

If you're sick of watching garbage design win just because it's quick, this episode gives you the tools to fight back and win the long game.

Stay Angry our Friends
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Too many Graphic Designers forget one brutal truth. Design is NOT for you, your portfolio, or even your client. It’s for their audience. Period. The client pays the bill, sure. But they’re not the one your work is for. And every time you forget that, your design gets weaker. Less effective. Easier to ignore.

This week on The Angry Designer podcast, we’re calling out one of the biggest blind spots in design: the end user. We break down why obsessing over client approval is killing your impact, your confidence, and your portfolio! And how to flip that mindset before it wrecks your career.

From billion-dollar branding flops to ego-driven design disasters, we expose how even the biggest companies forget who they’re actually designing for and why smart designers never make that mistake twice.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

- Why pleasing your client doesn’t mean serving their goals
- How to shift from design decorator to design translator
- The red flags that prove you’re designing for approval, not impact

If you’re tired of chasing trends, bending to bad client opinions, or wondering why your work isn’t landing, this is your wake-up call.

If you’re designing to impress other designers, or to stay on your client’s good side, this episode is the slap you need.

Because at the end of the day, design starts and ends with the end user.
Ignore that, and you're just making things pretty.

Stay Angry our Friends
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Most Graphic Design advice is garbage wrapped in a motivational quote.

From “charge what you’re worth” to “design is storytelling,” these overused sayings sound deep but do more harm than good. They confuse young designers, create false expectations, and let lazy pros pretend they’re being profound.

In this week’s episode of The Angry Designer, we tear apart the most misleading sayings in the graphic design industry, line by line.

You’ll discover:
• Why “Do what you love and the money will follow” is a trap
• How “Good design sells itself” actually screws over talented creatives
• Why “The client is always right” might be the worst lie you’ve ever believed

This episode isn’t about nitpicking words, it’s about exposing the phrases that shape careers in all the wrong ways. If you’re tired of cliché wisdom, fake gurus, and advice that leads nowhere, this one’s for you.

By the end, you’ll know what to ignore, what to challenge, and how to think for yourself in a sea of copy-paste career advice.

Stay Angry our Friends
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Graphic designers love to blame AI, cheap clients, and garbage logos for the downfall of the industry. But what if those things are actually your biggest opportunity?

While most designers are panicking about race-to-the-bottom pricing, automation, and template trash flooding the market, a small percentage are flipping the script and using it all to their advantage.

In this episode of The Angry Designers LIVE at Creative South, we sit down with two of the most popular Logo Designers; Allan Peters and James Barnard, to break down how designers can not only survive this chaos but dominate it.

From navigating Fiverr clients to using social proof as ROI, to the real debate between one-concept versus 15-concept logo presentations, this episode delivers brutal truths, tactical gold, and industry insights straight from two legends who have been through it all.

By the end of this episode, you’ll learn how to:
• Flip cheap work into long-term high-ticket clients
• Build authority while others build excuses
• Create logos that stand the test of time while others chase trends
• And turn AI into a tool, not a threat

This isn’t about fear. It’s about fire.
It’s time to stop blaming the game and start mastering it.

Stay Angry our Friends
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The most common misconception of being a graphic designer?
To “make things look good.”

That mindset is exactly why clients are moving on. Fast.

AI can make things look good, faster, and cheaper. And customers are quickly flocking to a "Good enough" mentality.

In this unapologetic episode of The Angry Designer, we expose the dangerous gap between what designers think clients want… and what clients actually need in today’s AI-fueled, shortcut-obsessed world.

We’re diving deep into:

• Why execution-first designers are being replaced by “good enough”
• What today’s clients really value (hint: it’s not your color palettes)
• How to shift from being a pixel pusher to a strategic powerhouse
• The first move every future-ready designer must make

If you’re still handing off logos and layouts without asking deeper questions, your days are numbered.

But if you’re ready to solve real business problems, lead with strategy, and think bigger—you won’t just survive. You’ll own the damn future.

This episode kicks off a multi-part series on becoming the future designer—smarter, sharper, and impossible to ignore.

Stay Angry our Friends
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Join Anger Management for Designers Newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/mr4bb4j3
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