There Will Always Be Someone Faster, Cheaper, and Better

The essay argues that anxiety about AI is intensifying a familiar reality rather than creating a new one: every designer competes with people who are faster, cheaper, or better. The slogan “fast, cheap, good - pick two” is an uncertain, often misleading piece of professional folklore. Tools from desktop publishing to Figma have repeatedly accelerated design work without ending the profession. The resulting threat depends partly on how designers charge: billing by the hour turns efficiency into lost income, while pricing for outcomes lets a practice keep the gains. Lower-cost competition is also not new; the internet has long connected clients with excellent designers in places where living costs are lower.

AI raises a distinct challenge because it can produce finished artifacts, but the essay says design work is more than the artifact. A client may value the questions, guidance, and hard-won judgment that shape a project - things that may not show up in a file. “Better” therefore depends on the client, not an abstract ranking of designers. Since clients rarely care which software a designer uses, chasing every tool or projecting certainty about being the best matters less than building a distinctive way of working. The essay cautions that pressure to move faster may undermine the experience that differentiates a designer: learning through slow, real-world problem-solving. Its conclusion is that competitors will always exist, but they cannot offer the particular person and perspective a client chooses.