There is a growing challenge to being a professional designer these days. I don’t know exactly when it started. You could say it started with the advent of the macintosh computer, where software skills became more important than hand skills and three jobs got combined into one. You could say it started with the internet, where the technology and tools changed yearly (if not monthly). You could say it started with the rise of social media where the power of product advocacy was placed in the hands of the consumer. What challenge am I referring to? I call it the marketing skills arms race. And it’s a race I’ve been running in from the day I got my first job.