I've been selling digital products online of one sort or another for almost 18 years. I started off in the microstock industry with the notion of becoming a stock photographer, which didn't pan out because I just didn't have the right time and resources to be successful at it. But it was a great learning experience and introduced me to a whole new realm of other possibilities.
In the early 2000's online business for fledgling entrepreneurs was still a new concept for the mainstream public and very few of the types of services we have access to now were yet to exist. Social media was only just getting started, personal diary blogs were everywhere and e-commerce was very much in its infancy.
I have seen a lot of changes to the digital design resources market over the course of basically its entire history. Anyone remember the floppy disk of clipart from microsoft?
When I first started selling my photos through an online microstock account I made an average of 30¢ per sale. Even in 2006 that was pretty depressing, yet that number hasn't changed nearly 20 years later.
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| Stock Image: Silly Cows by S Porter |
Etsy was a big game changer for a lot of creatives looking for a space online to reach customers, including digital designers. But Etsy didn't fully embrace digital downloads until introducing their instant download feature circa 2012. Then along came various other digital resource marketplaces, like Creative Market (2012) and Design Cuts (2013) - both still thriving today with high quality products.
Yes. AI has disrupted the digital design marketplace, obviously. And AI in general is obviously disrupting things all over the place - but it isn't affecting everyone in exactly the same way. What I am seeing so far is that some marketplace platforms are far more affected than others due to the effects of generative AI.
On some platforms unfortunately, we are seeing a race to the bottom in pricing alongside a massive saturation in product, most of which is now AI generated. These include sites like Etsy, Design Bundles and Creative Fabrica, all of which I happen to sell on.
Sites like Creative Market and Design Cuts however have kept their AI product offerings minimal and their overall quality and pricing high. Have they been affected in other ways? Undoubtedly. I'm sure that the general saturation of digital products across the entire market would affect their bottom line at least somewhat as buyer habits change. Both sites appear to be doing at least reasonably well so far though.
This particular story of marketplace disruption isn't just all about generative AI though. While it has certainly been the main contributor lately there are two other pre-existing scenarios at play that together have added to the disruption of the digital design landscape. They are Canva and Creative Fabrica.
Both of these sites have existed for a while but both have gained massive popularity in recent years and AI has only served to amplify how their audience interacts with them.
Canva was founded in 2013 with the mission to "make design accessible to everyone, regardless of their design skills". In effect, anyone can be a designer, lowering the bar to entry as a creator of digital design resources. Today there are thousands of sellers on Etsy alone creating digital products to sell using Canva as their design tool. Adding to that popularity are the dozens of YouTube influencers encouraging and promoting the digital side hustle culture.
Creative Fabrica meanwhile was founded in 2016 with the aim "to improve and change the way people consume digital assets". Something I think they have achieved with over 22 million products and one of the lowest subscription prices available. POD sellers in particular have flocked to CF for cheap graphics and generous licensing. They then take advantage of Etsy and Amazon to upload products in the hundreds of thousands.
Both CF and Canva have fully embraced AI technology and both offer generative AI assets. One offers a space to easily make products and the other a space to sell those products. Unfortunately, because anyone CAN do it, everyone IS doing it. Selling digital products of some sort has never been more popular or touted more readily as a way to earn 'easy money'. The addition of generative AI to this mix has only served to increase the volume exponentially and along with it the print on demand industry.
For creators of digital design products, selling on these types of marketplaces can mean a much lower income per sale than they've had previously and with massively increased competition. I'm seeing a lot of human made content leaving Etsy because it is just not possible to profitably sell there anymore. Which is a shame. Unfortunately Etsy has embraced AI content on the platform without much thought to the long term effects.
Meanwhile, sites like Design Bundles and Creative Fabrica pay extremely low rates because of their subscription based shopping model. AI graphics are added at an amazing pace because creators need to have a large portfolio in order to make a reasonable income. Its become a vicious circle.
While I am choosing to use AI as a tool in my own work, I'm re-thinking a lot of my approach to it and keeping a close eye on how things further develop in the market. It's still early days for this new technology and I'm sure we're in for many more changes and disruptions to come.
I'd love to hear your thoughts. Comment below with your take on the status of digital design in 2024 and the year ahead.
Shawnna
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