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Those opportunities have become rare, and unless a company is ready to pay Hornall Anderson dollars, they will happily get it done for as little as possible. The even uglier truth is that it likely doesn't make a bit of difference to the client in terms of the effect on ROI.
First technology came for the typesetters and photographers, and now the designers are in the cross hairs. If you can get a Hungarian who has went to the polyteknic to do it for $200 US and he or she does a good job, why wouldn't you?
Oh, wait, symphonies provide a different type of value than buskers do. So some people go to symphonies.
I've got an idea: make your services more valuable than a $200 amateur (or Hungarian). Provide in-person consultation or other value-added services that justify the higher price.
Since most people don't care about, and wouldn't recognize good design if it bit them in the ass, the easy availability of various tools that make it easy to produce (usually) mediocre designs without involving a skilled designer are laying waste to the industry.
See also: professional recording studios, Microsoft Front Page, etc.
"Provide content for free and if we like it we'll (eventually, maybe) pay you" has become the standard for web content and design. That attitude used to be confined to Craigslist, but now it's seeped into major websites and publishers as well.
I have to HOPE eventually the market will readjust to the changes in media, but I think it'll be a while before we see any sort of equilibrium between paying fair value for quality versus cheap and desperate quantity.
Yes, this isn't every client, but it's a pervasive enough problem that it gets to be a frustration for almost every designer I know.
And while buskers might not be taking clients away from the symphony, a general lack of interest in/respect for the arts is a problem that afflicts both symphonies and designers. And buskers.
The point is, the "art" part of design is perceived as less valuable than it once was. Gone are the days where an agency could get by claiming some vital but intangible value for their work. You have to prove it to a skeptical audience now.
Here's a tip for students. Get some experience selling something. You're going to have to do a lot of it if you expect to get out of the $200 amateur or Hungarian pool ;->
...
Why?
Bemoaning simpler, cheaper, lower quality competitors is pointless. Either find a market willing to pay a premium for your services, or get better at educating clients about why they should pay more, or start subcontracting to Hungarians :)
I LOVE the video. Posting now everywhere...
I can't wait 'til I can call Dominos, Pizza Hut and Pagliacci and...fuck it. I'm just going to kill myself instead.
Can you explain good design in the same way? I can't, but would like to hear it if someone else can.
As far as the giant translation websites where freelancers around the world bid against each other, driving down prices, word gets around. Some people do need cheap quick and dirty translations; others need more reliable work.
Of course, how many of these designers...
...shop at Walmart or other, big box retailers instead of patronizing local stores with owners who have the knowledge and experience to recognize that one size doesn't fit all?
...don't know the value of a "union label" and couldn't tell you the last time they checked a label to see who made it and where it was made?
...furnished their home or office with "Made in China" because it was cheaper?
...buy their books from Amazon instead of a local, independent bookseller?
...have never read a book that wasn't on a "best" list or published by a major imprint?
...have never even been to a farmers market to buy food from local, organic farmers?
...buy their groceries from large, chain stores instead of local markets and co-ops?
...opt for the cheap, multinational brew over the local or domestic microbrewery?
...have never donated a dollar toward the development of any open source software that you use?
If you find yourself in a culture that does not value the talent, knowledge and experience of skilled craftsmanship, ask yourself how you may have contributed to the world as it is before or instead of casting a critical glance at others.
What goes around, comes around. If you want to see the world change, start with you.