The Rise of a New DIY: "Design It Yourself"

Filed under: Design, etc, News & Trends

Who needs designers when you can design home products yourself?

When Cafepress first launched, I squealed with excitement -- a service that offers the opportunity for you to print your very own t-shirt design and you don't need to order 100? Awesome! Cafepress gave birth to a long line of other companies that jumped on the customization bandwagon.



The trend of creating your own products is rapidly becoming one of the most popular businesses on the Internet. You can get everything from a light switch to a coffee table to kitchen cabinets (down to the door pulls!) made with a picture of your kid on it. You can create wallpaper, fabric, canvas artwork and even murals and window shades from your very own designs. These custom print-on-demand companies are ubiquitous and they'll help you put your stamp on just about anything.

If you're a young designer looking to make it in the virtual world, you can join up with companies like Shapeways ("passionate about creating") or Ponoko ("the world's easiest making system") that help you create, market and sell your own products. You don't even need a manufacturer anymore.

But customization isn't just a product trend; it's the new way of the world. In the age of social media and networking, we all have a profile and a voice. The Internet has enabled us to join just about any discussion, make comments on everything and share information with a single click. We all want to leave our fingerprint. As Arianna Huffington said at a recent conference, "Self-expression is the new entertainment."

Home goods have joined the conversation, inviting consumers to get just about anything customized and shipped to their front door. Surely, this begs the question: Is designing your own products a good thing? Well, I say yes and no. I enjoy the experience of shopping because I like to browse through all of the options and choose the one that best suits me. But if I have the option to create something that only I will have, then that means I can have exactly what I want instead of the closest thing in a pre-ordained selection. What's not to love, right?

But when it comes to major purchases, like kitchen cabinets, wallpaper or coffee tables, I'm just not confident enough in my artistic abilities to design pieces myself. I usually spend more time fidgeting around trying to create the exact look I want only to either get frustrated and give up or browse through the website's existing designs. I'm just not a designer.

For the majority of us, the real benefit of these websites is that they attract designers who join, create and then sell their custom creations. Even if I don't produce a design from scratch, I still have the opportunity to support a young designer -- and order a piece I love.

For more custom ideas, check out our post on the do's and dont's of custom framing.

 

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