This is so true, and is true of photography, too.

Too many people think graphic design is not a specialty, but something anyone can do, because the tools to make decent-looking Web pages, newsletters, books, and the like are readily available.

There’s an incalculable number of people who have said things to me like this: “Photography is easy. You just point the camera and take a picture.”

And that might be true for a crappy smartphone photo, but for real, professional-level photography this is like saying, “Building a car is easy. Just get some axles and wheels and Play-Doh and call it good.”

Those infected with engineeritis assume that because the initial steps are easy – that anyone can pick up a camera or open Adobe Illustrator – that all the rest is easy, too.

This is as silly and as stupid as saying that because nearly anyone can do basic arithmetic, anyone can easily solve the engineering equations for bending moment and deflection of simply supported beams.

Why do only engineer types tend to do this so often and so consistently, I wonder?