Recently I saw a post of people celebrating a magazine cover of a Kardashian sister. I will be honest in sharing that I did not read said article or know which Kardashian it was, but that is not the point. My point is, people were congratulating her on how she looked on the magazine and it made me wonder – where is the kudos for the designer of the cover? Okay, so, not literally. But also… A little literally. It seems that there is this design double-standard that we do not pretend exists when it comes to celebrities images and the designers who fix them. It is not rare for an audience, or even the celebrity themselves, to publicly shame a magazine for the designer’s heavy handed editing. People stand up on their soapbox about unfair beauty standards (which for the record, I agree which is why I do not work in that particular industry contributing to the false imagery). But what about when the design is gorgeous and the person looks flawless? Is that somehow magical genetics? No. It is simply someone who to use the terms of popular culture, “knew the assignment.” This means, they were able to edit a design to a level that is both flawless, but socially acceptable – which believe it or not, is not always easy. Nonetheless, where is the love for the designers? It is a difficult and delicate balance between heavy handed editing that leads to complaints, or heavy handed editing that leads to celebrity or model praise; but one thing I can promise you is, it was heavy handed.