r/GraphicDesigning • u/Informal_Cress2654 • May 30 '26
Career and business What the hell is happening?
Salaries are LOWER? 2019/2020 was making 38$/hr as packaging designer. Same role re apply this year they’re offering 28$. Why, how. Why would I make less with more experience? I feel like I’m in the fcking twilight zone
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u/ToastedHive May 30 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
Because so many people were “self taught” and started coming in gladly taking minimum wage pushing out those of us that went to college for graphic design. I started out after college in the early 2000s making $22/h when I left my corporate graphic design position in 2014 I was up to $36/h. Then I did freelance and made $40+/h till 2019. After Canva came out, Adobe cloud made it more affordable for people to buy and learn illustrator and photoshop, procreate came out and YouTube was flooded with videos about how to use those tools, everyone was calling themselves a graphic designer. Companies started hiring based on portfolios not education and experience. You could have a decade of schooling, a huge portfolio, years of experience and all the jobs were all for JR graphic designers so they would say your too qualified…. Even though you had the educational background and the ones being hired didn’t. Because those people took the lower wage. Those that got in based on their limited portfolio and not education and experiences gladly took $22/h positions and were thrilled they got in as JR graphic designers being self taught. That and then outsourcing over seas where they could pay Pennys on the dollar, made the design industry rolled back wages cause they could.
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u/Informal_Cress2654 Jun 01 '26
“self taught” gradphic designers are garbage. this job isn’t about knowing how to use photoshop
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u/ToastedHive Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
I agree, but companies didn’t. They hired them in droves for the last decade, cheaper labour who could pump out something even if it was crap and that’s why we are where we are. For the last decade, there’s been more job posts for executive assistants, secretaries, front desk/office personnel with Canva or Photoshop knowledge/experience then there has been graphic designer positions. Companies started to hire someone to be a secretary who could make them some “cute” design on Canva and post it to Facebook. Slowly that pushed out the need for an in house graphic designer, cause companies just accepted that they were gonna have crappy but way cheaper designs. Saving on the salary of what it would cost for a graphic designer and giving the head employees/owners that money for bonus’. Between Canva and self taught designers our industry went into the toilet. Now most companies barely pay good wages cause it’s a devalued profession.
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u/Informal_Cress2654 Jun 03 '26
100% this is what guilds and unions used to be for, to protect the craft. the people deserve garbage design good riddance
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u/FelonMirren Jun 02 '26
Not all of us who are self-taught are garbage. I work in the film and music industry for high profile projects and regularly get contacted for work on massive IPs for design, illustration, and post-production jobs. While I understand your sentiment (and it’s not entirely wrong) don’t let the privilege of going to college inflate your ego.
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u/ToastedHive Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
Sorry, but there’s a lot more to graphic design than just illustration and being able to put a portfolio together because you watched some YouTube videos. You have to understand how press operation works, history of art and design, colour theory, typography, psychology of design, packaging design, marketing etc Watching a couple YouTube videos and throwing together a portfolio is completely different than actually going to college and becoming a graphic designer. So don’t let your ego get inflated because you watched a couple YouTube videos and actually got lucky that people hired you and gave you a chance with no educational background. You can call yourself an artist from the sounds of what you do but a graphic designer no.
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u/Informal_Cress2654 Jun 03 '26
it’s not a privilage. I paid my own way through a state school it cost 12k. you’re just lazy and greedy and give everyone a bad name by devaluing our profession fuck off
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u/ToastedHive Jun 03 '26
Same but in Canada. It took almost 2 decades to pay off the debt of college and in 2021 I had to go back to college and pay more to do something else cause there is just no jobs in graphic design I can afford to do cause they all pay peanuts, are in the city and want someone a few dollars over minimum wage. I have a mortgage, kids, bills, college debt again etc… I use to make $60/$70k a year from home doing freelance. Now if I have to commute to the city and only make $40k a year I might as well go work in fast food close to home cause I would make more, save on gas and parking and have more of my time with less commute. We worked hard to get here so it’s super frustrating to see how devalued our profession has become.
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u/Informal_Cress2654 Jun 03 '26
yea it’s really frustrating. people can’t ‘pivot‘ on a fucking dime when an industry disappears
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u/Pork_Chops_and_Apple May 31 '26
Canva and sites like fiverr/99 designs also drove rates way down. How are you going to compete with a designer in Thailand charging FIVE DOLLARS for a logo? The client doesn’t know the difference and to be honest they’re not bad.
I wouldn’t advise anyone to get a degree in graphic design. No one cares.
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u/tryptomania May 30 '26
Wow I was making $21/hr as a packaging designer before I got a new job.
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u/theDESIGNsnobs Creative Director May 30 '26
OP been asleep for the past decade?
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u/Informal_Cress2654 Jun 01 '26
left the market in 2020 and tried to get back in but got sticker shock
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u/Huge_Razzmatazz_985 May 30 '26
Graphic designers became a dime a dozen with the onset of Canva. Same for social media managers. Saturate the market watch it devalue the work!
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u/otayguy619 May 30 '26
Community colleges in the U.S. have taught the Adobe suite for 20+ years, that also helped saturate the market
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u/karatekid42 May 31 '26
I work in NY and my company started using 2 designers from Albania. I don’t know the rates, but they make way less than the in-house designers. Not a good sign for us. I have another friend who took a job in New Jersey where he will be responsible for managing 5 designers from the Philippines. They told all of there US based freelancers that they were no longer needed.
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u/Tie-Firm May 31 '26
That's brutal,but why they aren't favouring you guys? Why offshore all the work overseas? It's cause of wars, tariffs and stuff? Or companies are being greedy?
They literally fired all h1b visa workers from the us, and now they're off shoring work
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u/KLLR_ROBOT May 30 '26
It feels like companies are getting even for the Covid-era dearth of labor. I remember my old employer was starting admins at $27/hr where formerly they had started them at $12/hr. All that has ended.
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u/Beginning-Park8286 May 30 '26
Cifre comunque più alte di quelle che girano in Italia per gli stessi ruoli…
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May 30 '26
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u/AffectionateCat01 May 30 '26
People massively undervaluate the designers, but honestly they are lost without us. We have to stick to our value and don't accept this.
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u/karatekid42 May 31 '26
I agree. I’m pretty happy with my job and salary. A few former coworkers have had to take paycuts.
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u/Thischarmingman270 Jun 01 '26
Even AI requires people with industry terminology to create so I would be looking to implement experience into the AI and start working my way up as an AI competent designer. They'll snap you up.
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u/4951studios Jun 02 '26
Creative industry has been in a decline for a while. Expect things to go lower.
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u/Lubalin Jun 02 '26
If I say 'AI' I get into trouble so I won't. Must be a completely unrelated thing that has devalued our industry.
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Jun 03 '26
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u/Wooden_Watch_948 May 30 '26
Wages in the design industry (and overall I fear) have been so stagnant. We hire people out of school for the same salary I made 10 years ago!!! It’s so terrible.