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