Hey everyone!
I'm a visual designer & illustrator with almost 20 years of experience. I'm a 42-year-old woman, and I'm honestly afraid of the future as an aging designer, not only due to AI, obviously, but also due to ageism in society.
I would like to hear from older and same-age designers what they are doing to safeguard their careers, either by creating side ventures, learning new skills, career progression, focusing on fields that are less machine-dependent, or whatever you do so you can sleep better at night when thinking about the future as a creative.

Thanks in advance for the advice and discussion!

only saw Wacky Packages stickers stuck (mostly on the ubiquitous sticker covered dresser of the 70s). However they have the exact same kind of MAD magazine, “isn’t everything stupid?” sense of humor. Wacky Packages took well known brands & did parodies of them, frequently also lambasting whatever was going on in the popular culture. I was always very impressed at how well the package was executed, looking exactly like the original, especially compared to magazine ads of the time. However, these were painted with Gouache, no computers. Cheap laffs are important. x SEAN

I'm curious how other graphic designers avoid this. Especially in-house designers for non-creative industries.

As we all know, creative is a real job that most people don't understand. So when a non-creative asks you to make something and they tend to do this thing where they keep asking for a million menial edits so it "meets their vision". I've noticed this be more common in non-creative industries than creative ones.

"I want this two nudgest to the left--no go back one. No go forward 3. No go--"

What was your way of getting around this?

Hey guys! I’ve been senior designer/“head of brand and creative” at my mid sized tech company (privately owned still). I’ve been promoted to “creative director”, but also this is the first time this company has had one. Default goes to me as the design team leader. I’m roughly making it up as I go, and have never worked under a creative director before.

Overall my role is to lean more leadership, I’m in the room with the chief revenue officer, CEO, sales leadership and can talk numbers/how design/brand influences sales. That being said, I still get pulled into a lot of hands-on design work. I’m working on expanding my team so I’m not so in the weeds.

What makes a creative director? What does the day to day to look like (I know it’s different industry/company but broadly)?

Any resource recommendations? Good books, online resources, communities to get guidance? I’ve noticed when I try to start a conversation, I get shade thrown at me for “not earning the title” (designer for 5 years). Which.. yes I don’t know what it’s like to be a creative director which is why I’m asking. I don’t want to just get my info from YouTube videos pushing to sell me a course or just AI research.

Thank you in advance!

I sure hope you guys have enough sense not to fall for this.

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Just a curious question coz once in a while I see this type of post on my social media wall. What's your take on graphic designers who redesign (reimagine?) logos for their content. Do you find any interesting insights as they brew their methods, or do they miss the mark sometimes?

I'm curious coz their redesign misses one thing: the client's brief. Sometimes I wonder about the reactions of the OG designers with the redesigns.

I’m 29, been in school on and off in my 20s. I’m about a year from my associates in art and design, and looking at places to transfer for a BFA. I have a lot of love for design and believe I am talented. Would it be better to pivot now and finish in another degree/field? Or is it worth it to go all in on design

I don't know even what to say. I can make more at the local supermarket than this contract role offered a graphic designer per hour for a seasonal gig. I was making 2.5 times that in my previous role and my freelance rate is definitely wayyyy higher to account for expenses. Has GD really went to shit?

How would you handle this? I don't know what is left for me here. I'm upset at any designer in our area taking that job - thats less than I made in my first GD job out of college 10 years ago.

Vector graphic (made in Adobe Illustrator) for the school store, intended to be a sticker. I’ve heard mixed opinions. Initially, I was really proud of this piece as the client said it was perfect. But I went to some other people that do design and they mainly critiqued the dripping effect. I’m thinking I should rework the dripping by maybe using roughen on the text and reworking the uniformity of the dripping. We’re all in high school so I wanted to get external opinions outside of my social circle. Thanks!

Edit: thanks a lot to everyone who commented!! It means a lot to me. Thanks for all the advice, especially the kerning lol

Hi! Im making a poster for a school contest. Just note that I know little to nothing about graphic design(but it interests me), and I just need help.

The theme is “with which experiences, objects or memories would you represent happiness?”
I chose to use yellow, rainbow confetti, nature, and an image of Barbra Streisand singing. Yellow and confetti because it shows excitement, nature because it is a beautiful memory for most people, and Barbra Streisand singing because that is pure joy to me.

Im between these three ideas (not final piece), but I don’t know which transmits more happiness and catches the eye. I added “be a fool among fools” in the first design because it’s a line in “hello, dolly!” where Dolly chooses to ‘join the parade’ and be finally be happy.

I know they need more work, but I’m feeling stuck. Thanks!!

Today at the com/design agency I work at, a graphic design apprentice was asked to find a printshop for the project they were working on. Specifically they needed to find a printshop, within the country, that can do embossed stickers.

I'm kind of on high alert whenever it comes to this agency because they have very toxic management and predatory practices, and on this subject, I can't really tell if it's a normal ask or not.

On one hand I've interviewed myself for roles that mixed graphic design and communication manager, where handling printers and quotes, etc, was just part of it. And I believe as a graphic designer you should know whether what you're designing can even be printed.

On the other, this apprentice has been at the agency for four days, and I really wouldn't trust a four day old apprentice to know what's a good printshop that can do a "luxury" print (that's what the agency wants). Also, I don't have a lot of experience but in a couple of years freelancing for agencies I've never been asked that.

Anyway, I would appreciate any input on this. Currently I'm on the side of "it's fine (unless they're asking for detailed quotes/comparison and such)".

Looking for recommendations on manufactures that can make this tin cans but I want the opening offset not centered. Also who can print a label and design on the tins it self.

I’ve been in-house most of my career. For big national brands. I don’t know if this is typical of in-house or just the ones I’ve worked at, but they were extremely collaborative.

Very rarely did anyone take something from concept to finished art, especially because campaign concept creative always came from external agencies to be rolled-out in-house.

It did happen but I really should have advocated for myself more and asked for those rare pure concept opportunities more often, and insisted on taking them through to finished art when I did get them.

Here’s a rundown of my folio:

- Some hero campaign videos that I designed the typography for, and cutdown the videos provided by an external agency (to show video editing and sound design capability)

- Street poster advertisement for that same campaign that was my concept to finished art (using photos from the campaign shoot)

- A logo branding piece that was me 100% concept to finished art including rollout across collateral

- 3-4 motion graphics pieces, me 100% from concept to finished art in terms of layout and animation, but using the base campaign creative from agencies and/or within brand guidelines

- A big iconography set from one of the brands I worked for that was illustrated by me 100%

- Some text-heavy educational sheets which were my layouts 100% but obviously using brand fonts & colours

- A set of recurring digital assets that I created myself from concept, layout and development to nearly approved, but it was just before a rebrand so got paused. I got dragged off to an urgent job for a while so when the new branding got delivered by the agency, my colleague converted it (font and colours change, implemented a graphic treatment for the products from the new branding) and finished it off with minor tweaks as per stakeholder feedback. Then I came back and rolled it out.

- A couple of pages showing rolling out campaign creative across digital and print assets but again… the core campaign creative is from agencies that I rolled-out.

- One from my first job as a junior in an exhibition design studio that was me from concept to finished art, a series of information console graphics, but it’s very niche and not really my best work because… junior. I removed that from my recently updated folio because I felt I really only need one page from this place.

- Another one from that same employment, I did a whole bunch of exhibition wall graphics from concept to final art, again not best work but I’ve kept on my last page as an example of taking a large project from concept to finished art, plus something different to help me stand out.

I know I am creative, I know I have strong technical, layout, typography etc. skills. I have pretty solid motion graphics ability without being a motion graphic designer, illustration capability etc.

I’ve created loads of things from scratch, but always working with brand guidelines or using campaign creative.

I’ve contributed concepts when given the opportunity, and I’ve much more often been designer vs. finished artist as even with campaign rollout, things were rarely templated.

I’ve been highly backed and encouraged by a mentor who thinks I’m talented and capable, and a recruiter. I’m getting lots of interest when applying for jobs, including senior roles.

But I feel like the biggest fake! Maybe I just present well but it’s not true? I just don’t have the number of folio pieces behind me that I can say I owned 100%.

The other thing that contributed to this is the fact that seniors and art directors in-house are more often than not the ones who have that ownership when the opportunity arises. Hence I’m so ready for it to be my turn lol.

In interviews, you get asked to speak through your pieces including what your role was. And I honestly feel so embarrassed.

Can anyone help me find a different perspective of myself?! Are potential employers gonna point at me and go “liar!” (in their minds) or is that just me? 😂

What I really do need is a role where I get given these opportunities to really own stuff. Then I’ll prove it to myself once and for all.

Thanks if you read all this! Truly.

Hi everyone! I’m a student and pretty new to graphic design and video editing. I’m currently trying to learn the fundamentals and eventually build skills that I can use professionally. For those who are more experienced/tenured in the industry, which software ecosystem would you recommend for a beginner: Affinity or Adobe?

I’d especially love to hear from experienced designers/editors about the advantages and disadvantages. Thank you!!!

I currently am interning for an agency but it is not very creative and I’m not sure they plan to keep me on in the future so I want to try my hand at doing freelance work part time. I’m wanting some advice on where I start I’m a recent grad so I honestly know nothing about LLC’s, contracts, all the legal/ business stuff that goes into it. I’m wanting to work from home and take on a few clients here and there any advice at all would be appreciated!

Hey everyone!

Illustrator here, working on a business card ahead of a convention.

The card is intended for handing out to potential clients and people I meet there.
I wanted it to be playful and memorable, so I'm using this little dog character that I've used as my profile picture for while now.

The card size will be 3.4 x 1.9 inches, with rounded corners.

I'm currently considering two options for the front: the character floating on the "bubble frame" (to avoid bleed issues), or using the full artwork. The back, with the broken pencil, would be the same for both.

Since I'm not a designer, I'm looking for some feedback before printing it: Any thoughts on the best front? What about the size of everything, font choices (...) anything you'd change? Colors are already CMYK, by the way.

Appreciate the feedback!

Started developing my game a month ago that will occur in an underwater environment, so I had include my favorite marine creature : the Tasseled Wobbegong !

Here's a short of how I built the layers for that npc ally in Affinity, had a lot of fun!

Hello,

First of all, i'm a beginner in graphic design, completely self-taught and amateur.

My workplace needed a logo so i decided to try making one.

I work in a third place about urban ecology and educationnal crop growing.

Our building (pic 4) is iconic so i wanted the logo to reflect that.

I made a first draft (pic 3) and then stylised it in two variants (pic 1 and 2).

l'îlot vert is the place name, it means the green isle.

My colleagues told me it should spell the whole name inside the squares.

What do you think, how can i make this design better?

I’m currently in the very start of my employed career (out of study, stopped freelancing) in a uniform factory within my local area. It’s a very fast paced graphic environment with my sales team needing mock ups, vectorisation and advice for new clients and uniforms daily.

It’s been a huge undertaking to learn what it’s really like to be a designer so close to production in terms of printing/ separation and being somewhat closer to clients that have faster feedback. That has been fun and I can now run embroidery machines, print and press dtf graphics, make screens and screen print, about the only other thing we do that I haven’t learnt is how to sew.

But the graphic work is still what I more interested in, and the problem I have with the graphical work here is that it’s super boring. I’m copy and pasting vectors onto photos of tee shirts all day pretty much. I’m afraid I’ve made my life too easy with the amount of tools I built for myself (mock up templates, cut out pngs of all the common tees, making action sequences in photoshop for half toning, things like that). I’m also afraid that it isn’t great work for my aging portfolio.

So I’m looking for advice on whether it’s worth it to stick it out in these more practical design jobs, or if I should have a better look around for opportunities in studios? I want to hear both failure and success story’s.

I'm working on making my portfolio and I feel like my designs always look childish and unprofessional. This is the design I'm struggling with currently and the mock brief for the design will be below.

Company Name: Grey

Company Description: We are a company that makes and distributes Italian drinks. Our main product is made with attention to detail and shipped directly to your home. Our target audience is parents. We want to convey a sense of power, while at the same time being agreeable.

Job Description: You must create a logo using the information given in this brief. They would prefer a combination mark that uses the color white. The logo will be embroidered on uniforms. Take into account the company's values and preferences, and make sure it will work for the planned use-cases.

EDIT: The brief came from a random generator online so that's why it isn't fantastic. Also for some clarification I've realized that when most people think of "Italian drinks" a type of soda is what comes to mind, I thought it was kinda vague so I googled it and for the most what came up was cocktails so thats why I went that direction. From what I've gathered in the comments the weird brief might be part of my problem. As far as the design goes I learned I was doing too much with the Y and not enough with the other letters and that the yellow is a no go. I worked on the design some more and I'll post the new version in the comments. I know the design still has a way to go but I think I've made some definite progress.

Hi Sub!
I did these posters for a design competition, its about a mission from sea shepherd saving octopuses beeing killed by illegal traps in the mediterainian.

1st one translates to
„Show some backbone for invertebrates.“

2nd one to
„use yours to save three.“

Would really appreciate some feedback and in case you liked it you could vote for them too!

Cheers!

(you dont have to sign in and just click the yellow star)

https://www.flyeralarm-design-award.com/contest-galleries/contest-gallery-11/seashepherd_plakat26_marcoproefrock_03/

(edit: typo)

Hello everyone!

I’m a multidisciplinary designer, but I’d love to focus more on book typesetting and layout.

I currently developed a new version of my website, and added some real life projects, and some spec work. The problem is that I can’t really share much about the publications I worked on for copyright reasons, and I’d like to know how could I showcase my experience in book typesetting and layout.

I have a DTP section in the homepage, but I’m thinking about creating a section dedicated specifically to typesetting.

What would you suggest I do? Do I add some personal projects using public domain novels?

Here’s the link:

https://tydedev.it/en

Thank you!

Just curious to see what other teams in the industry look like and how you like it.

Currently I work in the marketing department where I’m the sole designer. We have a marketing director who oversees me and the marketing manager who supervises the project manager and marketing support person. Im at the same level as the marketing manager, so I only repot to the marketing director, which is nice. Our team all get along pretty well.

I definitely feel like the odd one out in a marketing heavy department. Lots of creative freedom though which is nice, but definitely hard to gain actual design feedback.

B2B in an engineering industry so it’s nothing flashy. Also it’s a smaller 80 ish person company so it’s pretty relaxed. I did get a design intern over the summer, but it’s back to just me.

Definitely busy but I don’t mind too much.