Quote (Nereaux @ Feb 5 2015 03:01am)

wuhzup wuhzgud yo im tanner thompson can you guys rush me to ceo position?

guys rush me to ceo
guys rush me to ceo
guys rush me to ceo
guys rush me to ceo
guys rush me to ceo

wuhzup wuzgud

Quote (ericswanson_19 @ Nov 13 2014 09:22pm)

When you go to college, you get out of it what you put into it. I went to school with multiple people who never once got a graphic design job. I had a little luck, but it was also coupled with hard work, which landed me my first graphic design job. I created a student website, which I put a lot of work into, which was then found by my then employer 5 months prior to even graduating college. I worked there for over 3 years, the company downsized, but I again worked hard, updated my portfolio and website, then sought out jobs. I had a new, higher-paying job within a couple weeks. I've now been here for almost 3 years.

I think another aspect about graphic design, and creative-thinking in general is.. it's not really something you go to school for. School is mostly for programs and basic concepts. I've been creating art all my life..it's a passion. Not everyone can learn all that you need to know during the period of college. One thing that always depresses me is the quality of work based on the age of the artist. When I see an 18-20 year old making artwork that I, or friends, were doing when we were 12, this implies the person is 6-8 years behind. This is in regards to illustrating specifically, which isn't the same as design and layout, but it's still relevant in terms of being able to apply design theory, aesthetics, symmetry, etc. Through an employer's POV, the more advanced candidate is going to get picked for the job. I don't know any truly talented graphic designers who don't have jobs. I do know illustrators who don't have illustrator jobs, but that's another issue all together.

Edit: I forgot to mention that some people don't have the people skills necessary for the job. If you're remotely introverted or awkward, then you're going to have trouble networking. More often than not, people higher internally. They ask current employees if they know of any candidates. If you have no friends or acquaintances, then you're going to have a bad time.

Edit 2: Oh, oh, oh.. one last, sad fact.. If you work for an established agency, then don't expect to do anything super creative anyways. Established brands have their fonts, colors, and styles already picked out. Your job is just to continue making products using style guides, etc. Also, the larger agencies deal a lot with creative concepts, as well as a lot of photography to express a message, and not a huge emphasis on design and layout. If you're looking to start brands from the ground up, then your only avenue is most likely going to be freelancing and/or creating your own agency. The pay will differ greatly depending on where you end up. Sure, established agencies will pay more, but the work might be less rewarding. Smaller agencies might be fun, but you'll make less. If you're able to start your own company, then there's potential for a lot more money.

Quote (Bickle @ Nov 12 2014 01:23pm)

Everytime I go and read about it, feels like its the worse career choice
People always whine there is no jobs, it doesnt pay and most of the time you end up working in a different field

How true is that? or is it just a popular belief and people are just being lazy cry babies?

Quote (Mchui @ Mar 16 2015 08:13pm)

God this is dumb. I'm not even gu....

Quote (thefriarmichael @ Mar 28 2015 08:28pm)

Truth is it takes many years to be able to make a living doing it. I can barely get by, and I'm 37. First graphics job was flash4 (macromedia) developer for telenisus corporation in illinois, in 1998-2000. There I met my first good mentor. I had to get nothing working my way up to that... and that was just the start.

You need to wear a lot of hats to make a living off it. Not like you can afford to buy an original song from a musician. So best learn your music theory and get good at a DAW (geek for music environment on PC)

You have to be good at 3d modeling, texturing, 2d modeling, raster work like gimp/photoshop, web-dev, html, css, xhtml, flash if you can pay for it, videography, motion tracking, and a shit ton more. Like node layouts and bump maps when you get to the deep end.

Quote (thefriarmichael @ Mar 28 2015 08:28pm)

It's a 20 year path to become NOT A MASTER but playable in the field.

Quote (ericswanson_19 @ Mar 29 2015 07:39am)

You're making very broad generalizations. First, not everyone is an entrepreneur. Also, the incentive to be an entrepreneur is to make more money, not less. If you can barely get by, then try working for an agency that provides benefits.

Second, no up-to-date web devs use flash anymore..at least not for the entire website. Everything that flash used to be utilized for can be done via multiple other languages. Not every designer deals with web coding either.. or music or video or 3D-modeling for that matter. If a laymen has to deal with updating a website, then they're probably utilizing a content management system, which anyone can use. I don't think any designer uses gimp. Adobe CC is extremely cheap nowadays.

I thought you were trolling from your first post. The most basic, entry-level design position is 30k+/yr..and that includes benefits. I also thought you were trolling because you took a video of your monitor, rather than screen-capping. OBS is free to use..


There's being pretentious and being overly humble. The learning curve isn't that steep. You can continue to improve over the years, but it doesn't take 2 decades to be mediocre.