Alternative career

Different jobs

When work has been slow I've done several different jobs - night shelf filling, worked in Halfords as a sales assistant, driving for the ambulance service, night care assistant in a home for people with mental health problems, bouncer, courier - anything to pay the mortgage.
 
Rob Edwards said:
To get back to Designersaur's original question, to what other career might a graphic designer of more than 20 years practice switch?

To begin, what else are we qualified to do? How far do our less than academically rigorous Degrees go? Or am I being once again unkind and does someone believe that their design qualifications equip them beyond graphic design?
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I'm not at all convinced that you could slot a career graphic designer into a different role without the need for a significant set of additional skills: it is what it is and, if the main part of the transferable element we're talking about is design, then you're still basically a designer.
 
Another direction

I would think that the one skill that designers develop is the supreme art of bullshitting - this then makes us ideal salespersons for virtually anything.:icon_wink:
 
Dave L said:
I'm not at all convinced that you could slot a career graphic designer into a different role without the need for a significant set of additional skills: it is what it is and, if the main part of the transferable element we're talking about is design, then you're still basically a designer.
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I couldn't agree more.

Would you or anyone here, recommend graphic design as a career choice or would a degree in something more transferable, such as management be better?

Or a better question: does anyone regret becoming a designer?
 
Rob Edwards said:
Or a better question: does anyone regret becoming a designer?
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I've never regretted becoming a graphic designer. It's not the easiest job in the world but I believe you get out what you put in.

What I find hard to accept about design though is how easy it is to say you're a graphic designer and then for people to believe you. I along with many people on here have worked extremely hard to be able to do what I do, but it seems that anyone can say they are a designer these days without putting in 1% of the effort, time and commitment some of us on here have had to put in. I have worked in studios where we have been terrified of the Creative Director coming back because of a mistake we had made, or waiting for a high profile job to come back where a lot of money has been put into it, or the times that I have sleep over in the studio for a weekend (once through Good Friday) to make sure a project goes out on time. For those of us who have been in this career a while these stories are commonplace.

Why should we go through that to learn our trade so that someone who has never even been in a studio, let alone work in one can come along and undercut us with work that is, to put it frankly, s**t?

THAT is my problem with this profession, but I'm still glad I have chosen it because of the rewards and challenges it brings.

PC + Paint = graphic designer.
 
Rob Edwards said:
I couldn't agree more.

Would you or anyone here, recommend graphic design as a career choice or would a degree in something more transferable, such as management be better?

Or a better question: does anyone regret becoming a designer?
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Good question. For my part, having worked in-house in a corporate environment for many years everything was going swimmingly until financial crisis-fuelled redundancies were being made and non-income generating fluff like design was inevitably the first thing to go. Having been there a long time and built a good reputation within the company, I was very well paid for what I did and able to work flexibly (which is important to me at this stage in my life) so had the choice of either a) re-entering the ultra-competitive jobs market at a lower level on reduced terms or b) setting up independently. I chose the latter as my best shot at replicating my general lot and, touch wood, so far s'okay. However, should things take a turn for the worse (not unlikely by any means), I'm aware that option 'a' is all that's really open to me so I have retraining for a new career bubbling away as a serious consideration and I'm currently putting money aside to fund it.

So do I regret it? Not really but the non-transferable aspect is certainly a concern in these hard times.
 
No regrets?

I have absolutely no regrets about becoming a designer. I've had some brilliant times and never not wanted 'to go to work'.

I've regretted some decisions I've made during my career, such as taking the first jobs offered, which meant that it took a good deal longer building up a portfolio to enable me to work at a higher level. I also regret (to a degree) my inability to bite my tongue which made it very difficult to play the 'company man' (I don't suffer fools gladly). I regret while working freelance at Pentagram, after weeks of just turning up and being given work, 'phoning to ask if they wanted me in and they said no.

...but I haven't regretted grabbing a few hours sleep on the studio floor or travelling by train, taking down an exhibition down and packing it in Newcastle, following it to Edinburgh, putting it back up and returning to London all in two days with no sleep, taking an old established company's logo, chopping it in half to enhance some small features and presenting the new concept to the board that consisted of a very straightlaced bunch of ex guards and old Etonians, then convincing them that they loved it.
 
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YellowPeril said:
I have absolutely no regrets about becoming a designer. I've had some brilliant times and never not wanted 'to go to work'.

I've regretted some decisions I've made during my career, such as taking the first jobs offered, which meant that it took a good deal longer building up a portfolio to enable me to work at a higher level. I also regret (to a degree) my inability to bite my tongue which made it very difficult to play the 'company man' (I don't suffer fools gladly). I regret while working freelance at Pentagram, after weeks of just turning up and being given work, 'phoning to ask if they wanted me in and they said no.

...but I haven't regretted grabbing a few hours sleep on the studio floor or travelling by train, taking down an exhibition down and packing it in Newcastle, following it to Edinburgh, putting it back up and returning to London all in two days with no sleep, taking an old established company's logo, chopping it in half to enhance some small features and presenting the new concept to the board that consisted of a very straightlaced bunch of ex guards and old Etonians, then convincing them that they loved it.
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I'd have to say that my own feelings run pretty much the same as Ian, Dave and the Peril except to say that I haven't been a designer professionally since 2003 and my own post rational view is rosier.

If I have a regret at all, I think its that I couldn't find a way to make my old business sustainable but even in the early 90's I remember chasing margin downward trying to win work. That's two recessions and a tech bubble ago but I think about what I could have done differently most days.

What about the first part of the question; would you recommend graphic design as a career today to a bright teenage considering her/his future?
 
Recommendation

I would and do recommend graphics as a career because I believe there is still good work to be had out there.

Foe personal reasons I've had to back pedal a bit on the promotion front, but I'm convinced I can build the business up enough to make a comfortable living again (after all I have a Ducati to support!):icon_biggrin:
 
Rob Edwards said:
If I have a regret at all, I think its that I couldn't find a way to make my old business sustainable but even in the early 90's I remember chasing margin downward trying to win work. That's two recessions and a tech bubble ago but I think about what I could have done differently most days.
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I think that was the point I was trying to make in a scenic-route kind of way. lol

The recession has made it harder but winning business has always been the same, you need to work at it. Thats always been the case.
 
YellowPeril said:
I would and do recommend graphics as a career because I believe there is still good work to be had out there.

Foe personal reasons I've had to back pedal a bit on the promotion front, but I'm convinced I can build the business up enough to make a comfortable living again (after all I have a Ducati to support!):icon_biggrin:
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I understand where you're coming and I think that being a graphic designer can be and for me has been very rewarding but I don't think I could recommend it today.
 
Ian Bonner said:
I think that was the point I was trying to make in a scenic-route kind of way. lol

The recession has made it harder but winning business has always been the same, you need to work at it. Thats always been the case.
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I like your attitude and good luck, your Linkedin profile suggests you've more than enough ammo in the portfolio and bigger brand experience to make a go of it.

For me I think I must be jaded by my recollections of endlessly pitching in the recession of the early 90's until by 1997 I let everyone go and closed shop. Don't get me wrong we did good work and had been very profitable but in the end I couldn't afford the reduced margins and the kick-backs!
 
A different path

What would you recommend?

I have two daughters in their mid twenties, neither of whom showed any interest in following the old man. Both are doing very well, one in HR and the other in the financial world. I wouldn't have been able to recommend these paths, but they seem to be doing very well despite it.

I can only recommend something I've enjoyed, that being graphics. I am also a trained engineer, a job that equipped me well for life, but not one that I particularly enjoyed. A colleague once said to me after I'd admired some speaker cabinets he'd built 'You're an engineer boy, you can make anything' and he was right (incidently- imagine that quote delivered with a Norfolk accent). Also after having painted the inside of a milling machine (which the company made) with a primer, undercoat and a top coat of red paint, when the only person to benefit from this would have been one of our service engineers. I said 'Why do we do this, no-one will know'. I was told 'You'll know' and that pride in my work was another thing to stick with me for the rest of my life.
 
A mistake

I should have mentioned that I did actually have a crack at a totally different career a few years back when I'd become particularly jaundiced with graphics. But as it was so spectacularly bad I guess that I've tried to drive it into the depths of my mind (what little of it appears to be left).

I became a residential social worker for a company that specialised in children with challenging behaviour. The fact that I was to do a 48 hour sleep in shift and then have six days off was the big inducement, this and the fact that there was to be minimal weekend work sealed the deal.

The reality however was somewhat different;

The main place I worked was a sex offenders assesment centre for 11-16 year olds and during my time there I was seconded to another couple of homes for a while. Niaively, I thought I could do some good amongst the 11 year old drug runners and 14 year olds who persistantly raped their 7 year old sisters.

Having worked the first 5 out of six weekends and as soon as I'd arrived home there would be a message on the answerphone asking me to do another shift, because they were understaffed, led me to believe that the company hadn't been entirely honest with me over working conditions.

I stuck it out for five months before resigning - knowing that it was only a matter of time before I did one of the little darlings some serious damage and the stress was something I'd never known. I would have begged for a ridiculous deadline or a Mac crashing every 26 seconds!
 
Rob Edwards said:
See what you started?!
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Good grief six pages! :icon_eek:

Sorry folks, this thread has obviously touched a nerve. It has raised some interesting & thought provoking points though.

The original post was tongue in cheek with a serious motive behind it, and it's clear that many older designers feel the same way. Do I regret being a designer? That's an interesting question, to which the answer now is probably yes.

The thing that attracted me to design was the creative hands on element. I'm not saying that the job is no longer creative, but to me the craft has gone out of it. The introduction of computers has levelled the playing field. This could be seen as a good thing because potentially good designers are no longer held back by the old technical skills i.e. drawing or lettering. However as someone said, now anyone can get the software & call themselves designers.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, maybe with the knowledge I have now I would have taken a different path. Unfortunately any possible alternative careers I considered are now dominated by the computer so I'd be no better off!

At the end of the day I'm a designer, good or bad it's what I've always done. On a good day it can be the best job in the world. It just seems that the good days a few & far between.
 
Designersaur said:
Unfortunately any possible alternative careers I considered are now dominated by the computer so I'd be no better off!
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Yes, but it cuts two ways. As a designer, I'm only a helpmate, but I am a translator, and I have played music for a living. In both of which fields, you now hear the same kind of laments that recur on this forum: that the 'clients' don't appreciate your worth, that any amateur with a computer can do the work for half the money, and so on. Most professionals are in the same kind of situation. But their clients or immediate consumers are as well, to the benefit of the professionals. Publishers (my wife's 'immediate' clients) are struggling, so are record companies, translation agencies are going under left, right and centre - precisely because they are not as necessary as they used to be - writers can self-publish much more easily, musicians can bring out their own records and plan their own tours, translators can find corporate clients without agencies and vice versa. Rates may be lower, but we are far more productive than we used to be in terms of output volume - I just did a job for a US company at a piece rate about 20% down on what I was charging eight years ago, but with today's software, I can easily turn out 50% more per day now, so I'm still winning. And all in all, I don't really feel that the new state of affairs is really hostile to designers, either.
 
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