Disheartened

N

Neil Dylandy

New Member
hello, first post here and it's a moan sorry :( Does anyone else ever feel really disheartened with the industry? I'm not sure if it's just me losing a passion for something I used to love or if I've been in the game too long. I've been in design for almost 10 years, and lately I've lost all the enthusiasm & motivation I once had. My days now consist of the account manager shouting at us all because we don't do a design exactly the way he envisioned. I struggle to work with him and it's really getting me down. We're expecting to turn around 10+ projects every single day, leaving very little room for any creative thoughts. Anyone have any advice to someone considering quitting and giving up the design game for good?
 
Have you considered freelancing or starting your own small studio? Most account managers I've worked with are knobs. Not all, but most. The main issue tends to be them not actually managing client expectations, or getting content secured when it's supposed to be, or just not understanding what's involved in a design process.

I freelance for studios quite often and it always makes me glad I have my own clients to work with because of the bureaucracy and lack of communication throughout departments (especially in larger agencies). If you're self employed and you don't like a client you can fire them and just work with the ones you enjoy working with. Working for large brands I always find to be a nightmare because there's 10 people involved in the design and you have brand guidelines to contend with, and the sad bastards whose job it is to check and re-enforce those guidelines (what a dull existence they must lead).

I mainly try and work with smaller businesses who are happy to give me creative control and it's so much more fulfilling than being an agency cog.
 
Have you considered calling a meeting with the account manager and someone else on a similar level to the account manager (as a witness). It can be quite healthy to have a clear the air meeting. But make sure you put down examples of where the account manager is being unreasonable in expectations.

Of course your other route is to note down all the times this account manager "belittles" you and what happened, who was witness etc. And report them for bullying, because this is exactly what this is.

https://www.gov.uk/workplace-bullying-and-harassment

One thing I had to do years ago was to keep a work journal of every single thing that was asked of me. I'd write it down as it was spoke to me. I'd often get the floor manager come in a week after something was done to "shout" at me, and I'm not the "shouting at people to get things done", never have and never will. I'd simply flick to the day in question, relay his exact instructions and point out that I did exactly what was asked. After time he stopped coming to me to "shout" at and found someone else.
 
The problem isn't so much about you losing passion it's about the account manager being money focused, which to be fair is likely their mindset especially if they're on a percentage of sales etc, and this is dragging you down.

Account manager/sales person will focus on sales and often look at it from the perspective more sales = more money even if its sometimes better to do less jobs but charge more for them...
A designer on the other hand is usually the sort of person who wants to create a wonderful piece of work for the client and would likely spend forever on it if they could get away with it.

As to the account manager not getting what he envisaged... well knowing my personality I'd have said something along the lines of well you should have explained it better or sit here and do it yourself then, politely of course :)

I'd also agree with hank, either record it (I've got to the stage where I ask to record client meetings rather than writing them) or write down exactly what he wants and just repeat it all back to him before he leaves asking is this EVERYTHING you want doing in this design... please sign here :)
 
Yes, I agree, it should be more like a client briefing. Sit down and talk it out with them exactly what it is they want.

Put yourself forward to have the meetings with the account manager about upcoming work. And if possible sit in on client meetings to get a broader knowledge of what's coming through.
 
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