your opinion on the feasibility of a graphic designer activity in addition to my retirement

P

Pio

New Member
Hello,
I would like to have your opinion on the feasibility of a graphic designer activity in addition to my retirement:
I obtained a graphic designer diploma in 1988, then I branched out into teaching (nothing to do with graphic design).
In 4 years I will be retired, and I will need to supplement my retirement at a rate of 700 € per month.
In your opinion, what conditions must I meet to achieve this objective with a graphic designer activity, and is it possible?

Here are the needs I have listed, what do you think?
- need to train on the adobe suite: AI Psd In
- register on mission platforms to acquire a clientele: Malt, Creads, Graphiste.com
- publish an online press-book (Behance). I have 3 posters and 10 logos that I made.
 
Honestly work speaks more than qualifications however I'm not sure how much weight should be put behind a diploma that essentially hasn't been used for over 30 years.... show us some work so we can give honest opinion.

Having said that from a personal perspective I would argue that someone who is retired would be less likely to get work over a younger person going for the same freelance job, purely due to where most graphic design is targeted (ie younger demographics). Not to mention, outside of the fundamentals, things have moved on a LOT since 1988 in terms of graphic design and what is expected of a graphic designer.

As to 700 a month, yes it's feasible to earn that much in a month, but don't go assuming joining up to a few sites and having an online portfolio will be enough to get the work that would get you there.
 
I'm not looking to be an employee but just do one or two contracts per month.
"don't assume that joining a few sites and having an online portfolio will be enough to get the job that gets you there": so what will get there? that's kind of the purpose of my post. here is some works. __Copie de maquette soirée musique française 26-11.jpgmaquette+RE+quiem.jpgvert RVB 72dpi taille max.jpg
 
Going to be honest (and not trying to be mean) but that level of work will struggle to get you work, there are students coming out of gcse's with better quality of work and the people looking for someone to do the work can be as picky as they like due to the sheer amount of 'designers' out there.

Whether you are looking to do freelance or be hired full time a client still needs to hire you.....
 
Last edited:
I agree with Levi, that work is a bit lacking. It may be good enough for the kind of sites you mention, but the work you will get from them would most likely
be low budget stuff and you will have to get quite a few 50€ jobs to get to your 700, and you will be competing against a lot of people.

It really depends if you are prepared to put the time and effort in to build a decent portfolio and find the work, but it won't come easily or immediately.
 
Okay thank you all for your advice. I have understood that my work is insufficient in quality, but I am ready and motivated to work to improve. However, in order to give me an idea of the expected level, would you have any links that you could give me ? Levi , Wardy, do you have your own sites ?
 
Mine won't be relevant as I am mostly an illustrator and I'm guessing you're not from the UK anyway. Google (or otherwise) is your friend, get online and do some research. :)
 
Pio said:
what is "gcse's" please I 'm not american ?
Click to expand...
nor are we, we're mostly from the UK.... they're (in most subjects) the qualifications you get when you finish school at 16.

It wouldn't be worth me showing my work either, I'm more 3D design (CAD) orientated

Have a look through some of our subsections on the forum, I'm sure you'll find some work being shown/reviewed.
 
Pio said:
Okay thank you all for your advice. I have understood that my work is insufficient in quality, but I am ready and motivated to work to improve. However, in order to give me an idea of the expected level, would you have any links that you could give me ? Levi , Wardy, do you have your own sites ?
Click to expand...
I’d suggest start by looking at the very best work, from the worlds best designers and agencies and use that as your benchmark.
 
@Levi @Wardy I have also 3D design works and illustrations and I would be very interested by see your works : may you give me your link website on this post or by private mail ?
 
Nope, mine is all under NDA, but lets just say as close to real as possible.... now if you want to show your 3D work and I'll give you and idea how far off you are.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top