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What are the pros and cons to being a graphic designer?
#graphic-design #design #art #computer
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6 answers
Updated
Vennice’s Answer
Cons:
Money: Economically unpredictable if you are freelance. In most websites you’ll only get $5 a design. You have to file taxes ever quarter and annually as well as pay a self employment tax.
Creativity: Not everyone will like your designs and Your ALWAYS competing against other artist. If its a job, Designers could have no reputation - only agencies get that.
Time: Even a basic design may take forever to be made up to your satisfaction.
Pros:
Money: Senior graphic designers in the US earn on average US$56,000 which involves lot of passion and creative hard work.
Creativity: You get to put your own mark on something and someone will always like your design.
Time: Someone's one simple design that everyone loves only took 10 minutes to do.
Money: Economically unpredictable if you are freelance. In most websites you’ll only get $5 a design. You have to file taxes ever quarter and annually as well as pay a self employment tax.
Creativity: Not everyone will like your designs and Your ALWAYS competing against other artist. If its a job, Designers could have no reputation - only agencies get that.
Time: Even a basic design may take forever to be made up to your satisfaction.
Pros:
Money: Senior graphic designers in the US earn on average US$56,000 which involves lot of passion and creative hard work.
Creativity: You get to put your own mark on something and someone will always like your design.
Time: Someone's one simple design that everyone loves only took 10 minutes to do.
Updated
Emma’s Answer
I started in graphic design and originally planned to build my entire career in it.
PROS:
Actually getting PAID to do something you love is very fulfilling. I loved my time using graphic design every day to create new marketing assets, improve the professional look of branded materials, and bring a visual brand to life through design.
CONS:
Graphic design is not among the highest paid positions, and if you are not in a senior/director level role, then you will most likely be responsible for designing someone else's vision. Most of my fellow designers struggle with this because they feel it "limits" their creativity or their work is not appreciated.
If you freelance, a major con is that many people and companies still don't understand the value of design — it is common to be severely under paid unless you demand what you're worth.
My advice:
Know what kind of graphic designer you are. Are you extremely artistic and creative? Do you love the design tools? Are you passionate about creating something from nothing, or taking something that exists and making it better?
For me, I loved the problem solving and psychology behind design. I loved how design was part of the larger marketing strategy. Knowing this helped me find companies and positions that aligned with what I love.
I also recommend working hard on your actual design skills. Be good at it. Know the technology and tools. Do solid, clean work that follows sound design principles - don't create sloppy or lazy designs because you're "creative" and dislike details. The beauty of execution IS in the details when it comes to graphic design. I guarantee this will make your stand out from most graphic designers.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of bad designers out there, which makes it harder for good ones to find good, well-paying work. But it does exist! And I know many people who have built fulfilling careers or solo businesses in design, myself included.
Think about what you like/love graphic design. What's most interesting to you?
Consider learning other skills that will make you a better designer, like business, marketing, and communication.
Think about different focus areas within graphic design: print design, web design, branding & logo, product design, app/UI/UX, etc
PROS:
Actually getting PAID to do something you love is very fulfilling. I loved my time using graphic design every day to create new marketing assets, improve the professional look of branded materials, and bring a visual brand to life through design.
CONS:
Graphic design is not among the highest paid positions, and if you are not in a senior/director level role, then you will most likely be responsible for designing someone else's vision. Most of my fellow designers struggle with this because they feel it "limits" their creativity or their work is not appreciated.
If you freelance, a major con is that many people and companies still don't understand the value of design — it is common to be severely under paid unless you demand what you're worth.
My advice:
Know what kind of graphic designer you are. Are you extremely artistic and creative? Do you love the design tools? Are you passionate about creating something from nothing, or taking something that exists and making it better?
For me, I loved the problem solving and psychology behind design. I loved how design was part of the larger marketing strategy. Knowing this helped me find companies and positions that aligned with what I love.
I also recommend working hard on your actual design skills. Be good at it. Know the technology and tools. Do solid, clean work that follows sound design principles - don't create sloppy or lazy designs because you're "creative" and dislike details. The beauty of execution IS in the details when it comes to graphic design. I guarantee this will make your stand out from most graphic designers.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of bad designers out there, which makes it harder for good ones to find good, well-paying work. But it does exist! And I know many people who have built fulfilling careers or solo businesses in design, myself included.
Emma recommends the following next steps:
Updated
Doc’s Answer
Bryan graphic design is a skill that is widely coveted in many industries and can be seen as a bonus if you ever decide to move in the direction of marketing or entrepreneurship. All businesses need design work completed in some fashion or form. Whether it’s their main company logo, brochures advertising services or website graphics, the need for designers is high. Let’s face it: Graphic design is visual, and most people are quickly drawn to eye-catching and impactful graphics. As the creator of visual stimuli, it’s only natural that you’ll end up getting lots of recognition for your work. When it comes to graphic design, there are plenty of phenomenal advantages. After all, if you’re of the creative, strategic mindset that most graphic designers are, you’ll most likely find much of the design work you’re tasked with very fulfilling. However, just like all jobs, there can be downsides, too. Knowing the highs and lows of a position beforehand can take some of the shock value away from the inevitable job discoveries you’ll make.
Bryan while graphic design has its upsides, there are many downsides to the industry as well. If you're thinking about heading into a career in graphic design, make sure to familiarize yourself with all of the pitfalls that come along with it. Graphic design is not necessarily is a 9-5 job. Graphic design is centered heavily around meeting deadlines, navigating time crunches, working under a great deal of pressure, and responding immediately to "emergencies" or revision requests. In other words, get used to being interrupted by clients that want the text on their new website changed to pink RIGHT NOW. You’ll find out pretty quickly that many clients—and people in general—think graphic design is simple. Questions like, “Can you just throw a logo together quick for me?” or assumptions about how long it will take you to design something can be disheartening, especially because graphic design requires a very specific skillset. While some graphic design jobs are monetarily rewarding, there will be many that aren't. A project might even start off promising, but once you log in the number of hours for each sample and revision the pay might not be worth the time. When you’re juggling multiple clients at once, it can be easy to place originality and creativity on the back-burner in order to meet deadlines. Graphic design doesn’t allow for leisurely creativity, instead you have to force creativity to meet client expectations and time frames. The unfortunate part of this truth is that, generally, you’ll need to appease your client—and that might mean designing a logo or graphic that doesn’t have the look and feel you would have naturally chosen. This also means having to scrap or significantly change a design you feel strongly about.
Brian hopefully this gives you an idea about what the job entails.
Bryan while graphic design has its upsides, there are many downsides to the industry as well. If you're thinking about heading into a career in graphic design, make sure to familiarize yourself with all of the pitfalls that come along with it. Graphic design is not necessarily is a 9-5 job. Graphic design is centered heavily around meeting deadlines, navigating time crunches, working under a great deal of pressure, and responding immediately to "emergencies" or revision requests. In other words, get used to being interrupted by clients that want the text on their new website changed to pink RIGHT NOW. You’ll find out pretty quickly that many clients—and people in general—think graphic design is simple. Questions like, “Can you just throw a logo together quick for me?” or assumptions about how long it will take you to design something can be disheartening, especially because graphic design requires a very specific skillset. While some graphic design jobs are monetarily rewarding, there will be many that aren't. A project might even start off promising, but once you log in the number of hours for each sample and revision the pay might not be worth the time. When you’re juggling multiple clients at once, it can be easy to place originality and creativity on the back-burner in order to meet deadlines. Graphic design doesn’t allow for leisurely creativity, instead you have to force creativity to meet client expectations and time frames. The unfortunate part of this truth is that, generally, you’ll need to appease your client—and that might mean designing a logo or graphic that doesn’t have the look and feel you would have naturally chosen. This also means having to scrap or significantly change a design you feel strongly about.
Brian hopefully this gives you an idea about what the job entails.
Thank You Natalie Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
Doc Frick
Updated
Shelby’s Answer
One of the things I think can be really cool about a career is graphic design is the flexibility you have!
You can either freelance and work for yourself or you can work for a company and design things exclusively for them. This can benefit someone who is more self-driven but can also work well for someone who needs more structure.
You can either freelance and work for yourself or you can work for a company and design things exclusively for them. This can benefit someone who is more self-driven but can also work well for someone who needs more structure.
Updated
Lindsay’s Answer
Graphic Design is an awesome career for so many reasons! I'm a creative and studied design in college and organically fell into graphic design during a marketing position I held for a small company (Sometimes in small companies you have to wear many hats!). One of things I found, is design concepts and education are extremely transferrable. So if you decide to go a different route, you can always break back into design later. Or, if you do graphic design now, that experience is not lost and can be a catalyst to a career in conte marketing, campaign marketing, brand strategy, UX/UI, animation, social media marketing, web design, etc etc.
PROS
- Flexibility of industry
- Flexibility of time/work hours
- Creativity and fun
- Problem solving
CONS
- Building a portfolio of work can be challenging and take time to get started
PROS
- Flexibility of industry
- Flexibility of time/work hours
- Creativity and fun
- Problem solving
CONS
- Building a portfolio of work can be challenging and take time to get started
Updated
Brittney’s Answer
It depends if you want to be freelance or work for an agency or an in-house team. In my experience I've preferred working for an in-house team, as I enjoyed having a consistent income and building one-brand over time as opposed to an agency that brings in a variety of clients. However, if you like a fast-paced work environment, an agency will give you a lot more variety in your portfolio.
Pros:
Pay is not the highest on average, but good, stable jobs are out there. There are a lot more remote jobs out there than there were a few years ago, so you can work from anywhere for companies in other states or countries that may pay more. Build your portfolio and interview skills and it is possible.
You can find a niche to be really good at and enjoy make yourself more marketable. Graphic design can branch into other areas like print design, digital assets, and event design within the same position.
Cons:
Unless you have a team of people who also do your job, it can be stressful and difficult to have a work-life balance. I was the only designer at my previous job and had no one to go to for advice when I needed help figuring something out. However, this also taught me to be self-sufficient and organized.
There isn't a ton of growth past senior designer unless you want to be a manager, which will require more business and people management skills than design.
Pros:
Pay is not the highest on average, but good, stable jobs are out there. There are a lot more remote jobs out there than there were a few years ago, so you can work from anywhere for companies in other states or countries that may pay more. Build your portfolio and interview skills and it is possible.
You can find a niche to be really good at and enjoy make yourself more marketable. Graphic design can branch into other areas like print design, digital assets, and event design within the same position.
Cons:
Unless you have a team of people who also do your job, it can be stressful and difficult to have a work-life balance. I was the only designer at my previous job and had no one to go to for advice when I needed help figuring something out. However, this also taught me to be self-sufficient and organized.
There isn't a ton of growth past senior designer unless you want to be a manager, which will require more business and people management skills than design.