They seemed to have slowed down on those god-awful commercials and I am glad, the less of them, the better the future of graphic design will be. They have shifted their efforts to hording sheep into game design now… more on that later. So after 10 years of wasting time in this profession, I urge you the talented right-brained ones who have been suckered into this field to really think on what you are doing.  Are you happy? Do you really think you will make over $50k as an Art Director one day? Do you still dream about working in a high-rise and drafting up marketing concepts for Coca Cola?

The average 4 year designer graduates college like a trained fighter ready to hit the ring.  They’ve spent a couple semesters really drilling their portfolio to perfection and with a couple unpaid internships under their belt, they are sure the work-force will welcome their “much needed” talent with open arms.

What they find in reality is a long struggle to not only get paid what they should, even the minimal level of what they should, but they also find more production than creativity.  It kills their spirit and they push on fighting with their bosses for raises, job hunting around the clock, tweaking their portfolios and lose out to the hard working 2-year Designer that happily takes the pay and the working conditions.

Ever wonder why you barely see any older Graphic Designers 50+. Heh, it’s not because they are rich or financially free, no they’ve either escaped to return to school as a teacher, changed professions or setup a tiny firm while their husbands/wives handle the mortgage. The reason for this grim outlook is because from the outstart you are given a losing hand and asked to play it.

The other drawback is most of us artsy/fartsy types are neither ambitious nor feisty enough to fight back. we sit in our jobs and live check to check with no hope of change. “OH I’M SOOOO GONNA QUIT LEMME PUT MY RESUME OUT THERE!!!”. Do you know what you are up against now? There are Graphic Designers like their is air to breathe, you practically trip over them. The production jobs that will more than likely hire them have a high turn-over rate due to well lets see:

Low payrate – People Quit
People Quit – Sift through the other 1,000 resumes
Hire a New Designer for a Low Rate – Rinse /Repeat

So putting your resume out there is about as fortunate as dating the bosses daughter in hopes of marrying her and getting in his circle – all to get paid what you should. So it’s pretty futile.

So how do you save your self from becoming trapped in the 100 mile long rat-race of Graphic Design? I won’t tell you, and I would hope that anyone who has made it in this field and beyond will keep their mouths shut too. It is way too hard out here for us to give up the game that easily, the most we can do is urge you to open your eyes. You are trapped in a matrix of under-appreciation, under-qualification and trapped with no hope, because I will tell you right now that if I was in your bosses position and you pushed me for a raise I wouldn’t give it to you. Accounting makes my choice to fire and hire someone new instead of bumping your salary, well the right thing to do as an owner.

So keep Freelancing, you will always get work from tiny hustler’s like myself, you keep our world spinning. Design firms? Well good luck on trying to start one of those cliches… right now I know of several programmers further building tools to eliminate the need for creatives. I hope to invest in a few and continue eating.

The only way out is to pick up a friggin book and open your eyes. Your profession and way of life is slowly passing away… your student loan won’t, welcome to butt sore paradise, we have all been equally “taken” the question to ask yourself now is, what will you do to defeat it? Heh maybe we can all go become game designers (rolls eyes).

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5. Kick the haters out of your life

Written by Greg Dragon on Friday, July 11, 2008 
Filed under Money and Business · Tagged with Freelance, Graphic Designer