I've been a graphic designer for over the past 10 years

don't lie anon.
every graphic designer is a masochist.
don't pretend you're not into it.

>>296721
This is me in a few years. Let me know how it goes.

File: 77e6a845212f60d8a72c9154384c2cce.jpg (1B, 486x500px)

1B, 486x500px

Been through several agencies, tried to work for clients directly
freelance was a horrible and it all left me depressed and frustrated
i became an alcoholic and i've had 6 girlfriends that all left me because of my frustration with work
this is fucking shit

>>296721
Same story
working as freelancer is depressing after 5 years no matter what you say to yourself ....no money aat all

sell drugs

>>296721
What the actual fuck. Are you me ? Are you a literal copy of me ?

I've been working in the field for 7 years now, and i'm sick of it. It's a fucking straight dead-end, both financially and as a career.

Plus, i feel drained spiritually, i don't know how to explain. I need to do something "honest". It's not that graphic design isn't an honest work, far from it, but shit if it's shallow.

I will try to see if i can find a new career in helping people out (health) or something related to nature. But shit, staying in front of a computer all day and be only satisfied by my own work ? Never again. I need some kind of external validation, something i can use as a parachute in bad times.

>>297080
How can I go through this transition? How to change careers if I'm not a youngster changing majors?

File: m45j8rr3XG1rsuakso2_250.jpg (1B, 486x500px)

1B, 486x500px

>>296721
>>296735
>>296761
We surely must be the board with the oldest demographic around here.
I used to love being freelance but I'm glad it's over now. It works as long as you don't mind living dirt cheap and not having savings. I still do freelance shit for a couple of loyal clients but having to deal with clients in the first place isn't compatible with most of us.
I had a big argument with my boss today and I really want to quit tomorrow but it sucks to go back to freelancing without a plan B. Thinking about it right now while chugging a beer.

>>297080
>not that graphic design isn't an honest work
it isn't unless you manage to do something that isn't advertising
>video VERY related (and it has haunted me for several years cause I totally agree with it but I need to pay rent)
>https://youtu.be/T7G_P8psD78

>>297097
apply to shit and see how it works out?

>23 years old
>in the middle of my second internship
>agency is small, a lot of clients
>realize my own pace isn't the ideal for a place of work like this, boss get irritated a lot from time to time, start to doubt my own abilities
>still love the idea of designing, creating stuff, everything about logos, posters, etc
>being told by my teachers that i have lot of creativity, good ideas and intersting projects in mind
>good grades in general

some of you seem to be in the industry for a lot of time, have any of you been in this situation?

>>296721

You know, if designers applied their skills on their own product to sell in stores or online.....

>>297124
What kind of product? If it's graphic, visual design nobody cares unless it's innovative or you're famous. If it involves mass-production then it's too much to consider.
>>297118
I'm slow too. Not very bright either. That's why freelancing seems more appealing to me.

File: tumblr_no3kuvNPQ61qby7dpo3_1280.jpg (1B, 486x500px)

1B, 486x500px

>>296721
I'm 26 and went through this recently. Past two agency jobs worked me to the bone with late nights and weekends with no overtime pay. Billboards for booze brands and websites for online loans - soul destroying stuff.

End of last year I decided to throw in the towel and try my hand at a trade (electrical). A week into the Electrical Engineering course I was totally and utterly bored and uninspired. Plus it was purely theoretical, not the practical "hands-on" experience I was hoping for... A big thing for me was getting away from the desk/computer.

Now I've realised, after coming back to design, that it's what I'm really good at and one of the few things I feel passionate about. I'm grateful for a steady income that supports my lifestyle. I work remotely for an organisation now and make more than I was at my previous two agency jobs. Still adjusting to the "working from home" set up (missing the daily office banter) but I maintain a social life.

>>297182
This is now a tutorial thread. How to do that?

File: Capture.png (1B, 486x500px)

1B, 486x500px

As a rule of thumb: don't work for agencies. Even the most prestigious ones stink.

apply for a union labor job; work full time,retire at 45-55.

become full time firefighter; work two days a week 24 hrs each day, make $60k a year

talk to people at small video game design firms like bioware, bethesda, valve, etc.; you already have the basic knowledge of graphic design

>arts & crafts movement is a p r o f i t
start actually producing decent work that has any value

File: 80c0444ad12b94c093b7ee6a1c45de8a.jpg (1B, 486x500px)

1B, 486x500px

>>297185
I've been doing work for the organisation I'm currently working for over the past 4 years on-and-off, little bits here and there. It's really taken off in the last year or so and they made me an offer to switch to full-time. My high-school friend started the company and got me involved at the very beginning with doing a logo, which became a brand identity, which became a website etc. One of those "who you know" situations and doing good work for them so they kept coming back.

>>297182

Have you tried metal welding? It's so cool.
Take a night school course with a certified welder that let's you do hobby projects. At least it's hand-on, visual, and artistic. Gas or stick-welding. Making stuff is fun.

>>297182
Try to find a nice place to work from out of the house or create an office inside the house that you only use for working.
If you don't you might end u getting cabinfever and depression from being in the same space forever.

>>297195
your advise sounds like you are 17.

>>297249
Looking up tips and tricks for working from home and that one came up every time. Can definitely see mixing relaxation and work in the same space becoming a mind-fuck.

Today I'm moving my work machine into the larger living room area of my apartment so I'm not stuck in my bedroom all day and night. Making my room purely for reading, resting, writing and listening to music. I think that simple "change of space" can make a huge difference and let you "switch" between work and rest.

>>297246
My landlord last year was actually into that. He was in finance but did it on the side, sold furniture etc. In fact a lot of the smaller furniture in the apartment was made by him. Too bad he's on the other side of the country or I'd ask him for some lessons.

Thanks for the info, though. Could be fun.

>>297239
Thank you for the response, but I was more interested in the picture you posted and the effect used.

my thoughts exactly
Working in an advertising agency for 7 years is one hell of a drug

started in 2010:
>full of optimism
>true inspiration

today:
>all empathy gone
>can't trust anyone
>everything and everyone seems pretentious

>>297262
Haha! Picked at random my inspiration folder unfortunately, can't help you there. Would say (after creating that warped line pattern) that it's just a bunch of gradients and gaussian blurs overlayed on top.

>>297263
Becoming jaded seems part of the package from the people I've met. Creative Directors at my old job admitted hating the industry but still found things they enjoyed about working in it. Seems eye sight damage is something we're all in for as well... Lots of contact lenses and glasses around.

Wow, I'm a graphic designer myself and I'm pretty tired of it too. Seems I'm not the only one. I finished my studies en 2011, in 2012 I started working as an in-house designer for a corporation in my hometown. Three years laters I resigned, my anxiety and depression problems were kicking in. I moved to Barcelona in late 2015 to study motion graphics. But haven't landed a serious job since I was done with the degree. I enjoy designing but I agree that is one fucked up industry. I'm now pondering wether I should study to be a cook (I really like cooking) or try to get a simple job as a salesclerk…

>>296721
The problem is the industry is being killed by templates and such. Anyone can now design mobile apps. Anyone can be a designer with a 2 week intensive course. The only work still available is higher end stuff where they need the skill and input of designers.

>>297276
>The only work still available is higher end stuff where they need the skill and input of designers,
which is only available in four to five big cities worldwide.

>>297185
I have a theory
Let me try it and ill get back to you anon

>>297328
Well I'm in a big city and it is proving hard to get established as anything.

>>297108
Really? I am 20, and feel like most people are around 20ish age.

File: okladka_15.jpg (1B, 486x500px)

1B, 486x500px

>>297276
the industry is actually being destroyed by a low entry-level for the job
any idiot can now enter advertising
this is actually troublesome for designers since they will have to work with idiots who are Excel and openoffice commandors of shit

on the other hand you have alot of kids who think they can design just because Kanye and other nu-designers made it easy as fuck to design ANYTHING

>>296721
I was a carpenter before I went to be a GD.
Im doing carpenting every now and then till this day. Built myself a comfy sml cabin last summer.
l've been in the Graphic Design business for over 20 years. Im 43 now.
You work in the most free and creative industry, and you cry like a little bitch?
What the fuck is stopping you from becoming a carpenter?
Why do you cry about it on anonymous image board?

You're a pathetic peace of shit, I bet you're a homosexual bottom.

Is the industry better in different places? I'm planning on studying design in Melbourne (RMIT) but Sam Hyde and /gd/ are convincing me to do something else. My other options are computing studies and sound production. I feel like my parents and the university are tricking me into pursuing design because nobody has said anything about how saturated the industry is. Like wtf at least mention the fact that a million other faggots want to do graphic design. Advice please?

>>297952
>43
>on a japanese cartoon imageboard

I can only imagine what your life story must be like

>>298019
lol mate implying you wont still be shitposting when youre 43. why would you even want to leave 4chan

>>297124
Ding ding ding i really think this is the only way for it to work if you dont want to do advertising shit ( technically you still are advertising your shit but at least its yours)

>>298015
Don't do design. It's saturated as fuck and an incredibly stressful long term occupation. You are competing against, well, anyone with a couple of years experience and some pirated adobe programs ALL OVER THE WORLD. Yes, that includes India and China.

It is a great profession but also a terrible, harsh, and depressing profession.

>>298096
Is it really all cons, honestly. I'm also in aus and thinking of changing degrees to visual com but comments like these make me more anxious and confused :(

>>296721
>i can't switch into being a project manager because of alpha nature and assholeness

So basically "I'm a little child who doesn't want to grow any balls"?

Wah wah wah. Poor little cuck.

>>298454
A lot of project managers I've worked with have been female and the dude I currently work with is not alpha at all - he's just super organised.

>>298273
Australian here. 35 years old, creative art lead at a game development company in the US

I've been in the industry nearly 15 years at home and at San Francisco and London. It's shit everywhere. People get chewed up and spat out. I've been exposed to bullshit in this industry for years and it takes its fucking toll.

After I'm done with current studio I am quitting forever I don't care anymore. I've survived by being able to expand my skillset so I could move around a bit and not go completely mental but I'm done.

I want to make stuff out of wood and metal. I've got ideas. I'm unplugging from the computer work lifestyle I resent it now.

Do something else.

>>297194
totaly this

>>296721
i was kinda where you were at when i was only 10 years into my career. I shared similar hatred for my design job, and potential jobs.

My advice is to stick with it. You have 10 years of working knowledge on the subject, that is valuable to people, you just need to find those people. Go into business for yourself, make the advertizing you want to make, build a name for yourself. Try to land the smaller jobs the agency would have never taken, sub-contract out the 'entry-level' work, handle the really challenging stuff.

Now is your time anon, this is where the money is, this is where the freedom is.