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Is graphics design a serious career?

Tank.

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Red Shirt
I see it offered at a technical school but not at college level. I'm considering learning through tutorials instead. Is anyone in the field? And does anyone have any suggestions as to how to learn without incurring large expenses?
 
My college roommate was a graphic design major and we went to a private university. She's doing pretty well for herself now. So, I'd say, yes, it's a serious career.
 
Thanks for the feedback, I'm going to do more research on it. I would love to do art and design on a computer. I just never tapped into it, but when I was younger I used to like to draw.
 
Definitely a serious career, my brother makes a living as a graphic designer-- he got a four year degree in visual communications & design but was primarily self-taught on the design front--- school just gave him his chops in the technical side and made him a very well-rounded artist with experience in everything from painting to dark-room photography. Like anything else, it's not easy-- and it's a competitive field!
 
Learn as much as possible on your own. Spend as much time working on honing your skills as your life will allow. Taking a class is a great experience to get you working with people and making things you otherwise would never make, but as in most things it is really all about the practice.
 
Customer Service is also one of the more frustrating sides of it. A lot of clients apparently think that graphic design is a neat hobby, or that if they don't like your design they don't have to pay you for your work, or their cousin in highschool could do it for free etc
just give Clients From Hell a read :D
 
yes, its a massively serious career...

I work in 'graphic design', though the design part kinda fell out of it for me a while back... I got hired by a company in London several years back to do work primarily in the adult industry with most work being done in the fetish subsections of the company... Mainly touchup image work and the like...

I make pretty good money in it, though the work isn't massively 'stimulating', no pun intended, I'd love to get back to actually doing some active design rather than just airbrushing skin and toning up models and the like...

oh well, it's a hard life lmao

M
 
I don't know shit about it, but from the ones I've dealth with, it's a cross disciplinary career.

It's involved in sales, marketing, promotions, business development, etc.
 
Yep, pretty big career involved in magazines and newspapers, and sometimes even websites now that they've gotten more complex. A lot of companies pay very well for a good graphic designer.
 
My nephew graduated college with a Graphic Design degree last year. He's doing well with it, mostly designing signs and banners for trade shows, sporting arenas, etc.
He spent his High School and College Years designing web sites and posters so he already had 8 years of business experience before starting out.
 
My office is just down the hall from the graphic designer for my division of the company that I work for. I think he does just fine, in terms of making a living.

However, just remember that many graphic design jobs are not just sitting around making cool stuff you feel like working on in Photoshop all day. Sometimes he gets to do that...but sometimes he is doing less interesting stuff like making in-store signs for our retail outlets - work that is not as glamorous and creative as he might like, I'd imagine.

Good luck.
 
I think the theory behind Graphic Design must be an interesting area of study. Understanding how different visual imagery creates different psychological effects and then learning how to harness that imagery to create consistent branding messages sounds like an intellectually enjoyable exercise.

The actual practice probably consists of a lot of donkey work though. That's true of many jobs, until you find your niche and get ahead. But I suspect it's easier to get stuck at the donkey work stage in this field just because there's a lot of it (just look at the world around you for proof!) unless you're exceptionally talented and/or fortunate.
 
Thank you everyone you have been very helpful. I spoke to a dean today in college and he gave me a contact that will help me sort my classes and credits. We do have a school of communication in the college, so I will become better informed and I've heard there is an art school as well.

I will also try taking some career tests and try to look within myself to choose a career path.
 
i fell into it... pretty literally lol

putting spoilers as my work is of an adult nature ok?

I've known several dominatrixes and submissives for quite a few years now, being a regular at fetish clubs in London and a few dungeons around the area... I got to know the mistresses quite well and got pretty friendly with them...

Anyway, a few years back one of them, Mistress Kent, contacted me as she needed some help on her website... i was more than willing to jump down and lend a hand, so i did so... while we were working on her website she asked if i fancied doing some filming with her... i thought 'what the hell' and went for it lol

After we'd done some filming and photography together, Mistress Kent introduced me to several of her Dominatrix friends who needed website and image work, and it sort of snowballed from there...

There are a lot of people working in the fetish and adult industry who need people they can trust to work on images, websites, designs and things like that, so my name go passed around and i've kept really busy through it all...

I head down to dungeons about once every 3 weeks or so, help out with photography, do filming with some of them if it's needed, do the image work for them, any website design and stuff... all in all it's a really cool job, i know my chances of getting work outside the adult industry are pretty slim now though... most other employers will look at your past history, note you worked in the fetish / adult industry, and pass you over completely sadly :(

But i've made my bad and i'm more than happy to lay in it... i've got good friends, an interesting job, and i get to see women in fetish clothing wandering around all day lmao :p

M
 
It certainly wouldn't hurt to enter the career path with some talent. Not everyone is cut out for it. And remember... you can't learn talent!
 
Customer Service is also one of the more frustrating sides of it. A lot of clients apparently think that graphic design is a neat hobby, or that if they don't like your design they don't have to pay you for your work, or their cousin in highschool could do it for free etc
just give Clients From Hell a read :D

Or that their atrocious idea is a work of beauty. Or that think they know what they're talking about. I've worked as a graphic designer and still do it from time to time. Recently I had one c*nt that did not understand justified text. She wanted in her words "the sides of the words to be even" but could understand why the spacing would change in different lines depending on the length of the words. She also insisted that I kept changing the font on her brochures from page to page. Even after I showed her that the font was the same for the entire brochure. Same thing where she insisted on having italics, even after showing her the text highlighted and the italic icon selected. And when she asked me what my opinion of her idea for her brochure, she became enraged when I said it looked like a church pamphlet.
 
i fell into it... pretty literally lol

putting spoilers as my work is of an adult nature ok?

I've known several dominatrixes and submissives for quite a few years now, being a regular at fetish clubs in London and a few dungeons around the area... I got to know the mistresses quite well and got pretty friendly with them...

Anyway, a few years back one of them, Mistress Kent, contacted me as she needed some help on her website... i was more than willing to jump down and lend a hand, so i did so... while we were working on her website she asked if i fancied doing some filming with her... i thought 'what the hell' and went for it lol

After we'd done some filming and photography together, Mistress Kent introduced me to several of her Dominatrix friends who needed website and image work, and it sort of snowballed from there...

There are a lot of people working in the fetish and adult industry who need people they can trust to work on images, websites, designs and things like that, so my name go passed around and i've kept really busy through it all...

I head down to dungeons about once every 3 weeks or so, help out with photography, do filming with some of them if it's needed, do the image work for them, any website design and stuff... all in all it's a really cool job, i know my chances of getting work outside the adult industry are pretty slim now though... most other employers will look at your past history, note you worked in the fetish / adult industry, and pass you over completely sadly :(

But i've made my bad and i'm more than happy to lay in it... i've got good friends, an interesting job, and i get to see women in fetish clothing wandering around all day lmao :p

M
:lol: That sounds awesome, you're giving me ideas... that sounds really interesting and out of the box. I do agree though that once you get that label I image it would be difficult to find a different type of job.
 
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