Career Advice For Graphic Designers

Hi everyone, it's Paola. Welcome back to my channel, my art graphic design channel where I give advice and I show you tutorials and I do projects and I have fun. So if you're not subscribed and that sounds good to you, please subscribe and also check out my Instagram, my Patreon, how you can donate to this channel, all in the links below all the time. So in today's video I'm going to be sharing with you some career advice and some tips from some books that I have on my shelf. As you guys know, I recently did a book video where we did some design challenges and that was so much fun, so wildly successful as a video. Couldn't believe the response I got on that. But yes, I just want to share with you what I have and what I've learned from all these books I have and if you want to go out and get these books, you can, but if you don't want to or you can't, I'm here to share things with you. Okay, so let's talk career advice. So the books that I want to share with you, which I think I've shared on my channel before, maybe a long time ago, but How to Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul by Adrienne Shaughnessy and Don't Get a Job, Make a Job by Jen Barton. These two books are amazing for advice, amazing for getting started in your career, and if you have any questions, these are like the places that you turn to. I come back to them all the time. So this book has a lot of career advice that is very practical, like it has topics such as how to find a job, freelance or setting up a studio, running a studio, self-promotion, clients, working with clients, the creative process. So this has a lot of like hands-on practical material and then this one, Don't Get a Job, Make a Job, has a lot more about different tactics you can use, different ways to go out there on your own, and it has a lot of like personal experience stories. So this one is very helpful too. I love this book just because it really inspired me to go out on my own and not really do the typical formula for a designer. Obviously, as you can see, I'm on YouTube doing stuff like that, so hopefully if you are interested in that, this book could help. So let me get into specific advice from these books. So I think the first thing we should be talking about in giving career advice, and especially the first question we all have, is how do I find employment? How do I find these opportunities? How do I even find clients if I want to be a freelancer? And you know, I talk about this a lot on my channel, like it's all over my channel, peppered in in different videos, how to find clients and work with them, lots of different things. But I think where this book can help you if you are interested is it talks more about your approach, how you are actually approaching companies or individuals to work with them. First thing I want to say is this book in particular is a little bit harsh in some of its wording and messaging, and I would take some of it with a grain of salt because everyone's path is different, and even stuff I read in here, like that I have done, is taught as what you shouldn't do. So you know, take some and leave some as you feel, because you know, I've already done things that are considered bad maybe, but I've still got into where I am. So there's lots of different paths always, but this book definitely has a lot of the advice and, you know, can help you in any way. Especially if you're completely lost, because if you're completely lost, take the advice in this book. It will definitely help you along your way. So this book focuses in finding a job maybe at a studio, and it goes into the option of internships. And this book also goes into the option of working for free, but both have the same type of advice. One, working for free is only going to be a temporary thing. You obviously can't sustain yourself working for free, but it can be an option for you if you need to start that way to get your foot in the door. Now me personally, I am an advocate for not working for free. I don't think that is worth it at all, and I think internships that are free, like unpaid internships, should be not a thing. They should be canceled because they don't benefit anybody. They're just for people who can already afford their life or already get their foot in the door in some way, because obviously they're just being like, hey I'm here and I'm already willing to work for you, but I already am making money somewhere else, or I already have money because I'm just rich. So I just don't think it's beneficial for people really getting started, but these books do point that out. Obviously this one says interning is not a sustainable thing for a long time, working for free, but if you need to do it, there can be ways to do it. You know, negotiating a way to have a trial period and then working into a job or something like that. And in How to Be a Designer Without Losing Your Soul, it says that a young designer is unlikely to derive any benefits from a studio that offers unpaid internships, and it's a sure sign of a studio with low regards for its staff, which I think is just really clear. I mean, I don't think that working for free is ever going to help you and further your career in a big way, unless you have some sort of thing worked out with a studio where, you know, they put you on a trial period, like I said. But yeah, I don't know. I just don't see that working out, and I think that you should value yourself and your work more than that. This book really goes into the importance, when finding a job, to reach out to individuals personally. So reach out and be professional. It really emphasizes that in this book, professionalism. But yes, reaching out to people individually and saying, like, hello, I love your studio, I love this work you've done specifically, and I'd love to work for you, here's what I can do. And just reaching out in a personal way to show that you care about that studio, and that you care about who the design head is, and that you care about your work. The book also tells us that it's better to write a handwritten note, or reach out personally to the people that you want to work with at the company, and just talking to people. I feel like what this book emphasizes, for sure, is you need to make connections with people in order to find a job later on. So even if you don't think that one person could get you a job, or you know, you can work at where they work, you can just establish those relationships to then they keep you in mind later for an opportunity that comes up. And yes, this can sound tedious, this can sound long-winded, but it is basically the nature of networking and being a designer. Especially if you're a freelance designer, it's all about relationships, talking to people, having these friends in the industry, for example, or just people with different types of jobs. Different jobs, they don't even have to be designers. They could be working at a company, and then they might find out that they need a designer in the design team, but they don't even work in the design team, and they tell you about it, or they mention your name at work. So there's lots of different ways to do it, and yes, this can sound tedious, but hey, it's just a piece of advice. You don't have to take it. Like I said, I'm just here to give the advice. Like, it could work for you, but it also could not be right for you. You have to figure that out within yourself. So I brought up the importance of professionalism in here, and in this book, like I said, kind of harsh in their wording, kind of harsh in their messaging, but they do mention professionalism as in, you need to be writing personally to the people you're writing to, not sir or madam. They put in there, like, that is just the end. Like, if you send something like, dear sir or madam, they're gonna be like, okay, so you don't know us, you don't care about working for us, like, you're just trying anything. The person in this book says in here that they won't hire someone if they don't have their own letterhead on the letter that they send to the company. And listen, a designer who doesn't design their own letterhead, yes, that's not really that professional, but also, these are things you might not think about. So you might think like, yeah, I'm a designer, I've done all these things, and then forget to do your own letterhead. That doesn't mean you're a bad designer, okay? But it can show that you went the extra mile, you have thought about everything, you've covered all your bases, and this book definitely shares that with you in terms of all this professionalism stuff. So if you're feeling like there's, like, more in here, yes, there is more in here, but I just shared with you, like, two of the main things. They were like, hey, you know, be professional in this way, and have your own letterhead, apparently. What's important to note about this book, too, when I say that the messaging is harsh, is that these pieces of advice are great, right? Like, thinking about the extra stuff, like designing your own letterhead for a letter, or handwriting on the envelope so it stands out in a pile of mail, is that designers can be finicky. So these designers, in this book, writing about it, and writing about who they would hire, who they wouldn't hire, they are designers themselves, and they have their own particular set of things that they want in a potential employee, or in a designer, freelancer, whoever. So that's why I'm saying take this advice with a grain of salt. Like, someone in here said that they wouldn't hire someone if their portfolio was with a spiral-bound book. So that's just their personal preference. They don't like spiral-bound books. What if you do? That doesn't mean you're unprofessional, doesn't mean you're a bad designer, and yeah, that's like the same thing I'm doing on this channel. Like, I'm not here to tell you that one way to do something and one way to be a designer is the only way, and if you don't do that, you're going to fail. Or, you know, sometimes I get comments saying, like, stop telling people this piece of advice because that's wrong, and I'm like, well, if it didn't work for you, it didn't work for you. But like I said, we're all different, and designers are especially finicky because they're very particular about stuff. Spiral-bound books, people hate it, people love it. Like, there's a mix. And designers can be a little, like, neurotic about that kind of stuff, you know what I mean? So, like, if someone won't hire you because you did a spiral-bound portfolio, then that's their problem. Like, that's not a reflection of you as a designer. Another big piece of advice in this book is basically that you shouldn't be self-centered as a designer. So you can have all the professionalism, you can do all the right things, you can say the right things in an interview, but are you talking about yourself too much? Are you talking to your clients too much about yourself, and talking yourself up, and what you've done? Are you making it about you? This is especially true with client work. You know, you don't want to start building a relationship with a client based off what you like, what your preferences are, your desires in what you're creating for them, because it is about the client. And it's also about the employer sometimes, especially when you're getting the job, at least. And I think this is important to just keep in mind as you go through your career. You know, you don't want to be self-centered. You don't want to become self-centered as a designer. And sometimes, you know, I have to check myself with that too. It's like, ugh, I'm rolling my eyes at this project because it's not what I want to do. And that's sometimes not the point. Like, especially when you're a freelancer working with clients, it's about what the client wants. So take a step back, don't talk about yourself so much, and listen to what the other people have to say. I'll read this quote. It says, Many designers use encounters with clients as opportunities to talk about themselves and boast about their skills and achievements. These are often the same designers who complain that their work is frequently rejected or that they're never allowed to do what they want to do. This is hardly surprising. They're guilty of the worst crime a graphic designer can commit, revealing themselves to be self-centered and to have a limited outlook. And I think that's just a big piece of graphic design. And as you go through a career, a big piece of career advice I could give you is just don't be self-centered and definitely don't limit your outlook on anything. You have to problem-solve as a designer. You have to come at things from different angles, different points of view. And you have to see things from the client's perspective and your own. And the audience of, you know, this client building a brand, you have to see how they are going to see it and their audience is going to see it, who's going to buy their product. It's so many people, it's so many things involved graphic design-wise. Another piece of advice I want to give you is from Don't Get a Job, Make a Job, and that's about marketing yourself. So marketing yourself is kind of a daunting task if you think about it because, you know, you can say like, oh yeah, I just have to get my name out there, but what does that really mean? People can be really afraid of talking themselves up, of sharing that they are available for work, or that they're, you know, unemployed. People can be scared of sharing this type of information. But, you know, you have to find new tactics of just sharing your work, getting it all out there to everyone as many people as possible. And that's what I said, like, why I said networking was so important, because you need to just talk to whoever and tell them that you're available for work, you know, drop it in there, give them your business card, or show them your website, whatever. Just, like, link back to yourself so that they can find you and your work. And in this book, it has different tactics. It has going mobile, going to the clients instead of waiting for people to come to you. It has going gorilla, as in going around and maybe putting, like, stickers on things where it promotes you. These are just different tactics that this book covers, and I just think it's such a great and interesting way to think about being a designer in terms of, like, not just, you know, sitting around being super professional and just kind of doing your own thing and making it happen. Marketing yourself can be intimidating. You just have to think, do you have ways that people can find what you do? Do you have social media? Do you have ways that people can contact you? Do you have a way to show your work anywhere out there? Because it's not about telling people what you do, it's about showing people what you do. And both of these books definitely mention that type of stuff. Like, in this book, it mentions that a young designer trying to get successful in his career basically got successful from his apartment, didn't have, like, a big working studio, wasn't working at any place, but put out a lot of emails and talked to so many people and put out, actually, like, a one-page collage of all his previous work, sent it to as many people as he could think of, and that kind of kick-started people seeing his work, people having him in mind, seeing his work and saying, oh, that's exactly what I want, or, you know, seeing the real talent. So it wasn't just about talking long-worded emails, it was about showing your work right off the bat to as many people possible. So if I can get across the main points of this video that I hope made sense to you, it's professionalism, not limiting your Trying to get your name out there and just talk to people and network, that's the basis of any good designer, I think. And showing and not telling. So these are probably the main points I want to get across to you. You know, being a designer and having a career in design is not always just, like, an upward line, it's kind of like a wave, and things can change, and your career can change, and your success pattern can change, but the important thing is, if you stay learning and stay excited about this type of stuff, I think you can go far. I mean, I sometimes don't feel like I'm the most successful in my career, but then I remember, like, oh, I do have a platform where I can talk about this stuff, and I can do research for you guys that helps me along the way. Like, if I didn't have this platform, I know for a fact that I would not be putting this much effort into my career. So I hope that these books can help you feel that way too, and I hope that at least my videos can help you feel that way in any way, inspired, interested, whatever. So if you like this video, please give it a thumbs up, it really, really helps my channel. And let me know in the comments what other types of career advice you want to know, if you want to know more from these books. I have videos about finding clients, I have other videos like that, I have a little freelance series, so definitely check all that out on my channel. And yeah, subscribe if you're not subscribed, and I'll see you in my next video. Okay, bye! I get a lot of hate comments lately. I know you guys probably saw this on my Instagram, but I'm sad, and I don't know, maybe leave some encouragement below, that'd be great. Let's talk.