After sharing my concept calendar for next year, you guys gave me some amazing feedback and helped me a ton with getting this finished.

Throughout my career as a designer, I’ve always made personal projects, almost every week. Most of them stay unfinished and eventually get lost to time. This one was different. Thank you guys for all the support and feedback, here I’m finally sharing all the finished pages.

I’m also posting it here to see if there’s any final feedback I can take with me and improve on for next year, when I hopefully make another one :)

( For anyone seeing this project for the first time: I’ve been working on a calendar for 2027 using imagery inspired by ancient drawings and illustrations from past civilizations. At the same time, I wanted to play with the idea that the calendar itself can exist beyond a single year. Since calendar layouts eventually repeat, it can be used again in the future years mentioned on the cover. )

So, in a way, the whole project creates a bridge between the past and the future, imagery from the past, presented through a calendar designed to be used again in the future.

I need to get this off my chest, so apologies if I use this sub as my personal blog.

I work in prepress production. Day in and day out, I answer emails and prepare files for print that have been provided by sales representatives. These people are a little on the simple side, but I don't blame them - they're middlemen after all. But the designers they work with don't have an excuse for being as ignorant as they are.

I regularly get files from customers with money. A lot of money. And yet they cannot seem to hire a single person capable of outlining typefaces. Or understanding the difference between Pantone Coated and Uncoated. Or RGB vs. CMYK. Or providing hexadecimal for PMS matches. Or linking vs. embedding. Or that 8 colors + a full-ass gradient is not "4-color."

How.

How is it possible to get jobs at these companies with absolutely no fundamental knowledge? What did you say in your interview to land these jobs? What was your secret? It took nearly 4 years straight of applying en masse on a daily basis, doing a dozen interviews a week, just to get my piddly little job where I commute 30 miles each way for $18.00/hr. How did someone 10 years younger than me land a job fresh out of college, at a multinational corporation, earning double my pay, yet cannot seem to locate a logo file beyond a 400 x 200 artifacted JPG pulled from an obscure Facebook page's profile picture?

And it has only gotten worse as the days go on.

I just spent 2 hours going back and forth with a designer, trying to get a revised file with type outlined. They couldn't figure out how to send it, then couldn't figure out why their 40 MB file wasn't attaching to their email, then couldn't figure out how to upload it to a filehost, etc. By the time I finally got it, I opened it up, and found out their idea of outlining type was just sending me a .ai file instead of a .pdf with no changes.

What the hell is happening? Is the industry in complete brain drain? Is it AI? Is it the schools? What can I blame? Where can I focus my hatred? Please make it make sense. I need closure on this. My job is extremely fast-paced, literal next, or even same-day, turnaround times. And yet despite time ticking, and customer events getting closer by the second, I spend most of my day just answering these emails, going back-and-forth like a tennis match, hoping to finally get served a file that can be remotely usable.

This is not a post asking for applicants.
We recently found a new graphic designer, and this is what the company was looking for, along with what was deemed successful. When I was looking for a graphic design role, it would've been nice to get in the head of the hiring manager, but now it's me!

Resume Tips:

Try to keep it to one page, optimize it for the role, and include your familiar software applications. I came across 2-3 individuals who put no software applications, and it made it too difficult to tell if they'd fit in the role compared to others.

For the love of god, please check your links after you convert to a PDF. The amount of "Portfolio" links I came across that DID NOT WORK was rough. Immediately made us consider those who had working portfolio links instead.

If you're saying you have 5 years of experience, try to prove it on the resume. We had quite a few people come through that just looked like they were straight up lying about how much experience they had. Put a bad taste in our mouth, moved onto the others.

In-Person Interview Tips:

I think a lot of businesses are looking for someone with passion, and a drive to be creative. That being said, if you show up "nonchalant," we're moving on.

Self-confidence is such a huge aspect of graphic design itself (your work is constantly on display and being judged), so showing up with a lack of confidence such as being quiet or unsure, can be a deterrent.

(Those two might be different from company to company, but we have a very collaborative approval process that requires open communication.)

Study the role!! I don't even know how many people came through and had no clue what they applied for/what the company did. I feel that's a bare minimum.

Overall, be confident. Cater the resume. Have passion.

This was my first time being a hiring manager, alongside my own manager. This has been interesting, and I try to give everyone an opportunity to at least come for an in-person interview. I find it silly to base first impressions on solely the resume.

What was successful? What caught the hiring manager's eye?

Up-to-date creative portfolios or current platforms you're promoting on (showing your Google ad graphics).

History with metrics and data.

Experience with social media.

So much of it is adaptability, passion, and confidence. Feel free to ask my any questions about the hiring process or how to better interview for these roles based on what I've seen so far.

Well everyone,

I got a frankly overwhelming amount of positive feedback the last time I posted this and I thought I’d pop my head back in to share the rest of the month’s work.

I took some feedback regarding my layouts being mainly shapes and typography wasn’t as well considered, so I’ve made a conscious effort to improve this aspect of my work (to varying degrees of success).

As tough as this month was, I really enjoyed it!

I’m a decade into my career and was feeling creatively stagnant, so this has proven a way of effectively jumpstarting that back into my work.

I’m also happy to report I’ve been contacted by a website to sell some of my pieces online which is cool!

Thanks for looking!

The words as follows:
16. Spark
17. Contrast
18. Dog
19. Tide
20. Punch
21. Shadow
22. Orange
23. Sleep
24. Spider
25. Air
26. Lucky
27. Shark
28. Fantasy
29. Square
30. Reflect
31. Mountain

I started expanding my portfolio from basic illustrations to seeing if I can recreate ads. I wouldn’t say I’m a graphic designer. Im tired of looking on Pinterest for inspo and can’t tell what’s ai and what’s real. This is an ad campaign my great grandpa worked on in the late 50s. He’d use his kids as models, this is my great aunt.

The flag Taiwan uses has red blue white on it, and the national day takes place every October tenth, hence the double "+" where † means 10 in Chinese (for october and tenth)
The graphic design is always a heated debate, with some preferring the designs from 2016-2023 (designed by a specific political party in Taiwan) due to its uniqueness, whereas some preferring the design from 2024 onwards to 2026 (that were designed by a different party) due to its colour palette matching the flag and better represents the holidays.
What are your thoughts on the designs? Which one do you you think better represents a national holiday? Is it uniqueness that may represent values of the nation, or a simple and easy logo that can be easily recognised as a national day symbol?

Real quick context. I started a Visual Communications course at a Junior College near me back in 2018. It’s basic graphic design courses involving adobe software, and some photography classes. I wasn’t able to complete my certification in 2018 and have since reenrolled in 2025 to complete it. My issue now is that one of my current professors that I take for Web Design, Digital/Interactive Media, and App Design is utterly obsessed with A.I. Not just utilizing some A.I. tools that are apart of software, but using A.I. for literally everything. Has multiple subscriptions to multiple A.I. bots. Uses Grok for his class schedules, uses all of the generative ones to “create” logos, websites, storyboards, copy for commercials etc. I once asked him how to do something specific for an assignment and he replied with “Well have you asked A.I.?” I’m not blind to the fact graphic design as a whole has changed a ton since 2018, especially with the current A.I. tech, but it is wildly disappointing to come to a class to learn how to improve my understanding of design, just to be told I “do things the hard way” because I don’t use A.I. tools generate all of my ideas and designs. I’ve been considering dropping the classes because they feel so pointless and frustrating now. Thanks for reading this far if you did, and any advice on how to go about these classes without losing all of my faith in the future of designing would be so great. Thanks y’all

Popping it here for the northern UK massive!!

https://luma.com/common-matters-10?locale=en-GB

Not sure if this is the best flair for this type of post, and I’m willing to take it down if this isn’t an appropriate question for this sub (mods pls let me know!), but I’ve been seriously considering leaving the graphic design world behind lately.

I’ve been in the field for almost 10 years, went to college for design and marketing, did the whole corporate thing, freelanced, etc. But lately, I’m thinking I might have hit my limit. I think I might be done, possibly for good.

Idk. I’m a little lost right now, so I want to hear from other people who have been in my position— whether to help me decide, or just to understand my own reasoning better, I’m not sure. But anyway: if you’re someone who has worked in graphic design / marketing, and ultimately left the field, why did you leave?

Thanks in advance for your perspectives** **🤗

I'm design some vinyls for a client - they have got a signage company to print this - and this is all I have received with no instruction from the client. My designs span across different window panels. Do I apply the design to the white squares and send it back as an .AI? I have done only few window vinyl installs but I haven't had this. I usually create an artboard for each panel.

Thanks for any help!

Like many other millenials, I went through the rite of passage of unexpected redundancy 3~ months ago. Riddled with guilt (down to decisions out of his control), my line manager shared a LinkedIn post hyping up myself and the 2 other staff members he had to let go, and it got a lot of positive traction.

I had two meetings with one prospective client off the back of this, who said they wanted a long-term retainer, and 'loved my energy and ideas' before going ghost and ignoring follow-up emails. Alas, it is what it is. Reminds me of my dating days!

Another conversation lead to a bulk project for a corporate client, who have now turned into a one day a week retainer. It's a good dynamic where they desperately needed a designer and I needed work, and the company's doing well so I can see this being fairly long-term. If worse comes to worst and no other work comes in beyond their one day a week, my rent, bills, and food are covered from them alone (permitting I don't indulge in purchases or leisure, lol).

Due to some difficult, recent personal circumstances that happened during the same week as my redundancy, I am trying to 'scale up' within reason, ideally with well-paying ad-hoc projects, or retainer clients to fill out another few days a week/month.

Admittedly this is the first time I've 'properly' gone freelance, outside of underpaid logos for relatives and free fun bits fOr ExPoSuRe. I've seemingly got my head around taxes, and all that jazz.

Now that things are cooling down and this retainer client has 'dropped down' to just one day a week, I'm beginning to start outreach and for the most part I'm..clueless? I'm sending custom emails out to big names in industries I've worked in, but I can't help but feel like I'm shouting into the abyss somewhat.

I'm (upsettingly) embracing 'LinkedIn cringe' for traction with both my personal work and profile, so we'll see if this gathers any wanted attention too.

I'm considering a daily schedule of:

• Back from the gym and sat at my desk before 9am
• Outreach and LinkedIn interactions until lunch
• Personal projects/development until 5pm/6pm
• Switch off for the evening
• Repeat

If I can 'make freelancing work' this would be such a preference over being at the whim of difficult bosses, and companies who can drop you in an instant down to their own shortcomings. I'm 34 and have worked part-time and full-time since I was 16, and being remote and overseeing my own prospects feels more rewarding than making someone else's dream come true, and aggressively competing for a tiny slice of the pie.

But anyway, freelance graphic designers, how are you doing? How are you finding things currently? What would you share about outreach, gaining clients, and general advice from your ventures so far?

Thanks so much!

(Edit: i added a tldr at the bottom)

I currently work for a small marketing agency as a graphic designer. Been here nearly 3 years.

January this year our creative director who’s been here for over 5 years quit, and we have since been through 4 other creative directors because they either keep job hopping or they don’t get along with the agency president because they directly report to her.

After creative director #2 left after a month of their employment I brought up to my boss (president of agency) that I feel that I would be a great fit for the role and explained why, essentially like an interview. For some reason, she doesn’t see my potential to take on this role even though I’ve tried proving myself in an uphill battle where everything I tried didn’t seem good enough. (I am not going to get into the super specifics of why I think I am a good fit as this is kind of irrelevant to the question at hand and would be a lot of writing - but the summary is I have many years of experience as a designer, professional ability to work with and guide people, masters degree in digital marketing, and a plethora of knowledge with a variety of creative software, knowledge of how print and web works, etc.)

Cut to creative director #3, she was let go after 2 months because she was unable to understand basic agency procedures and struggled with the basics of creative software and the job duties.

I met with boss again and it was the same discussion - she felt that I’m not suitable for the role because she said it’s highly demanding and she thinks I can’t handle it. However she let me trial it for a few weeks and I did some duties that were fairly straightforward, like managing the complete scope of an email campaign design & building them (i did all of that) from start to finish as well as managing some print quotes with vendors. Easy peasy. I then met with her again to discuss the results and she said she found someone to fit the role as he comes from another agency as a creative director.

At this point I’m done trying to be the one to fill that role. Forgot to mention that the role starts at $15k more a year than what I make now, which is why I wanted to try for it.

Creative director #4 comes and goes and we are in limbo without one and so far it’s been about 3 weeks.

I think my boss (president) doesn’t want me to take on the role because she fears losing me or me quitting after a month like everyone else. She actually specifically told me in one of our meetings that I am a valuable member of the team and she wouldn’t think it’s fair to take on the stressful duties of creative director. I am a major backbone of the agency’s creative team because I am the only one who does web design and web is the agency’s biggest money maker. Without me no one else on the team would know how to access or use Figma for our web mockups which is fundamental when account managers are showing them to clients for approvals.

THE MAIN PROBLEM:

Now comes in the job duty scope creep:

I am starting to be tasked to manage print quotes which is a unique responsibility of the Creative Director in my agency specifically. Other designers don’t handle that. I personally have no problem working with print vendors and doing quotes, approving proofs, and coordinating vendor deliveries. But, why are you now asking me to do creative director specific duties when you tell me I’m not fit to be one and not giving me extra compensation? Boss is pushing these duties onto me because we are currently in limbo with no creative director, but in the past when we didn’t have one, it was one of the lead account managers who would manage this. She (the lead account manager, whos also bffs with agency president) clearly doesn’t want to do it so now it’s gotten pushed on me because they somehow think I want to do that stuff without being compensated. How do i set a boundary without causing issues? Or should I start my exit plan? (HR is non existent because the HR person is another bff with the agency president/my boss). So there’s no one to complain to unless if I speak with boss directly.

TL;DR:

My agency has gone through four creative directors this year. I have asked twice to be considered for the role, including successfully trialing some of its responsibilities, but my boss says I’m not suited for it despite considering me a valuable and essential member of the creative team. the role pays $15k more than I currently make. since we’re without a creative director again, i’m being assigned responsibilities that are specifically part of that role, such as managing print vendors and quotes, without the title or additional compensation. I don’t mind doing the work itself, but I’m uncomfortable being told I’m not qualified for the position while simultaneously being expected to do the duties without compensation. It’s not in my job description and just because i asked to fill that role in the past doesn’t mean i want to play pretend creative director with no extra pay. How do I set boundaries without damaging my relationship with my boss, especially at a small agency with essentially no HR? Or is this a sign that I should start looking elsewhere?

I’ve been trying to apply for new design jobs for the last 2 years with no success lmao because the job market sucks…

hi guys,

i'm a fresh graduate w a bfa in design and i'm currently very torn trying to decide between two opportunities. i applied to two internships which i could have done simultaneously if accepted, but one of them actually decided to offer a full time role instead.

the full time position would pay around 50k and is in person only in nyc. the design they do is more corporate and related to hospitality print production. meanwhile, the internship is remote and $16/hr for two days of the week. this was my dream internship as its related to book publishing and cover design, which is much more aligned with my career goals.

i'm interested in learning more about print production to gain more skills as a designer and i've been wanting to move to nyc in the near future, so the full time offer would get me closer to that. the internship is more aligned with what i'd like to do in the future, but with no guarantee of a full time offer after its over. with the job market as it is right now i dont want to risk losing a full time opportunity like this, but i've been wanting this internship for like 2 years so im super conflicted 😭. i think i'll have to end up going with my gut on this, but if anyone had any insight i'd love to hear!

edit: thankfully i will be ok financially either way! also, the internship is at an ivy league press.

I wanted to get some opinions on what title I should use on my resume going forward. I am technically a design assistant, but I fear that the title is interfering with my resume getting picked up when being scanned..... Here is what my job description has

• Assists in the developing concepts and creating mock-ups.
• Follows the project plan and timelines as directed.
• Meets deadline requirements of assigned projects.
• Uses a variety of software programs.
• Assists in designing signs, coupons, PowerPoints, brochures and other marketing materials.
• Helps install store and window displays.
• Participates in photo shoots as needed.
• Assists in developing material for web pages, interactive media, emails and multimedia projects.

I am almost in my second year in this position and have helped create the concepts for 4+ campaigns for our marketing team. I am not sure if I should adjust the title or if it is looked down upon?? ... there is also no way up in this company just assistants and the creative manager.

I’ve come across one or two people like this during my 20+ years working in design. There seems to be a very specific type of designer who:

Has absolutely no personality outside of being “a designer”

Constantly talks about their design book collection, samples, references, etc. in a way that feels like you’re supposed to be jealous

Gets disproportionately worked up about things like widows and orphans

Always seems to think they know more about design than everyone else in the room

Is difficult to work with, has a short temper, and really doesn’t like being corrected

And, ironically, often isn’t actually that great at design and doesn’t seem to have many particularly exciting projects to show for it

I’m not talking about someone who’s passionate about design or has high standards, that’s obviously a good thing. I mean this very specific combination of design snobbery + fragile ego + not much to back it up.

Has anyone else encountered this type of person, or am I just unlucky with who I’ve worked with? 😅

Trying to figure out how this was done! I’m guessing the second image is the unmodified version.

I am the only graphic designer at my current company.

I was also the only graphic designer at my old company as well, which was a large corporate environment. (Ended up as the only one there because everybody quit except me, and they were never replaced 🫠 Operated like that for about a year and finally quit... Leaving them with 0 designers lol.)

Found a post on this sub from about 3 years ago with a similar question, and the general consensus was "you're not managing people."

However... While I don't have a team underneath me, I do what I would consider to be every other responsibility of a lead. And, importantly, EVERY person in my entire department has either "manager" or "director" in their title, even though most of them don't have a team underneath them. If they do, they have no more than one person underneath them.

I don't mind the old role not having that title due to circumstances, but at my current job, I'm not only the solo designer. I'm the first designer they've ever had. I am in charge of all design, design-related decisions, design meetings & presentations, client communications, company brand understanding trainings, accepting or rejecting projects, etc. But, I do report to the marketing director.

Is it reasonable to call myself the lead designer on my resume? Or even to ask for a title change at the end of the year?

I'll be designing this on Illustrator. What's the best way to do this specification and format wise? Thanks

Im not a graphic design professional by career (but I am in IT so I have a tech savvy background) but have done a bit for volunteer work and personal projects and I'm trying to figure out the best way to do something that I'm working on as a personal project for Christmas gifts for some family.

My grandmother wrote a weekly news article in our local papers when she was still alive. We lived in a very small community, most residents being my family, so it was basically our family news. Ive used a tool through the library in that town to download every article she ever wrote, and im trying to combine them all to have a file repository of scanned pages, but I'd also like to make it into a book to give my dad and my aunts/uncles for Christmas.

I have the file repository built out - but I've realized that doing the full page of each week is going to be way too costly. (She wrote it for over 25 years, and with some extra editions of the paper, it was a total of ~1500 pages) Id like to be able to take just a snippet of her article from each page, and combine them into one page for each month.

I'm trying to figure out the best way to go about this to be able to condense it enough to not cost me an arm and a leg to print, and to also not take me forever to complete. I'm not opposed to downloading different software. I have some knowledge of Acrobat and that's what ive been using thus far as all files are in pdf format. I know how to take multiple psf files and convert them to 1 pdf, but I'm not sure if there is a way to do thay while also cropping out only a certain section of each page.

And advice or ideas would be appreciated. If there's another sub this would be better to post in, please give me ideas on that too!

I don’t know if I’m using the correct english terminology for this, but I work at a design agency, and sometimes my boss gives me a brief to do instagram posts for a client. And I do as she says, and when she sends it the client simply says “idk i don’t like it” and my boss tells me to redo it. I then ask for more instructions, like what do they actually want then? At least a reference?

But they don’t answer and my boss wants to publish the posts quick and says to me “idk can’t you just come up with something”

Just to be rejected again and losing time for nothing? Ugh that makes me SO irritated. Idk if anyone can relate, or if I’m just being dramatic