Great design resource
100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People (Voices That Matter)
I just finished school and got my B.A. in graphic design. I want to make graphic design my career for the next 15 - 20 or maybe even more years. I love design especially when it comes to layout and typography and I also have some experience with coding too like CSS and HTML. I actually coded my portfolio website from scratch. If I were to move out of the graphic design field it would be for either a UI/UX designer role or Art Director. What I'm worried about is if I can make a decent living, have a family and kids and someday pay mortgages for a house too working full time as an in house graphic designer not a freelancer. I know people say you don't do design to get rich, but I don't believe that a single bit. You go to design school for years, get a degree that you spent thousand of dollars on for something that you don't want to make a good living with. I don't believe it. I was wondering if it's possible to eventually work my way up as an in house graphic designer in a couple of years make a decent living like around 60 - 70K salary a year as a graphic designer? I know right now starting as an entry level designer I'm probably going to make $15 - $20 an hour or $30K a year and I'm okay with that as long as I can work my way up to a decent salary in the future. Also I live in L.A. currently so salaries should be higher then other places.
As a designer I would say that I'm decent, but still a beginner and have a lot to learn.
I've been working on some vector series over the last few months, and I think now that I'm sitting on about a dozen of them, they would make nice prints at a larger size (in the 24x24" arena as they are square).
If I wanted to get my own little shop running out of my portfolio site, what would be the most reliable and cost-effective method of getting prints made on demand for anyone who were interested? I've never really ventured into marketing my own stuff as "fine art," since this is coming from a design portfolio. Any tips appreciated!
Thanks all!
Art Director or Creative Director?
I'd like to know independent and lesser known ones too. Which ones do you recommend? (I've included art and culture because I know some publications have a broad scope and not just focused on design. )
Okay so here's the dealio, I'm a crocheter and want to redesign the patterns for my crocheted creations. I've been doing all the designs and page layouts myself the past 5 or so years, and I don't think they're too bad, just a bit too busy, so I think it's finally time I get some actual professional help with them. The problem is I have no idea what I'm looking for...
• What kind of position am I looking for? It would mostly be page layout and designs within that, so I know they'd have to know InDesign and likely some subtle Photoshop and Illustrator. What would that position be called?
• Where do I look for someone? Free-lance is what I'm most likely looking for I think.
• How much should I be expected to pay? I was thinking a flat rate for the initial design of the patterns and then a per project rate afterwards since after the initial design it will mostly be just plugging in the different information and photos depending on the pattern. I don't have an insane amount of money though so I'm not sure how much to expect.
• How do I pay them? Through Paypal or Venmo or something? Or do I send them a check? The business as of now is just me so I'm not sure how else to do it.
Any information would definitely be helpful, and if you know anyone who fits this description or where I should go to to look for someone (subreddit or website) I would appreciate it greatly!
Thank you! - Lou
Hey! How's everyone?
I've been developing websites and web apps for more than 2 years now. I specialize in Custom Wordpress Website Development and Pixel Perfect PSD to HTML conversion. I also develop E-commerce websites from idea to complete product.
I'm looking for a partner who can provide web design clients to me and we can work together as a dev shop. You take care of the sales side or maybe the design side of things and I take care of the development.
PM me if you think this is something you can do and we can discuss the specifics of this deal.
Looking forward to working with you on this.
Never had to design for a close friend before. They wanna pay me, and need a logo done for their media enterprise startup.
I also don't wanna go too low either. It's still work. Curious if anyone else has had experience in this.
I am a graphic designer and website designer trying to decide between investing in a Wacom Intuos Pro or Astropad + Apple Pencil.
I don't do a ton of illustration work, but would love to push those skills. I am attracted to the idea of using a graphics tablet instead of a mouse altogether.
Are there any designers out there who have used both and have some insight or opinions? Or any designers who use Astropad for non-illustration work / your overall workflow? Does the Astropad replace your mouse like Wacom tablets do or are they best used just for the moments you want to skectch/draw?
Any insight on either products that might help me make my decision would be greatly appreciated!
Hi all, just looking for some advice in terms of what the best program is in your experience for working with multiple file sizes/dimensions when it comes to something as simple as html5 banners. This is kind of a new territory for me and I've found it really time consuming when having to work with multiple different dimensions and file size restrictions.
I see the program Sketch is used by a lot of studios. Are there any alternatives?
I've run into it a few times, from a few people, but they're always from our parents' generation. Here's the problem.
Be me. I'm 50+ years old. I know what a folder is. I know what a file is. I know how to double click. I know how to move things. But sometimes, when I want to save or share something, I can't open my folders and files or move them or rename them or delete them. Why is it broken suddenly??
Exhibit A: none of my folders work anymore!
Problem: User tries moving, double clicking, renaming, etc etc, and does not understand what is happening when folders do not respond the same as when in a finder window.
Scenario 2: How did all of these photos get on my facebook? I don't want my photos on there. I understand that people can see my photos, so how do I delete it off of facebook??
I have no image for this one, but the situation is User clicks on 'add photo' to a facebook comment, is taken to camera roll/gallery on phone. The UI displayed is within facebook app. User thinks all these photos are on facebook. Does not realize they're in phone gallery.
It's one of those problems that's so weird, you never think to design for it. I feel like it's a no brainer, but time and time again, I've run into that problem. People don't know that certain files or folders are task specific. They think you can always do the same things whenever they see them, no matter what.
Are we doing it right? What are the alternatives? What do you think?
I have both macs and windows PCs. I tend to design from multiple computers, and use dropbox to house files. On mac, it's rather easy and I simply have a "Commercial free" section in font book. How do you keep track of everything? Particularly in the Adobe suite. Is there some secret I'm not aware of?
Hello there! I am working in a number of products and seem to be going "off-track" as in I don't have a strong foundation to in which to start my work on. I thought knowing the target audience, retailers it is going to sell in, and mood/tone was enough but apparently not. So I ask, what are questions should I be asking the client or myself before starting a packaging design?
I've found it difficult to get consistent freelance work and hunting people down to pay is a whole other story; so people that freelance full-time and make a livable wage, how did you do it? Same question to designers who opened their own studio/design agency. What were your steps? Your career path? Was it terrifying making the leap knowing you might not get paid for a few months or longer?
I've been working on some vector series over the last few months, and I think now that I'm sitting on about a dozen of them, they would make nice prints at a larger size (in the 24x24" arena as they are square).
If I wanted to get my own little shop running out of my portfolio site, what would be the most reliable and cost-effective method of getting prints made on demand for anyone who were interested?
I've never really ventured into marketing my own stuff as "fine art," since this is coming from a design portfolio. Any tips appreciated!
Thanks all!
I recently did a textile design, and asked my GF to illustrate a part of it. I took her illustration and added color, repeated it, etc. It is a part of a bigger composition. Turns out her illustration was free-hand drawn but looks exactly like an image online that she used for "inspiration". I was wondering if I need to redo my design to protect myself legally or if this kind of thing can slide. It will eventually be printed on a textile product.
I'm sorry if this isn't the right place to post this. For an upcoming study, I'm looking for a set of freely available abstract symbols (similar to those used in the header here, or like those here. Can anyone point me towards some potentially useful resources?
(Also if this isn't the right place to ask, can you point me to the place that is?)
As a professional designer, it pains me to see so many design jobs on Upwork, asking for hours and hours of work for less than $100. And of course there are so many amateur designers out there, good or bad, who are willing to accept it. My question is: Do you think Upwork is a good or bad deal for designers? Or is it simply a platform for work at the lowest price possible?
Hello, I need to design a background for an animation, it is a static background and so far I have only come up with a gradient. It looks.. ok, but I lack proper design education and would love to get some ideas on what I can read / browse to figure out how to combine various elements such as:
negative space, textures, gradients, shadows, geometric elements as part of background, tiling etc.
?
Everyone likes creative ideas, like uber, deliveroo, whatever. But what about the more 'boring' industries? They don't get much attention.
The software hospitals use is much worse than software you use to watch movies (Netflix). Many of these businesses are left in the cold, while they could really use it.
So in which industries do you have this? What are the problems of certain industries, which could be solved by UX?
I have one at home and the two-button panel for flushing that's made of plastic has fallen off after several years of usage. Only cables are holding the panel now.
Now we are renovating the bathroom / toilet and I am thinking about these toilets. They don't seem practical as I think they might have their tanks easily damaged and harder to fix in case of such, or leaks.
Would it be better if we just took an external flush water tank?