So, after a couple of
months or years in your first graphic design role, you may wish to take your
career to the next level. Generally, when you enter into the industry, you may
be looking for a job and a way to make a steady living, but once you become
settled, you may wish to start to progress. If you're ambitious, you may be
wondering how you can become a more professional designer and how you can develop
your career. One of the key ways to progress is through career development.
In this, I'm going to
discuss some of the options you can consider to become a pro graphic designer and
how to take your career in a new direction. So, here are a few things you can
consider to progress your career. Simply become better at your job. In my
experience, I have found that by simply being good at your job, that can take
you far. There can be a lot of slackers in the industry, some people who do not
work as hard as others. So, you need to become as good as you can, become
proficient, organized and methodical with your design process. It's these
qualities that will get you noticed and make you stand out from other
designers, and this will help you get promoted or gain the experience and
skills to progress in your career. And this brings me to the next thing you can
do, rise the ranks. Now, in the last episode, I spoke about the design industry
and the common positions within it. One of the things you can do is seek to
climb that ladder. As you become more experienced and mature within the
industry, you'll be able to progress to more senior levels and have the
opportunity to be involved or create more interesting work. As mentioned in the
previous point, by bettering yourself at your job, you will put yourself in a
good position to rise up. As you become a more senior designer, you can
consider looking to transition to a more direction role and become an art
director or a creative directive or a senior creative. Specialize, throughout
this series, I have said on many occasions, a graphic design is a broad,
creative job, and that is true, but many famous and well-known designers are
often known for a particular skill or style. To stand out, you could consider
specializing. Now, this is typically something a designer does after a few
years in the industry. After one discovers a particular interest they love or
they are particularly good at, by specializing, you can claim to be an expert in
a particular field in graphic design. This may close the door to some more
broader work opportunities, but this could mean you can charge more for your
skill and produce more work in that field. Now, there are lots of fields you
could specialize in, such as branding, typography, hand lettering, web design, app
design, and motion graphics, to name a few. Network and use social media. As a
graphic designer, today, you will need a strategy to network both offline and
online. A good way to network offline is to attend galleries, exhibitions, and
events. By putting yourself out there, you will inevitably meet like-minded
people and even potential employers or clients. Here you can introduce yourself
and exchange business cards. To network online is to use social media. Over the
past few years, I have seen a big change in the way we, as graphic designers, look
for design jobs and interact with potential employers and clients. Through the
development of technology, the internet, and social media, I have seen a huge
shift from searching offline to searching online for jobs. In my experience, I
have gotten a few jobs from simply having a profile online and reaching out to
people. I have received calls and have been offered and taken work. Be sure to
be proactive online. Set up a portfolio profile on as many design websites as
you can, and network through these sites. Not only can you share your work, but
you can demonstrate your design process and thinking. You can follow and
communicate with design industries and get recognized that way. Become freelance.
Now, one typically becomes freelance after they cover the previous steps, becoming
more experienced, skilled and perhaps more specialized. Graphic designers often
become freelance because they have reached a certain peak in their career where
they are extremely good at their job and don't need to be tied to one
particular agency. As a freelancer, you can choose your own contracts, charge
your own rates and work to your own timetable. Because of this, a lot of
designers aspire to be freelance, but being freelance does come with a
different set of responsibilities, risks, and challenges. In my experience, I
have noticed there are two types of freelancers, one independent freelance, and
two, agency freelance.
Designers who choose to
work as an independent freelancer will typically be working for themself 100%. This
comes with the challenge to find all their clients and take care of their own
administration and financial affairs. Quite a lot of work involved there. Now,
the other option is to go freelance with agencies where you can get agents to
look for work for you. Once you are registered, your agents will know what type
of work you do, how good you are and be able to pitch you for various
contracts. Unlike independent freelance, here you can focus entirely on the job
where all your administration and financial affairs are done by the agency. But
this does come with a cost. So, after a few years in the industry, if you feel
you have what it takes, you can consider going freelance. So, the last point in
your career opportunities is start your own business. So, as you cover the
previous steps, you become more experienced, skilled at your job, and perhaps
you have done freelance for a while. If you don't feel you are getting the
creative opportunities within a standard agency or you feel you have a passion for
a particular type of work, you could consider setting up your own business. In
my experience, I have seen many of my peers set out and start their own
businesses and become quite successful. Though, typically, they do this after a
good few year in the industry. Setting up your own business is a big challenge and
comes with a whole new set of responsibilities, risks and challenges, but with
your own business, you are your own boss, and there is no one and nothing
holding you back. A good strategy here could be to set your own business up alongside
your current job. Keep the security of your day job and seek to build your
business on the side. So, those are a few things you can consider to develop
your career.
Education to further your graphic
designer career
Once we receive our
formal qualifications, whatever they may be and at whatever level, that is not
the end of our learning. I have been in the industry now for over 10 years, and
there is always something new to learn, and there always will be. Whether it's
learning about design theory, design history, new technology, or the latest
trend, you can never stop learning. Design is a lot about ideas. The more you
can enlighten yourself, the more potential you have to create original and
exciting work. This can give you an edge as a designer. Now as you enter into
the graphic design industry, some roles may prove to be more creatively
fulfilling than others. As graphic designers, our creative outlet can often
seem focused and sometimes limited. Some commercial jobs may not give us the
creative challenge or opportunity we crave to create the interesting work which
helps to further our career. In my experience, this can hold a designer back, and
limit one's creativity and career development. If you're ambitious, you may be
wondering how you can develop your career. In the last episode, I discussed how
to progress through career development, but that's not the only way. Another
key way to progress is through education. In this, I'm going to discuss some of
the education options you can consider to help develop your career.
So here are a few things
you can consider. Take evening classes. When we studied at school and art
college, we often explored and practiced a range of creative skills. When we
enter into the industry, we can sometimes lose such skills through lack of
practice. Whether you're creatively fulfilled in your job or looking to be more
creative, I would recommend undertaking some evening classes at your local
college or university. Not only are evening classes fun, but they will
encourage you to be creative in other ways and exercise creative skills, which
will ultimately feed back into your design work. So, some courses I would
recommend are screen printing. If you sit at a desk all day in front of a
computer, then screen printing can connect you to the more traditional,
hands-on process of graphic design. Undertaking this course will also give you the
opportunity to create some interesting and alternative work you can include in
your portfolio. Photography, photography is not just about how to use a camera,
it's about how we look at things and see things. Photography can teach us
composition and focus, a vital skill to build on as a graphic designer. Life
drawing and painting. As designers, we can never be too good at drawing. Drawing
and painting is the most pure of visual communication. Life drawing encourages
us to practice and become more confident at drawing. It encourages us to see
and observe. Painting will help us bring to life our imagination. Sculpture, as
well as being fun and hands-on, sculpture makes us create, design, and think in
three dimensions.
Software courses. Knowledge
and ability in creative software can empower you to reach creativity in various
ways. Consider broadening your horizon. If you're typically used to working in
2D, take your skills to the next level! Learn how to create motion graphics or
learn 3D. Learn how to build a website. Being proficient in creative software
is key, and makes you very employable. So those are a few evening classes I
would recommend. So, the next thing you can do is watch video tutorials.
Today we have access to
an abundance of tutorial content online, for free and with paid services that enable
you to learn and increase your software skills at home. There is nothing that
you cannot learn today. You can literally get from a beginner to advanced, learning
off video tutorials. This is a great resource to sharpen and keep on top of
your software skills. I would recommend any designer looking to develop their
skills and broaden their career to potential to watch and learn from video
tutorials.
So, the next thing you
can do is read more. If you're able to, start to purchase creative books, or
subscribe to monthly creative magazines. I try and buy a book a month. I also
recommend they are not just books about design. Try books on photography,
illustration, graphic design in general, web design, typography, poetry, and
fiction. Try and build your own creative collection. Surround yourself with it,
as it can all be a great source of inspiration to get your creative juices
flowing and improve your design theory and technical knowledge. In my
experience, I have found that by simply reading more, this can feed and broaden
my imagination.
So, another thing you
can do is attend galleries and exhibitions. As well as reading more, I would
encourage you to experience more. Galleries and exhibitions are fantastic
opportunities to be inspired. It's a great way to see graphic design used in a
creative way, which can be refreshing if you're used to working on commercial
work. So, the last thing you can do is undertake a master's degree. After
undertaking each of the previous steps, if you still crave knowledge, more
experience, and are ambitious to achieve more, you could consider taking your
education to the next level and enrolling in a graphic design master's degree. A
master's degree is one of the highest qualifications you can get, and can be
done full time or part time over a number of years at a university. The masters
will encourage you to specialize in a chosen subject. The experience and
qualification gained from such a course can take your creative career in a new
direction. So those are a few things that you can consider to help develop your
career through education. As a creative person doing a graphic design job, I would
encourage anyone to continue to be creative and broaden your creative horizon, not
only for your career development, but for your own happiness and personal fulfillment
and enlightenment.
This is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Accordingly, it is difficult to figure out when to end it. But then, this is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Period.
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon