How to get your FIRST Graphic Design Job
Written by Jacob Cass on Sunday, December 30, 2007 – 12:53 pm
Below are some tips for graphic design students on finding the first job and tips on how to reduce the stress by providing an overview of the whole process. (This is a long post.)
Many young designers (such as myself) find it hard to believe that they can make a living doing something they find compelling and interesting—something they love. Finding the right first job, even if it’s a summer job or an internship, is not just an important step in launching your career - It is an exploration of the field and a continuation of the learning process. Even the most skilled designer finds the search for a first job stressful. The suggestions that follow can reduce that stress by providing an overview of the process.
Before you can begin
Before your job search can begin, you need to understand
- yourself: your motivations, strengths, and weaknesses;
- your work: its nature, style, and variety; and
- the job market: corporations, design offices, and the wide variety of other businesses that employ graphic designers. Then you can get ready to present yourself and your work in a portfolio.
Try writing these things down and doing a bit of research of the job market in your area.
How much does a graphic designer earn?
Written by Jacob Cass on Friday, December 21, 2007 – 12:37 pm
This is another question that I hear a lot of students asking, along with designer job definitions. My tutor directed me to this American (Sorry you Aussies) website called Designer Salaries which tells you exactly how much each type of designer earns based on a survey of 11 000 firms conducted by AIGA over the whole of the USA over the past seven years.
How much do designers get paid?
Check out the Designer Salaries website - 2008 results out now.
- Highly Recommended: View the 42 page comprehensive (but very readable) 2007 Salary Survey Report. (PDF)
- View Short Report: Click image below.
- Flash Chart: Also worth checking out is this flash based chart that shows exactly how much each type of designer has been earning over the past seven years. It seems to be missing the years from the top of the chart but it goes from year 2000 to year 2007.
- Salary Calculator: It also has a salary calculator which is useful in determining how much you would earn if you worked in a certain state and with a certain sized agency.
Update:
You will also find these links useful.
16 Designer Job Descriptions
Written by Jacob Cass on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 – 10:29 am 
As a student, I often hear other students asking their tutors “What is the difference between a creative director and an art director?”. To be honest I didn’t know at first however luckily enough I was given a link by one of my teachers answering just that question. So I present to you 16 designer job descriptions.
Solo designer
A freelance or self-employed design professional who works independently of a company and has no employees.
Owner, partner, principal
An owner, partner, principal holds an equity position and has major business responsibility for a firm having employees.
Creative/design director
A creative director or design director is the creative head of a design firm, advertising agency or an in-house corporate design department. In all of these areas, key responsibilities can include the development of graphic design, advertising, communications and industrial design publications.
Art director
The art director establishes the conceptual and stylistic direction for design staff and orchestrates their work, as well as the work of production artists, photographers, illustrators, prepress technicians, printers and anyone else who is involved in the development of a project. The art director generally selects vendors and, if there isn’t a creative director on staff, has final creative authority.
Senior designer
The senior designer is responsible for conceptualization and design of solutions from concept to completion. In some firms, a senior designer directs the work of one or more junior designers who generate comps and create layouts and final art. In some cases, senior designers do not manage staff but are designated “senior” because of their authority in design decision-making.
Designer
A designer is responsible for conceptualization and design of graphic applications such as collateral material, environmental graphics, books and magazines, corporate identity, film titling and multimedia interfaces, from concept to completion.
Entry-level designer
An entry-level designer is one-to-two years out of school and requires mentoring in all aspects of design conception and implementation.
Print production artist
A print production artist has a working understanding of layout, type and color, and is able to take instructions from a designer and create a complete layout, working proficiently in InDesign, QuarkXPress, Photoshop and Illustrator. Responsibilities also include producing final files that image properly to film.
Web designer
A web designer determines and develops the look and feel for sites, and is responsible for site navigation design and visual execution.
Copywriter
A copywriter is able to write, edit and proof promotional or publicity copy for print or electronic publications. At higher levels, copywriters are often responsible for strategic and conceptual development of messages and stories.
Print production manager
The print production manager is responsible for managing the process (bids, scheduling, production and delivery) of producing publications, from concept through production, including photography, separations, 4-color press work and digital production. Print production managers are strong project managers, managing multiple jobs simultaneously. In some cases, proficiency in InDesign, QuarkXPress, Illustrator and Photoshop is desirable in this role.
Marketing manager, new business manager, director
A marketing or new business professional is responsible for seeking business opportunities, developing proposals and marketing the firm’s practices.
Web developer (front end/interface systems)
A front-end developer uses HTML/JavaScript/ASP/ColdFusion and other tools to develop static and dynamic web pages.
Web programmer/developer (back end systems)
A back end programmer works with web server systems and web databases, develops web queries to databases and programs web applications.
Web producer, senior producer, executive producer
A web producer organizes web development teams and ensures adherence to budget, schedule and design of website development.
Content developer
A content developer is also known as a web writer or editor. He or she is responsible for the production and repurposing of text/graphic/audio content on sites.
So now you know the difference between a creative director and an art director and the various other designer jobs out there. If there is any missing please just leave a comment. 
Top Mistakes Graphic Designers Make
Written by Jacob Cass on Thursday, November 22, 2007 – 6:59 pm
Below is a list of very common mistakes that so called ‘graphic designers’ make.
How many of these do you do regularly?
- Take constructive criticism too personally
- Not knowing any famous designers in particular Paula Scher, Milton Glaser, Paul Rand and not knowing WHY they were famous
- Not Staying Up on Current Events and Design News
- Not Owning the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook
- Charging too Little for Design Projects
- Not Using Contracts to Cover Your Butt
- Not Setting Deadlines for Projects
- Doing Spec Based Work (If you like it you can pay)
- Not Asking for a Down Payment before Starting a Project
- Using Poorly Designed Fonts from Free Font Sites
- Using Display Fonts as Text Fonts
- Using the Comic Sans Font
- Using too Many Different Fonts in One Design
- Forgetting White Space is your Friend
- Not Sketching Before Designing
- Not Using Rulers on Screen
- Relying Totally on the Computer, Especially for Kerning
- Using Photoshop Filters After Your First 6 Months
- Using Low Resolution Web Images for Print
- Not Designing Logos in Vector Format
- Making Logos Unable to Reproduce Well Small
- Forgetting to Learn Keyboard Shortcuts
- Not Saving Frequently
- Not Backing up Files on an External Hard Drive
- Not Getting Enough Sleep!
- Stealing or ‘borrowing’ Other Peoples Work
- Using the dash quotation marks instead of true quotation marks.
If you are doing the following (below) I wouldn’t call yourself a ‘graphic designer’, well at least not a professional one and would recommend doing some more research into the subject area.
12. Using the Comic Sans Font (for the right purpose
13. Using too Many Different Fonts in One Design
19. Using Low Resolution Web Images for Print
20. Not Designing Logos in Vector Format
But remember rules can be broken.
This list was compiled by myself and Gino Orlandi over at You The Designer.
What other mistakes do graphic designers make?
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