THE OFFICIAL™ GRAPHIC DESIGN THREAD

[oo206oo]

In these economic times:

In-house design jobs > Design firms > freelance

 

[general johnson]

Double post.

 

[general johnson]

Originally Posted by oo206oo

In these economic times:

In-house design jobs > Design firms > freelance

TRUTH

 

[kmn2008]

Originally Posted by Mr Fongstarr

Originally Posted by kmn2008

dope stuff in this thread.
I really enjoy doing work similar to that shown in this thread but all the stats show theres no money in it unless you make it big.. is this true?

I don't think that is necessarily true but to make good money, you really have to bust your butt and work harder then people probably had too. More so then ever, companies and people in general don't want to pay top dollar for design jobs. I had a buddy that was in a pretty solid firm in SF and he just got laid off....and the office only consists of 3 people. He was doing jobs from $75 an hour to no $25 an hour on projects just to make end meat. So making it big might not be the right term but you definitely have to work hard and take in jobs that you might normally do at one point in time.

See thats the thing, the field seems so unstable. Its what I would really enjoy doing but I would also like to enjoy life comfortably.
and oo206oo, what is in-house design?
Sorry for all the questions, yall. school me.

 

[nikeairsncrispytees]

Originally Posted by kmn2008

Originally Posted by Mr Fongstarr

Originally Posted by kmn2008

dope stuff in this thread.
I really enjoy doing work similar to that shown in this thread but all the stats show theres no money in it unless you make it big.. is this true?

I don't think that is necessarily true but to make good money, you really have to bust your butt and work harder then people probably had too. More so then ever, companies and people in general don't want to pay top dollar for design jobs. I had a buddy that was in a pretty solid firm in SF and he just got laid off....and the office only consists of 3 people. He was doing jobs from $75 an hour to no $25 an hour on projects just to make end meat. So making it big might not be the right term but you definitely have to work hard and take in jobs that you might normally do at one point in time.

See thats the thing, the field seems so unstable. Its what I would really enjoy doing but I would also like to enjoy life comfortably.
and oo206oo, what is in-house design?
Sorry for all the questions, yall. school me.

In-house would be a situation where a non-design company hires you on as an employee. When you have a company that needs work done regularly,it's generally cheaper for them to hire on a team of designers than to hope that their design firm of choice is available to do work for them.

 

[josebronx]

Originally Posted by Drameezy

Originally Posted by JoseBronx

Originally Posted by Drameezy

Forsure, you into graff??
PM me something if you do...

I havent done anything in over 3 years but Ill post some draw some stuff in a bit.

so any one else

word?

 

[calypso chanta]

posting so i can reply later, Im a senior this year in Communication Arts and im going to get another degree in Graphic Design

 

[boys noize]

Learning typography right now. I don't know what the hell some people are talking about but this is really interesting to me. I love all the nuances abouttype and type setting. Page layouts are fun and challenging too. It definitely helps to be learning all of this in a classroom setting though. It's notbecause you're learning material different than if you were to self-learn but you do get motivated and inspired somewhat by your peers and also by theexamples presented by the instructor.

 

[ethicsd]

You guys can check out http://idesigntuts.com for a good source of tutorials. I update the site daily so be sure to checkback often

 

[kmn2008]

this thread is dope. keep it goin!
thx for the replies all.

 

[drameezy]

My jellyfish ucks with Bosox...

 

[nikeairsncrispytees]

Bump.

 

[nikeairsncrispytees]

My first vector piece. Only took a few hours. I impressed myself.

 

[reretrome]

Originally Posted by Mr Fongstarr

and corporate stuff like this:

any tutorial sites that can teach you how to do this in photoshop?

esp the picture of the dude is amazing with all the lighting and colors.

 

[lilwang05]

Originally Posted by KobeBeef

not sure if this is supposed to be spoken of here-- if not, delete this mods:

but how many of you NT'ers use pirated Adobe software (or how many people do you know in GD that are using it)? (it's not a trap btw lol)

The best time to buy Adobe is when you're a student. It's seriously pretty cheap compared to retail. Go through academic stores and you can get thewhole Design Suite for less than $400.

Check out my site @ www.darickdang.com

 

[lilwang05]

Originally Posted by KobeBeef

darick, do you do web design also? 'cause your website is mad clean.

i'm about to enter my freshman year (gonna major in graphic design)

and i wanna get started on my portfolio asap. (or at least get my domain registered)

where do you host your site?

Yo,

I've learned that these days, knowing just graphic design just ain't cutting it. Web design is almost a must when getting into the industry.

But yeah, I've honed my web design skills in the past 3-4 years and picked up XHTML, CSS, Flash and JavaScript. Learning the code/language is the hardestpart but once you know how to manipulate those codes to make things look how you want, it's game over and your possibilities are unlimited. If you knowHTML, get on your CSS game. It's essential to learn CSS and learn it well.

Personally, I host at bluehost.com. I find them very reliable and the price is reasonable for the services they provide. I have a few sub-domains hostedunderneath mine as well for client access and it's all worked well for me.

 

[lilwang05]

Originally Posted by KobeBeef

what's your advice for a guy like me for my first year?

should i pick up some web intro classes my freshman year?

when did you first take some web design classes?

I took them freshman year of high school and that's where I learned my HTML. I didn't pick up CSS until college.

But you should learn the basics of web languages (HTML & CSS) at least. I mean take all the intro classes and see what's for you. If you'reparticularly good at one type of design, then go that direction and hone your craft. It's all about practice, practice, practice until you develop an eyefor good design and stray away from played out/tired/gimmicky tricks.

Most importantly, take the classes that'll get you outta there in 4 years. Lingering around in college ain't ever great. 4 years of nothing but designand you should be good to go into an entry-level position at a design firm/agency. Hopefully the economy will pick up in 4 years so there's business to bemade.

 

[lilwang05]

Oh and don't stress too much about Flash until you're comfortable with HTML/CSS.

Of course you'll learn how to do simple animations etc. in intro classes but don't worry about site design until you've mastered HTML/CSS becauseFlash is a beast to learn on its own. Has its own language, code and design.

Poorly executed Flash <<<< Clean, solid HTML/CSS

 

[lilwang05]

Originally Posted by KobeBeef

are you from the NW?

i recognize your avy from a while back.

anywhoo-- where'd you go to school if you don't mind me asking.

and thanks for all the advice.

Yup. Portland.

I went to school at Willamette University in Salem.

 

[kmn2008]

heres a portrait i did for my cousin last year. He is really big into superheroes and comics and all that.

I took pics of the work in progress and threw on some quick borders for experimentation.

Never snapped the finished piece.. never satisfied FTL.

 

[classy freshman]

bookmarked

 

[orenthaljames]

I am a graphic designer myself. Been puttin in work since 13 (now 20) started out doing mixtape covers, and forum sigs, now I am out in Chicago going to schoolfor it. There are 2 things I can not stress enough when it comes to graphic design:

1. Typograpy. Your type MUST be on point. With type you can get away with not having excellent skill in design but with a killer font, a lot is forgiven. Withthat said Type is probably the HARDEST thing to master. Practice, practice, practice.

2. If you want to freelance .....stay on your grind

. Getting clients...andkeeping clients is a song n dance routine. And trust me people WILL try and low ball you (ie The Cool Kids

). And you must be able to take criticism. I am guilty of getting upset when emailing with clients (I never let it show though). Even though the clientdoesn't know how much time and effort goes into making a piece for them, and how much stress goes into making certain pieces, you have to remember thatthey are the customer and they want what they want. Simple as that. Freelance is a tough gig for some and easy for people who have made connections (just likeany profession)

cheers!
-The Juice

 

[Fong$tarr]

Originally Posted by NikeAirsNCrispyTees

My first vector piece. Only took a few hours. I impressed myself.

Respect! I freakin' hate doing vector drawing just for the fact that I am a lazy piece of crap. I can appreciate anything done in AI.



offlineReRetroMe.....I think Fatoe really does stuff organically. I think alot of his techniques can be done with just taking paint and making paint marks andscanning it in and photoshopping it to photos. It's just tons of layers and transparencies that make it so dense. I think alot of these techniques areeasily achieved but just a lot of work in the making. I think that is what turns people off with work like this (and with Vector drawings in AI) cause a lot ofpeople go to Photoshop just for a quick design fix. When people actually put a lot of work into making something nice in PS, it really shows.

 

[Fong$tarr]

Originally Posted by LiLwAnG05

Originally Posted by KobeBeef

not sure if this is supposed to be spoken of here-- if not, delete this mods:




but how many of you NT'ers use pirated Adobe software (or how many people do you know in GD that are using it)? (it's not a trap btw lol)

The best time to buy Adobe is when you're a student. It's seriously pretty cheap compared to retail. Go through academic stores and you can get the whole Design Suite for less than $400.

Check out my site @ www.darickdang.com

Darick.....nice design portfolio. You have a great handle on all the mediums. One piece of advice that I can give (if I may).....although I haven't lookedat all of your work but you have some serious tracking issues on all of your type. Like with the freight line layout in the print section, your tag lineheadings is just way too spaced out. I know you are trying to fill that negative space but you could have just chosen a better font that would have filled thatspace better without the tracking issues.

Anyways....just something I noticed.

 

[lilwang05]

Originally Posted by KobeBeef

nice! pdx here also.

i'm gonna be going to Portland State in the fall.

probably gonna take up some web design classes next term (after i get in my comfort zone at college

)

one last question for the night man (& thanks again for all your help)

but what's the money like for you? great? okay? or just enough to get by?

i love graphic design, been working with photoshop since my freshman year of HS-- and took graphic arts classes 3/4 of my years at HS too, but i wanna make sure this is a good decision in what career path i wanna step in.

Money comes and goes. I've worked at an ad agency, design shops, in-house... and I've got to say, the ad agency was the one I'm hookedon. I'm contemplating going back to school for a master's and have an interview at RISD in 3 weeks so we'll see how that goes. But I can tell you,you gotta have a passion for it so money isn't an issue.

And whatever OrenthaIJames said, that's dead on. Type will be the number one thing you want to get right. Type is everything.