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Out of context: Reply #74864
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- pseud14
It seems like I'm not the only one going through a bit of a career crisis, so...I think I'm done designing. I first got into it because of the good ol' graphic design days of Paul Scher & co. Went to school, got a degree, starting work, thought digital design sounded interesting so got into it, then the whole thing changed to fucking UX & UI design, then everything became gray boxes on white backgrounds.
The way I see it, all designers are now all becoming frontenders. Graphic design is very much inexistent and the ones that still do it spend most of their days creating Twitter and Facebook headers.
Those that do production work have to bust their asses, while those that move into managerial roles are "innovative, critical thinking strategists empowering companies to innovate and blah blah" which makes me want to throw up. How can people put up with all that bullshit is a mystery to me. I fucking doubt anyone's used a collaboration innovation canvas to disrupt an industry. The idea of fucking around and creating powerpoints just to cash out at the end of the month is my worst nightmare.
The only design jobs around are for tech companies. Or at least the creative industry is centered around digital products cos that's where the dough is. So, I'm out. I don't actually like tech. As in, I don't mind using a computer and a phone or whatever, but being glued to a screen for the whole fucking day is horrific. The whole AR/VR glue your eyes to a screen experience sounds even worse.
What's in demand out there? I just want to make a positive difference in the world. I've always been into sports so thinking of becoming a team manager. What have y'all changed careers to? Sorry for the rant.
- "innovative, critical thinking strategists empowering companies to innovate and blah blah" fuck do I hear you brudder. That's where I ended up...Horp
- ... and I fucking dread every single day of it.Horp
- IMO design died about the same time that Steve Jobs killed Adobe Flash.utopian
- I've been thinking about this myself, and my path is the same, graphic > digital > UI/UX > maybe moving to frontend... Tired of all thisdmay
- What are you thinking about doing next?canoe
- Is that last last sports line an ode to George Costanza?stoplying
- I hear you guys, developing these boring lifeless designs is just as unmotivating. I've been running different new path plans for the past 6 months.BabySnakes
- I think you can use all your design + online skills to develop your own small business, eg curated interior items/furniture that you fix up.shapesalad
- Yep, i really like my job, I work with a really good friend, create work way above client expectation, deliver it to a high standard.
But the side work I do...PhanLo - ...is way more fulfilling, stuff I 'd do for free even if I had a normal job. My favourite work I've done was some murals I did on the weekends for nothing.PhanLo
- Similar experience, though I was always doing A/V/motion/video editing so my graphic design skills have been enhancing that work for me.evilpeacock
- There's more brands than ever before. People still make books. Be imaginative.bainbridge
- I guess I’m kind of lucky, still doing a ton of old school graphic design, event branding and visual identities. Even some sales campaigns with print ads :Ofisheye
- You can design your way out of a box, you know. That's what design is for.ptrdo
- I started studying cx for product design, with ux and started working in parallel while still working in an agency. Left agency in 2021 and now I’m in a huge..maquito
- ..company as senior prod designer. Good pay, great place, new friends, and still got time to do freelance branding and other stuff.maquito
- The work/life balance got tremendously better, I do not male ppt pitches nor all nighters. I’m happy with my transition.maquito
- And Figma, man.. I use it to do logos and posters. I have not used Adobe for 3 years. Every now and then I use photopea to touch up sthng, no more than that.maquito
- It's amazing how the "old" learnings and experiences, specially from visual design, have been helping me out through these changes.maquito
- Besides, product design for big tech companies requires tons of resilience and communication skills across different domain teams and stakeholders..maquito
- ..something that my 20 years in ad agencies and design studios have definitely taught me to cope with.maquito
- I don't aim to change the world with my current job. Perhaps it sound a bit sordid, but I work for my money while my mental health keeps stable.maquito
- I have my punk rock band and my fishing kayak, those are the current "tools" I use to change the world :)maquito
- AND, I am first of all a DAD, then a 40+ drummer that goes fishing with his kayak, and finally a product designer.maquito
- @maquito similar experience, although I left advertising and went the UX/UI route way earlier = best decision!********
- I think designing digital products is the most demanding application of design skills. Everything else like logos, print work, etc. seems trivial********
- I see it more like a complex puzzle to be solved, the pay is great and you work with some of the smartest people you'll ever encounter********
- I still do logos and small graphic design projects for friends and run a photo studio for a few years.
So career change? If you're good at it then why?!******** - But I get your point @pseud, good luck in any new endeavours********
- grafician :)maquito
- @maquito glad to hear things are working out for you man. I think I just realised that I don't actually enjoy that type of work which has taken me a very longpseud
- time to realise.
@grafician well, I feel like I can very good at something else but also enjoy doing it at the same time.pseud - @Horp sorry to hear brother, hope you can figure someting out! Happy to talk whenever if interested.pseud
- @stoplying is that the guy from Seinfeld? Sorry, I was never really into that.pseud
- @BabySnakes curious to hear what you're thinking of doing nextpseud
- @shapesalad I have actually been thinking of setting up a furniture shop, I like that ideapseud
- All graphic designers want at some point to do something solid and irl
But again, if you're good at what you do, keep going?******** - try leaning into teaching/giving classes – and if that's not your thing then try art for real. you're not your jobArchitectofFate