Getting older and working in design
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- IRNlun66
Sounds like many agencies are not only undervaluing their employees but shorting their clients with mediocre work. Seems like it will be an advantage to be a smaller shop who values the work that goes into providing great design, building a great team, and growing a creative environment.
So many of you are uniquely qualified to understand most aspects of what it takes to produce and market a product. Most of you probably have more knowledge and experience than those that manage or hire you. We're our own worse critics. You're at a huge advantage and need to accept that you've outgrown your position and need to become business owners, leaders, or entrepreneurs.
- Gucci0
35 this year. I find the transition from identifying as a "doer" to a more hardcore managerial role difficult. Putting others in a position to succeed when you've seen yourself the same way for so long can be torturous. Redefining what you equate accomplishment with can be damn near impossible.
Someone likened it to going from a player to a coach in sports. Meh.
We're all in this shit together and we all struggle with the exact same things. A lot of creatives sit within their own thoughts to find answers to problems that it becomes a poisonous, unhealthy norm. Kudos to talking about stuff.
So many feels in this thread.
- necromation6
I'm 41 this year... and i will not fade into the night! i'm causing hell and showing these young whippersnappers how you get shit done and when i'm done i burn rubber on my bikes into the fucking sunset!!!
Fuck age... Fuck youth... Fuck work...
Fuck shit up! i've got your back!
- Ben993
I feel like we're in a helping group like those, lol
- Ben990
Again CrimsonGhost, thanks a lot for sharing this. Really.
Personaly i feel i'm heading toward the end of an important chapter in my life, professionally and personally. And I just turned 36 and i really hate the fact of aging and time passing by. Lots of question in my mind since a few months. The future is very unclear. I try to stay positive. And i'm really happy to read the comments in this thread and see that i'm not alone.
- necromation1
You will be okay! Find strength in your loves ones... and remember if you go, they will be left to feel your pain and theirs of not been able to help you. The cycle never ends. You will look back and smile one day... I know it sounds clique but there are millions people would trade your troubles for theirs in a hot minute.
- CrimsonGhost10
Thank you all for your support and sharing your experiences. It really means a lot to me. (And I thought this place was just for downvoting Gerorges photo choices...I kid)
@bklyndroobeki I watched the video. I like what Brandon says about duration and weight we give to our negative thoughts. Believe me when I say I don't wish to stay down.
A little about me: I left home at 16, put myself through university and have lived a life doing what I want despite friends, family and acquaintances telling me I can't. "You can't make it as an artist, that's a stupid profession. Haven't you heard of starving artists?" "You can't get a tattoo," "You can't ride a motorcycle" etc etc etc. What that means is THEY can't or THEY'RE afraid to. People will always try to live their lives and fears out through you and I've always lived my life tuning them all out.
I live for being hyper creative, 41 and still hungry for new trends, scribbling in my sketchbook or taking photos. Shit, before digital and camera phones I'd blow so much money on getting photos of random crap that inspired me in that moment developed.
I have defined myself my entire life as an artist. The thought of working at something like stocking shelves is a Hell I'm trying very hard not to sentence myself to. NOT that there's anything wrong with those jobs at all, but I've always wanted to be passionate about what I do. I'm the jerk that goes to the movies and names the fonts while looking at the ads they show before the trailers, or cringes when he looks at a menu that's poorly kerned. Where else but our world would have me?
Having a job of 15 years fall out from under me was a huge blow. After which came constant and repeated feelings of rejection, irrelevance and being inconsequential that have been chipping away at me. I started freelancing and tried "faking it til I made it" but those core feelings of being a 41 year old out of work art director and web developer are like a cancer that have been eating me alive.
Depression is an entirely different animal altogether. I thought I could pull out of it on my own, that if I told anyone what I was going through I would be considered weak or broken. My doctor repeatedly tells me its a disease that needs to be treated, like diabetes, that you can't just will away, and I should say "Thank god, there's a pill that's keeping me from jumping out a window." I haven't reached that level of acceptance yet but I'm trying.
I'm working very hard at getting myself back to a healthy place so I can pull out of this nosedive. So my brain can work again rather than feel like somebody grabbed the emergency brake and is holding it in a vice like grip.
I apologize if I've made this thread about me. I hope some of my experiences can in some way help. If any of you are dealing with similar dark or negative thoughts, please know you're not alone and there IS help.
Again, thank you all so much.
- It takes courage to admit what you're going through and to reach out to others. As you're now seeing, it's in every one of us as well.Gucci
- Nicely stated.
I wish you the best moving forward CGRamanisky2 - You are definitely not alone. I understand completely what you write.SimonFFM
- ... I almost hate to do this but i hate this new culture of internet pussies. grow some balls, quit being irrationally emo and evaluate your values. ALL yourdeathboy
- answers you search for exist in your posts if u are a llittle more self awaredeathboy
- i'll tune you up. i clearly see your problems if u REALLY want to see them. Paragraph 5 first sentence clearly shows your level of disillusionment. hit me updeathboy
- Certified.set
- a_aachen1
thanks to all for your open thoughts. here are mine:
i am freelancer, been that for 12 years now. always worked good for me. i dont make like 100.000 a year but then again, i wouldnt need the money. now beginning this year my two biggest clients jumped off due to internal reorganisations cutting my income dramatically. I was expecting this, so no big surprise. and although this is not easy, cause i have wife and a child, soon two, i am trying to see this as a opportunity for me.
i just finished an exhibition, working on a book project and planning a theatre project for autumn – everything pays less than design but i am excited doing it. my prof always said that a good designer has the ability "to think with the heads of other people" and i believe this ability gives us the ability to do different things besides designing logos and websites.also i was always lucky to be interested in different things (although, looking back, doing so also hindered me seeking 100% in design) so i am giving cooking classes and improv workshops.
I found it easier to live your life if you try to avoid comparing yourself to other friends/colleagues etc (who earn more).
this is all a bit incoherent, nevermind.
- monoboy0
I would recommend reading this book...
http://abookapart.com/products/d…I've just started up on my own after 15 years agency side.
Everything you do for a client, prospective or current should be billed. This includes meetings. Your time is valuable.
Always take a business approach. What we do isn't creative magic. It's work. And your experience dictates how much you charge.
Good brand work transforms businesses. We know more about effective business than most CEOs.
Get paid. And good luck.
- + on reading that book, great info in there for anyone not good with the business side of the work.zarkonite
- Hmm, not sure I agree with "everything should be billed". Creatives aren't lawyers, generally don't bill hourly.formed
- Lawyers get paid well, right. Joking aside. Doesn't have to be hourly. Just billed.monoboy
- Problem is Mono - no cunt wants to pay for ANYTHINGnylon
- It can be hard. Good brand work makes good business. Focus on the value. Try this... http://www.liquidage…monoboy
- bklyndroobeki0
^
i also know a developer at a university. he's been there for 8 years and is 53, he is VERY happy.
- you're on to something w/ the local gov't jobbklyndroobeki
- btw. love this thread.bklyndroobeki
- Yes, this is some good sharing. Good food for thought and very interesting timing I will say.BabySnakes
- sausages2
35 years old here. Been freelancing for 7 years or so after working in big ad agencies. I used to work solely in print but have been coding websites for the past 4-5 years and it's the bulk of my work now. We moved from a large city to a small town on the coast and freelancing has been supporting my wife and 2 young kids. Work here is pretty scarce and while I work remotely for some good (and loyal) clients, we have times where we really struggle financially.
I echo a lot of what's been said above. Many clients are on a race to the bottom as far as budgets go while expectation remains high.
I can't see myself working as a designer much longer. I stopped enjoying my work a long time ago – just going through the motions these days and writing invoices. Thinking of transitioning to marketing and getting a cushy job with local government or something. Or stacking shelves... Neither would be much fun but to be honest, neither is this. (Sorry to continue the maudlin theme)
- whinger0
Oh, and same thing as some of the others, I really don't have an exit strategy other than design. I guess I cross that road when I get to it.
