Aging Designers
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- MondoMorphic
As some of us get into our 40s, I wonder, does this "advanced" age affect our marketability as designers? For how long do we remain wizened leaders, capable of big bill rates/paychecks, before the perception of lost relevance sets in...or does it? Do we get to continue to cash in on our wisdom and experience until we eventually decide to ride off into the sunset on our own terms?
Lend me your thoughts.
- _niko3
architects, product designers, fashion designers, typographers, Illustrators, artists etc are all well respected in their late 60's never mind 40's lol.
Why would digital design (i'm assuming) be any different?
- I don't know that it is different. Just interested to see peoples' perspectives on the topic.MondoMorphic
- this goes only for the top 5%d_gitale
- pinkfloyd1
Get some botox
/*end thread
- err5
I told my co workers I turned 39 on my birthday and their heads exploded. But I have realized that treat me differently when I speak up. Also I'm the only developer in my company so whenever I open my terminal they think I'm hacking the gibson.
- robotron3k0
It doesn't suck to be aging designer, it sucks to be friends of aging designer. They always get desperate when their high paying freelance gig is coming to an end and they reach out to everyone to they know looking for more high paying gigs. But between those gigs, you never hear from them.
- high paying freelance gig... i'd like one of them....hans_glib
- desmo0
This is a great Monday morning thread lol
I think about this shit all the time
- pinkfloyd0
- I am 46, no grey on my head but my beard is pretty salty. Ive thought about doing the facial hair color thing, but not sure how everyone will react.ArmandoEstrada
- mg332
I used to obsess over this topic quite a bit in my mid-30s. I think that came at a time I was transitioning out of the legal marketing and consulting industry and attempting to get into the wider design / ux / interactive marketing world, where I've been ever since.
I'm 40 now and the thing that keeps me feeling positive about growing older is looking back on the career I've had. It's not been anything outrageous and mind-blowing, but I've worn a lot of hats and had a lot of responsibilities that funnel into what I do now. I've been a PM, I've worked in marketing, I've done print work, copywriting, directed web site projects, email marketing efforts, CMS builds, some visual design, Wordpress work and customization work, strategy, ux design, etc. etc. Long story short, I'm glad for the variety and I hope that continues to keep me relevant as younger people enter the ux industry but won't immediately have that range of experience.
- Raniator2
I'm 41. I'm not the best designer but I'm certainly not the worst – especially in the industry that I currently work in – and I get better and better.
I expect this to continue until I can snag that elusive creative director role where I merely tell middleweight and senior designers what to do, not have to do any actual design work yet get paid twice as much as everyone else.
I reckon another 3/4 years for that, then who cares how old you are.
- mg331
Raniator,
I'm seeing that potential for myself in the next however many years. That's where I'm glad for my project management background (never thought I'd say that). I'm now on the leadership side of things on our team as an associate UX director, and many of the initiatives I'm working on now are more process-oriented - things that will help us work better, better define a consistent process between ux, visual design, content, and tech. I'm an organizational psycho sometimes, and I do a lot of "if our team is 3x the size in x number of years, what can we do to have good processes, collaboration, etc. for that kind of growth?"
I still do plenty of design work, and often work as a solo ux guy with an agile team, but considering how small our team is right now I don't see the design work going away anytime soon.
- zaq11
- lolpinkfloyd
- lolchukkaphob
- Adobe CC 2019 ®nbq
- haha wowprophetone
- lolfadein11
- Adobe CC Physicalfadein11
- Angling designer? I'm in denialCALLES
- hahaha amazing. This is real.sarahfailin
- Well, home many pixels is it??ETM
- zaq15
I used to be a flash developer. Today I run distributed agile team.
You need to learn always if you would like to be relevant.- <kingsteven
- one of the best flash developers as wellpinkfloyd
- +notype
- +Krassy
- it's the craft & creativity that matter, and not the tools used (or your age)Krassy
- so you are a scrum master?studderine
- i studied cdrom design and multimedia at uni now im a top tec at the uks largest indi seo company.trooperbill
- none of us will get Alzheimers, that's for sure.GuyFawkes
- yep Krassynotype
- @trooper you went from design to SEO?studderine
- Jesus web work has gotten so boring. SEO, Agile Teams, UI/UX. The creative side of this industry really got banished.fate
- @fate can't manage what you can't measure.studderine
- 45 here, and still doing lots of creative work, but boring paying-bills works too... as alwaysOBBTKN
- ha, trooper! I chose my Uni course because it was the only one at the time I could see that mentioned 'multimedia' 'CD-Roms' and... gosh, what is it? 'internet'detritus
- (also I flunked my A-levels so couldn't do the journalism degree I wanted.. thank god)detritus
- CyBrainX11
I'm 55. I was hired when I was 52. I don't think anyone really cares about age. They care how good your work is and how much money you'll be paid. We're in a much more merit-based profession than most.I feel like I'm doing better and more enjoyable work than ever before.
- < I can confirm.Morning_star
- < Doing it rightcannonball1978
- +1set
- Damn no wonder you're grumpy, you're older than me...robotron3k
- Old guy pardonedsince1979
- What do you do again?Maaku
- I’m a motion graphics designer Pope of Pixels is my preferred title.CyBrainX
- kingsteven2
Was just thinking the other day about the old 'evolution of the designer' meme, and how at one point 'climbing the ladder' felt relevant. Got up to the heady heights a couple of times, but at any time I've gone after one thing I end up resenting not being able to do the others... Came to the conclusion that I'm mentally predetermined jack of all trades. Working all the time and keeping on top of things at 35 but plying my spare time in to projects that use more than one trade at a time as I'm well aware that i'm going to have to create some value in 'what I do' rather than continue competing with the young'uns.
- lol, illustrator and photoshop?monospaced
- haha, it is a really shit old meme. couldn't even find the original, just this later advertising version.kingsteven
- but yeah, photoshop and alcoholism is obvs the long term goal.kingsteven
- studderine0
It matters but then again it doesn't. I've worked w/ older designers that are stuck it the past. I've also worked with older designers that continually try and learn new things. So, I guess, it depends...
- There is definitely a sense of ageism in SF.studderine
- quark xpress ftwpinkfloyd
- Pagemaker 1.5 was the shit, could fit on one 3.5 floppy.robotron3k
- since19790
To stay in the design game after getting older and uglier and with infinitely more baggage you must be either extremely elite in clientele and talent or run your own show. Either way you must be extremely good.
- shapesalad0
You're never too old to start!
- Fax_Benson2
True. I look like shit but nobody sees me, so I just put a pic of someone else on my portfolio site and clients think they're working with some hot young superstar.
- rockstar designercapn_ron
- You can also make a fresh illustration for profile pics, and peeps are non the wiser.shapesalad
- scarabin4
it's really weird going from being the youngest member of every team i've ever been on to now being the oldest in one (besides the CD). suddenly i'm the butt of that "age before beauty" opening the door for someone joke. forced me to come up with a "you mean talent before vanity" comeback.
another thing i've noticed is where i used to be able to get away with being kind of shit at certain things for being young and inexperienced, now i have no excuses. someone at my age is expected to have all that shit mastered. which sucks, 'cause i'm still kinda shit at certain things.
also my particular industry has begun leaning heavily on concept artists for its new talent as a result of aesthetic shifts, which is something i was never trained on. i'm seeing guys much younger than me coming out of school for that stuff and making almost the same amount of money. it's making me think i should go back to school...
it's been weird, gonna have to step back and make some big decisions soon in terms of personal goals and what it will take to achieve them
- SoulFly1
I'm 45 and I've been working in corporate all my life, it's a stable line of work, stress free to a degree, but I still have plans to become a full time "hands on" directly in design. I still need to learn all the skills. But I plan to become an art director or creative director. Not sure if my corporate background in package production management will help me, even though there's quite a bit of digital involved in my work these days, but I hope all I have learned will help fulfill my plan on doing something "fun" in the years to come in my career. I went back to school a few years ago to learn motion design for example. It's a fast changing world, you always have to be re-inventing yourself and be in "next generation" mode. I think that is what keeps you going.