Submission Policy

hello! I've been searching for jobs for officially a year now in entry level design, and i've applied to hundreds. i rarely get responses back from any of my applications or follow ups, i've had my portfolio and resume both reviewed by peers, professors, industry folk; cover letters galore, you name it. i simply do not know what i'm doing wrong at this point.

i know it's an exceptionally difficult job market right now, but i can't help but wonder if the lack of response may or may not be something that i can help by going in and dropping my resume off at various agencies in my area and introducing myself. i'm in a pretty well-known metropolitan area so there are multiple creative agencies near me. would this hurt my future chances, or should i take the risk? even if i get terrible feedback at least it's a response and i'm tired of going unseen in people boxes or weeded out by the latest tweak in ats scanning.

any and all responses are appreciated, i realize i'm being a little unrealistic in current times but if there's something i can do about my situation, i'd like to do it, you know?

EDIT: my fault for using voice to text, i'm US-based!!!

Im not even a graphic designer properly or nun I’ve just done it in college and on a year out but if I message this local clothing brand on instagram about doing a couple designs for them how would I even go about knowing if or how much I should get paid, should it just be like a certain amount on the spot or a percentage or whatever

I have been working as a graphic designer at my current job for about 7 months now. When I first joined, I was hired as a regular graphic designer with no team management responsibilities, just doing my own work.

After just one month, my boss promoted me to Senior Graphic Designer (without a pay raise) and gave me a ton of new responsibilities:

• Leading and mentoring a team of five designers (review, supervise, mentor, etc)
• Setting the creative direction and improving brand guidelines (we have 6 brands)
• Overseeing and producing high-quality brand collateral, event assets, presentations, and digital assets for multiple brands and external clients.
• Delivering up to 150 designs per month for social media, web, print, and more.

I'm currently making $60k. From what I have seen, this seems low for a senior role with leadership responsibilities. I have been grinding hard, but I'm starting to feel undervalued.

Here's a quick rundown of my experience:

• 7 months at my current job as Senior Graphic Designer (with the responsibilities above).

• 1 year at a previous job as a Graphic Designer, working on social media and print assets.

• 1 year at another job as a Graphic Designer, where I handled branding and digital assets.

• 2 years of freelance experience.

What should I be earning based on my experience and workload? Should I push for a raise, or is it time to start looking for a new job? My boss is very appreciative of my work, and says I'm very dedicated to work and honest to deal with.

Any advice or insights would be super helpful. Thanks in advance!

I work for a small company, everything that i send them they send back to be reworked multiple times yet they say i have complete artistic freedom and give me absolutely no idea what to work with or how to proceed. My question, is that this seems like a recurring theme in graphic design and how do you stop your soul from being sucked out from work??

Looking for a low minimum or even one off printer to see if this will work for me. I found a number of sites, but they all put a border around the image and I just want it to be cut to my image, or at the very least, let me choose a custom border color.

I want to work in brand design after I graduate. Any tips??

Thank you very much in advance

Sorry if this question seems really lazy.

I'm really interested in photos like the ones added in this post that I've seen online, but I don't know anything about how to make this stuff, and the best posters that I have done have been using MS Paint (not much to show for it haha).

I just wanted to know what software people use/can use to make stuff like this so I can teach myself to do it. Preferably free (just free please (ಥ▽ಥ)) I am doing this as a hobby and am not very sure about what it entails yet.

Thanks

https://preview.redd.it/y6xs4xmf07he1.jpg?width=696&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9b9f88bdce8b5aa30700bd6f13d24a0e35ac7845

https://preview.redd.it/wxuiowmf07he1.jpg?width=564&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=64d8ebdfc6edc6c9301c2da9d84518a491a0ad5c

https://preview.redd.it/hibdzxmf07he1.jpg?width=434&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ee8b3a333bf3993b9f75f3a000db9f19e751562f

https://preview.redd.it/t2j9d0nf07he1.jpg?width=540&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7e5fe37b4a3f7956033f321e8a03d0508112ebaa

https://preview.redd.it/6vhiqymf07he1.jpg?width=472&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=74ace3f49a6c3a67de3005001685b7f98500af17

Any links to beauty brand guidelines? Likes of glossier rhode etc? Doing something for uni and I want to use them for the research aspects

I have been a good graphic designer since 2016. I have climbed my way up as well to Art Director role and left it for other high paying role.

Recently that job fired me. It’s my experience for the 5th time. (Not my fault) But I always get unlucky when it comes to employers, or maybe I was just meant for other higher role? My resume and portfolio is great, it even has super duper many saves on Behance and Pinterest. Or maybe it’s a sign to just have a business? Idk.

All I know is I am tired. I think I no longer want to be a designer. But this is what I have started and this is my bread and butter. Maybe I am just burnt out? I am scared of interviews and job postings too.

I need help and some advice. I’d love to hear from you all. Thanks!

Edit: It’s laid off*, not fired. I didn’t know the difference at first, but now I know. Thanks for the clarification!

My boss asked the group chat why our website wasn't loading properly. Despite making it clear I know how to articulate what is wrong, not fix it in anyway... I'm now leading the response team towards resolving the issue.

I need to "tinker with the code" and "reach out to shopify if I need further assistance"

So now I'm the graphic designer, marketing coordinator, copywriter, and web developer.

So my employer is encouraging all staff to pursue professional development opportunities (presumably with financial support). I'm curious what worthwhile trainings folks have tried or bookmarked to try in the design world?

I am down to diversify my skills too. Especially in light of graphic design becoming more of a bullet point in a laundry list of skills you find in current job listings.

I am currently doing a thesis project on this topic trying to discover a problem under this domain

So I'm a contractor for a particular company. Initially, my availability was about 15-20 hours a week when they hired me. I've been working with them for 3 months now, and they are averaging about 2.5 hours of work with me a week. Naturally, I have found other clients to fill out my schedule since I have bills to pay.

Last week, I got extremely sick with the flu and could not work - I let them know with as much notice as possible.

This week, I touch base with my contacts, letting them know I'm fully healthy and ready to take on any work. They asked about my availability, saying, "Your hours seem limited." I responded to them, letting them know I could still take on about 5-10 hours of work with them.

They asked is that's my "only" availability which caught me a little off guard. I told them I am currently working on a larger project that is taking up a bit of my bandwidth but that should be finalized at the end of the month.

I feel they are currently expecting me to keep 10-20 hours free while not supplying me with work. On top of this, they are my lowest paying client - the small amount of work they do provide is a nice little additional income but I can't survive off it alone.

How should I respond to approach this situation? It feels like there is a disconnect between expectations and reality.

Hey everyone,

Buddy of mine wants me to design decals/wrap for his racing helmet. Does anyone know where I can find a template for a Simpson Devil Ray 3.0 helmet? So I can get correct measurements

I work at a small franchise print shop and we often design stuff like birthday and graduation shirts. People constantly ask for Disney themed shirts for their kids birthday, or shirts with their kids college logo on it. We are not supposed to do that, but in the years we've been open many employees have done it anyways (including myself when I first started) because of either ignorance or just not caring. Since becoming manager I've been trying to enforce this rule but it's been difficult. I just had someone come in the other day and ask for their college logo embroidered on something and when I said we can't do that, they said that "other designers have done it for them before" and asked when are they working because I don't know what I'm doing. 🙄

We have some artwork on hand that is "disney-adjacent" that's technically not violating copyright but nobody ever wants it and I don't blame them. it's so frustrating because then the customers just go on Etsy and get some Disney shirts and either don't come back, or come back to us complaining about the quality of the Etsy shirt and ask us to fix it. Or, they purchase a PNG off Etsy and ask us to print it. which I'm not really sure the legality of that??

sales were down last year and I'm increasingly getting more worried about losing all our business to etsy ai-generated shit.

Anyone been in a similar situation and have some advice on how to deal with this?

In webdesign, icons + feature text underneath them is widely used in product or service marketing.

However, 9/10 these are against a solid background. But, why is a visual backdrop not used more often.

For example, a company that offers skydiving services could display its icons + feature text against a picture of a blue sky, which would look way cooler than a plain background. (The icons+feature text suitably contrasted against the picture of course to make it nice and clear).

But why do I not see this more often in webdesign?

And maybe you use other ways to protect your eyes?

Seeing more photorealistic Gen-AI images in ads and marketing collateral recently.

I want to know what your POV is on this shift. Is it different than a standard stock image?

If so, how?

Edit: For context, we are a stock image and icon platform that currently does not accept any AI content.

I’ve been exploring graphic design options for my business and trying to understand the difference between a basic logo design package and a more comprehensive branding package. While we’d love to invest in a full branding package, it’s just not in the cards financially right now.

For those who’ve gone the logo only route, what should we realistically expect from a reputable designer? Things like file formats, color variations, or maybe some basic usage guidelines? I also noticed that some services, like Kimp, Design Pickle etc. offer unlimited design requests for a flat fee; where you could potentially get a logo along with other design needs over time.

Would love to hear your thoughts or experiences, especially if you’ve opted for a basic package or used a subscription model for design work.

Is it normal to experience WAVES of burnout? Or maybe I have a shitty job. I'm fresh on the scene - I graduated 2 years ago - I've been working my first REAL graphics job for 9 months now. I feel like I shouldn't be dragging so bad this early in my career. What's going on~