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I don’t know if I’m being paranoid or if I just got scammed. I started a new gig this past Monday and it’s a wfm position. The pay is decent although it’s a contract role and I have to pay my own taxes. I’m using my own PC and subscriptions. I know I can write that stuff off and I’m okay with it but here is where things get sketchy:

When I logged on to my PC today I was automatically logged into the company’s Microsoft account. I never set this up and I was not logged in previously.

Here’s where things get weirder. I couldn’t figure out how to remove said account, so I decided to restore my pc. When I did it completely bricked my machine. I haven’t been able to restore it through a usb like I have in the past. The Windows install screen looks completely different and it’s forcing me to install 64 bit when I previously had 32 bit.

I’m really sketched out. I have been trying to find a new gig since July and I have come across countless scams and weird emails sending me text documents asking me to answer questions. I know this will sound insane, but I’m concerned this company could be using the cover of hiring designers to use their machines to do some sketchy shit. Like farm Bitcoin with their GPUs.

I have done 2 clean installs in the past, reformatted drives with ease, but for some reason I am running into error after error this time around. I’ve looked into this company and they are really small, they seem legitimate, but the timing of everything is just too coincidental. Please tell me I’m going crazy. If they just bricked my computer as some sort of fail safe they essentially cut off any way I can get work done.

Hello.

So I am a graphic designer & illustrator. I've been unemployed these past 2 months.

I just got a job offer as an illustrator. It seems perfect until they explained that the main project is to contribute for an AI project at a university. I asked for details but they only gave vague answer, what I gathered so far is it's most likely for a children learning tool/research.

I don't know how I feel about contributing to AI development, but it's been tough looking for a job so I'm really torn.

Please share your thoughts.

So, I have for years tried to register my actual name for my graphic design website. Someone has been squatting on the domain for years and years and not using it. I had even reached out to the squatter before offering to buy it with no dice. I have settled on firstname-lastname.com. In the past month, I have gotten three separate offers from people with broken grammar, weird phrasing, and such saying the domain name is expiring and if I would like to make an offer on it to them as I have the same name and such. It just reeks of something sketchy but I don't really know enough about hosting outside of Squarespace and such so I'm at a bit of a loss.

I have tried to do some research on if this is a scam, or how it works and if I can maybe look into hosting it myself soon without people possibly snatching it up and holding it for ransom before I can figure all that out. I have tried to look around for what to do but I either haven't figured out how exactly to phrase my issues or am not able to find good advice by searching the internet for help.

I was wondering if you guys have ever run into this situation in the past? Any advice on how to capitalize on this if I can? Any sort of direction I can be pointed in would be appreciated. Cheers!

amateur***

So basically everyone in my class has a mac except me cause I can't really genuinely afford it. I am planning to purchase a gaming laptop which can last me until I can afford a mac. The problem is will it have an impact on my chances of getting an internship cause I think my efficieny won't be as a good as mac users cause I have heard the macbook is super efficient and the best?

I took your guys' advice and I'm ditching the instagram portfolio and making a website (probably SquareSpace). I'm also making actual graphic design projects to showcase instead of just random digital art like before, but I wanted to keep it fun and attention-grabbing, so I wanted to make business cards for fictional characters of shows I like. So far, I made one for Finn from Adventure Time. Can I get some opinions on my work so far? Also, would this be wrong to showcase on a portfolio, since I don't really have any real projects anyone hired me to do yet.

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Personally I would prefer starting a separate business entity to work as a freelancer rather than using my own name for self-branding. I feel that work is just something that I do in exchange for money, and I'm just taking on a role while doing this range of services in exchange for cash, but it's not all that I am, it's not all that makes up me.

I don't want people to remember me just as a person who do design or whatever, my own personal self and private life are separated from my professional and work life. So I wouldn't want to use my own name to sell my services, I'd rather start a separate business entity under a different name just for this specific range of design services that I can offer while I'm doing work in this role.

What do you think about this topic?

I am having a hard time choosing fonts please help. Do you have some clean fonts recommendation suitable for headlines?

Pls help me if you can😞.

Got my BA degree but it wasn't enough for me to know more than some surface level history. Where can I learn them properly? Anyone here learned them alone?

Please, no trolling. First off, i really enjoy what Doron has created and I think he is a fantastic designer all around BUT, there comes a time when i feel too many people are using the same stuff to use for their designs that it's hard to tell rather the designs are good or if they're just made using these tools that do all of the work for them. While I want to try these assets, i feel like ill be just another replica using another designers talent. Thoughts?

From the beginning brainstorm process to completion, how long does logo creation for a company usually take you?

Seasoned designers, I’m seeking advice. How much to ask for end of year performance review and how to approach?

I’m a graphic designer living in Austin, Texas making 60k a year with good benefits. I’ve been at my current company for 1.5 years and I love it. However, I can’t afford to stay with this salary and I want to make way more money. I’m trying to figure out how much to realistically expect, as I want to stay with this company.

About the company:

• hospitality company with 4 designers and about 10 “boutique” properties throughout state
• 6 executives with … lots of money by the looks of the cars they drive
• Company recently moved everyone into swanky new office last year

Current job description & responsibilities:

• Designing marketing collateral for all of our properties. This includes: menus, socials, illustration, posters, postcards, merch design, copy writing, etc
• Production management: from menu paper to custom glassware, to property merch, signage, promos and beyond. This includes price negotiation and tons of external communication.
• Operational: file management, internal strategizing about incoming design request queue, design feedback to jr. designer, property visits + drop offs, offsite visits and more.
• Mural design/window paintings: several of our properties have had custom sign painting & way-finding I’ve designed
• Being a part of meeting with each property team bi monthly to strategize the year ahead in regards to menus, merch, event, how we market all things
• Problem solving and strategizing across the board

A few things about me:

• 6 years design experience
• I don’t get stressed out or overwhelmed easily.
• I work efficiently and quickly. This means things turned around ahead of time usually. Partly out of necessity partly of of personality. I realize this is a blessing and a curse.
• For illustration pieces, I usually end up drawing on my iPad after hours because that’s when the inspiration comes.
• I’m hardworking and easygoing but also very straightforward.
• I want to make a ton of money and not hate my life.
• I’m willing and able to hustle hard if it means getting what I want.

What I know I want:

• to make as much money as possible.
• To advance in this field (creative director, art director…still figuring that out.)

I’d like to ask for a promotion, however my colleague just got promoted to project manager/designer so I’m not sure where I have space to ask for more. Being a Sr. designer seems like the next logical step, but considering this person has been here longer than me and his job responsibilities exceed mine as PM, as he’s basically our sr. Designer already. Can there be two? How does that work?

I’m looking to get an outside perspective from people who have been doing this much longer than me. How much of a raise would you ask for if you were me? What kind of new position would you propose for yourself? How would you go about setting the structure of this meeting? I’ve researched graphic design salaries in my area but this job is so broad. I don’t feel like any one salary is specific enough to be geared towards me, but perhaps it’s good that the range is so broad? ($55k-$90k)

I know I’m replaceable, that makes me sad but I want to figure out how to work around that with my specific skill set. Please help me, elders. Much appreciated,

Has anyone tried this Because like this is kinda cute, but also the comment under it said it was unhinged.

But like has anyone tried this?

I'm a traditional graphic designer in the interview process for a design job.

Had a very honest and upfront 2nd interview with the owner of a small PR firm. He's a family value kind of guy. I shared my priority of my marriage above anything else and at the end of the interview, I also shared that my desired salary of 70k would be what I ideally would need to allow my wife and I to start a family (our goal in the next year).

I let him respond saying that that was high and not close to the stated 55k. I told him I understand but wanted to be upfront and would be happy with something in between. He told me he would talk with the creative director (who conducted my first interview, went really really well.) and that I can expect to hear back next week in the middle of the week. Then I thanked him and we ended the call.

I'm curious if I totally biffed it and if this highball salary is something that will come off as off-putting or an immediate deal-breaker. Hoping I'll still get an offer!

For context, this semester I've had a "history of graphic design" class and it's been such a drag to me. I don't mean to sound like there is nothing to learn from designers of the past, but it seems like design today is so different from back then that I'm not sure what I am getting out of this class. So I ask you: do past graphic designers and design movements inspire or influence your work at all?

Arts & crafts movement, modernism, post-modernism, Dada... the vast majority of the designs I see out of these eras look god-awful to me, I could never imagine designing something in one of these styles. Nor could I see myself having a client that would WANT something designed this way. Yet some of the videos I've watched in this class, the people talk about them as if they were the holy grail of design or something. It just feels so pretentious and I feel like I am bullshitting my way through this class.

Perhaps I am being too cynical but just wanted to get people's opinions on how important this stuff is to know. Honestly, with how many different art and design styles we've gone over this semester, I don't know how I'd even keep track of them all and how I'd use them in a project. Hopefully I'm not sounding full of myself or like I am suggesting that I can do better, that's not what my post is about.

I'm going to be starting work with a nonprofit that already has a logo and the mark is utilizing the Q with a long tail and cannot separate the elements. I cannot change the logo. I'm wondering if anyone has inspiration on how to work with these marks that aren't balanced. just set up an account and was uploading the mark into a circular avatar window and was starting to grumble about it. The round of the Q makes it feel so off when it's aligned to include the full tail. Or if anyone can point me to a brand using something similar, I can look through their work. Help!?!

Looking for a freelance graphic design business mentor.

I’ve been operating my own graphic design business for a little over 2 years now, and I feel that having the invaluable resource of a mentor would help get me out of this solo vacuum and grow toward the next level.

Curious for your experiences and what you may have paid for this type of resource.

Thanks in advance!

I interviewed for a fantastic job opening as a graphic designer about a month ago, and while I've been following up every week to see if I'm still considered a candidate, the fact that the three interviewers asked me about how I deal with stressful situations or how do I cope with being overwhelmed has me wondering if I said the wrong thing.

I've most recently worked as a project manager for a landscaping and outdoor construction company where I had to coordinate between a dozen homeowners, sales reps, design consultants, work crews, material yards, answering customer questions or dealing with disgruntled customers. I made the fact that I was more than capable of juggling all of those duties AND working directly with homeowners on a daily basis which meant I would be more than capable of juggling numerous design projects were I to be offered the role I was interviewing for.

I was asked "If your workload is piling up, what do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Do you have a system of dealing with stress? Do you take a walk to get some fresh air?"

To which, and every other question they asked me regarding "high workloads, stressful days", I answered: "I simply get the work done. I've dealt with disgruntled homeowners who are fuming after our work crew hit a sprinkler line or backed up into their mailbox all while a loud delivery truck is pulling up and honking at me, with the driver hanging out of the door yelling at me "Where do you want me to stage this material?!" all while my phone is blowing up from phone calls from 3 other work crews on opposite sides of town with questions about the project they're working at, keeping a close eye on my watch, knowing that I need to drive 30 miles to meet with a design consultant and a homeowner for the first time in 40 minutes and present a confident and experienced persona while measuring and verifying the materials that the design consultant originally quoted them on (in which every design consultant cuts corners on every project to whittle down the total cost in order to simple secure the deal with the homeowners). So yeah, If you think I'm going to get frazzled or overwhelmed with the duties of this position, I cannot wait to show you what I'm capable of."

The three interviewers loved my portfolio, so much so that they asked if I could leave it there with them for them to look over and inspect after I left.

So yeah, my main question is "Is there a magic way of dealing with high stress graphic design jobs that potential employers want to hear?.

Hi, I'm a hobbiest and this is my first graphic. Any feeback? Thank you in advance

I'm interested in finding the best and most valuable design related Black Friday 2023 deals. Here are a few I've found so far:

Adobe is obviously running their standard 40% Black Friday deals.

Serif is running similar deals on their apps.

Myfonts is having having a Black Friday Sale with up to 50% off.

Retrosupply's products are 50% off.

The Artifex Forge is offering 50% off all products with the code BLKFRI23.

True Grit Texture Supply products are also 50% off.

Dribbble Pro subscriptions are currently 5$ a month, down from 16$. (I'm not sure this is directly Black Friday related)

Skillshare coupons for up to 50% off for new members can be easily found by google. I was even able to find a few 30% off coupons for existing members.

It would be great if everyone could add more in the comments. I will try to add them and others I find to my post.

Hey. I always wanted to asked this question to see what other people from the Graphic design community thinks of this situation I am having at work... Or at least get some other opinions or insight from like minded people who either had a similar scenario...

Let me start with the fact that I am a Senior Graphic Designer and Art Director first in line of the Digital Marketing team at my job. The Business is a whole sale company with about 20 to 30 employees with four departments. Graphics & Digital Marketing, Sales & Customer Service, Production & Inventory, and HR/Accounting.

LONG STORY SHORT... Everyone is underpaid.. after the Covid lock downs in 2020.. We stop doing meetings in general... They didn't want to comply to the work from home order and caused most of the staff to get sick with covid between 2020 and 2022 ( the older CEO doesn't believe in working remotely for anyone else but the CEOs)... we lost a good chunk of our employees to where a lot of us are being pulled or cross trained in areas we we not originally hired for. I'm not sure if the income is fickle and they refuse to hire new workers, but this in turn created scenarios where We have large tasks in out department and because I am a ... and I hate to say this... a Man in a establishments who only kept women over the age of 51 who can't lift over 20lbs in the Production & Inventory department... I'm often pulled todo their heavy lifting then get scolded about productivity slacking from the Graphics department. The company is intimate enough that you can have a personal relationship with the owners (who is a 78 year old with a 41 year old daughter partnering ownership for the company)... but They themselves are often never in the office or available on call and always takes 2 weeks to the whole month each month for vacation. Throws off all their responsibilities to their "Office Manager", but somehow complains and micromanage ever senior level member on "tasks not met" and scolds them despite themselves pulling them and obligating them to relocate themselves in departments that they do not cover at all.

That was probably the details that was unneeded and I apologize for it...

so here is the real issue... Our CEOs aren't 100% in the loop or the know of how the politics or structure is within the office... They are often on the beach and taking vacation complaining about their hardships (mainly due to home), but I'm trying my best not to judge heavy. They have expressed to our Office Manager that the company's financial affairs are tight. They have skimped on paying payroll on time and tried nitpicking at everyone's salary or hours in periods where they are not being audited. Just recently the 41 year old goes on a 2-month vacation apparently in order to medically get pregnant. While in this period she has taken liberty to make some behind the scene decisions that the Office Manager expressed to the rest of the Senior level employees that a lot of finances were used to endorse external temporary "help" which includes a systems change and a branding revamp.

Our team had a whole pitch for a possible boost for a digital marketing campaign with mock-ups and a presentation showing our work, but before we could get done with that. A day before the graphics team wanted to pitch the idea to them, the CEOs brought me in their office to let me know that this external digital marketing team is going to work on a whole new system for the internals and the website as well as the office's Digital Marketing affairs. Pretty much just to put up a system that this external team will make for us to conform to and then drop off all of the maintenance work to me once they are done. This is all being done without considering how much it will change the structure of the internal affairs between departments, because such a critical and large change wasn't discussed with us in order to make sure if it is a good decision to do this in the first place. The Graphics team wasn't happen especially finding out how much they were paying this external team versus how much they pay us monthly. It was criminal. I've worked with this company for 10-11 years and never felt so disrespected. It felt like our CEOs got upsale'd by someone they met during their vacations and went with it without having a team meeting first. I for some reason just felt really disappointed at that action.

Me personally, I feel like that our Graphics department is fully capable of doing that task for the company and they already micromanaging our pay. Why not use that money towards us and not waste it on external/additional help. Use the money in the areas you need actual help in and stop pulling us in areas we are not suited in.

Am I wrong to feel a little puzzle about these decisions? Does anyone else have issues like this with businesses they work for in the Graphics industry? Please advise.

After going down a rabbit hole on youtube, I figure I would turn here. I am looking to provide an informative cost breakdown for our customers. Our sales team currently has an internal excel sheet which provides them with a snapshot of all the different membership levels, add-ons, fees, taxes, monthly/annual breakdowns and then the grand total. Each time they get an inquiry they are typing out all the variations of pricing; I would like to simplify this process for them - and put the interactive guide in the customer hands. Ideally, I was hoping to create a "quiz" like document. The customer can select what base membership is right for them, allow them to select/de-select add-ons, and choose a monthly or annual payment plan = basically giving them what the cost would be at their fingertips. I've done interactive forms in InDesign before, but I wasn't sure if that would still be the go to for this project. Please help! Thank you in advance

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What’s the consensus on this? I’m currently getting my business cards ready and I’ve looked at quite a lot of them for inspiration on where I want to go and what direction to take, but I’m still curious. Some I’ve seen had LinkedIn on there, but others don’t.