r/Design

So I've been going down this rabbit hole for the past two days and apparently there exists both software calibration and hardware calibration? What even is the real difference between these calibration techniques for displays? How much of an actual difference does this make? and why do people get so triggered about it?

I just figured all calibration used software, but apparently not lol. What am I missing here?
Explain it to me simply because I have two brain cells left today and they are fighting for third place.

Hello! I’m a pretty new designer as I’m still a student so instead of a website, my portfolio as of now is a slide deck pdf. My question is, how long should my portfolio be..? I applied for a few internships and have a pretty big amount of projects i’ve done on there. However, I’m starting to think I should cut out some of the projects to keep it more concise?

I would really appreciate any insight on this. Thank you!

I’m bored, so we’re rolling the dice.

I’m crowdsourcing my next tufting project. Whatever comment has the most upvotes in 48 hours becomes the next rug I make.

No backing out. No “actually guys I changed my mind.” No "this is too ridiculous"

If your idea wins, I tuft it.

Could be easy, fun, and dumb, or hard, complex, and beautiful.

I have cut pile, loop pile, micro loop, and high pile tufting guns.

45" x 45"

This could be the worst decision I’ve ever made. Could be the best.

Only rules:
-Must be physically possible to tuft
-No AI prompt slop
-Reddit decides

I’ll post updates, communicate with the top commenter during the design phase, and post the final rug once it’s finished.

I’ll mail it to the winner if they cover shipping.

Let the internet decide my fate.

I’ve been noticing more branding, packaging, and digital work that feels engineered to stand out first and communicate second. As a graphic designer, I get the pressure to make something visually unforgettable, but sometimes it feels like clarity, usefulness, and even authenticity are taking a back seat to chasing attention. Do you think design culture is rewarding bold aesthetics more than thoughtful problem-solving now, or am I just seeing a weird trend bubble through my feeds and client work? Where do you personally draw the line between creative experimentation and design that’s trying too hard to prove it’s unique?

I think one of the most interesting things about design is that people notice it most when it fails.

A confusing app, an uncomfortable chair, poor lighting, messy packaging, awkward layouts — suddenly you realize how much design affects everyday life without people consciously thinking about it.

Not trying to be provocative, genuinely asking because I can't get a straight answer.
I design and edit professionally and I've been doing it for about 2 years now. My clients are happy, I've never had a revision come back about colour, until recently. And I keep seeing people in these communities talk about how you can't grade properly without a proper reference display and I honestly can't tell if that's true or if it's the same energy as people who say you can't mix on headphones.
Is there an actual meaningful threshold where a better monitor changes your work? Or does it just make you feel better about your work?

I’ve been working as a UI Designer/Developer at a good company for a few years now and I’m in my mid 20s. I believe that I’m pretty good at what I do, and I’m up to date with all the recent tech/design trends. However, as AI continues to advance, a lot of people are beginning to say that my job will be gone eventually.

What do y’all think?

Is there anything people can do so they don’t get replaced? If so, what is it?

We’re building a startup project and looking for people who wanna collaborate and build cool stuff together.

Already have a team working on it, so you’ll get good exposure too. Currently unpaid since we’re still early-stage/no funding yet.

Looking for: • UI/UX Designers (Figma) • React Native + TypeScript Devs

Need serious people who can start ASAP. DM if interested — we’ll schedule a short meet/interview :)

Alright real talk, managing creative projects with a team feels like chaos sometimes. Theres brainstorming, feedback, updates, and keeping track of everything gets messy. I’m constantly scrambling to figure out where things are, whos doing what, and what needs to get done next. So, i started looking into collaboration tools that can help centralize everything.

Heres what i found:

1. Miro-  a digital whiteboard where everyone can brainstorm, add sticky notes, and organize ideas live. Its perfect when you need to visualize everything and keep track of multiple things at once.
2. Figma- is for designers, hands down. It lets your whole team collaborate on UI/UX designs in real time. So no more emailing files back and forth.
3. Lucidchart- is perfect for mapping out processes and creating flowcharts. If you need to organize data or create structured diagrams, this tool is clutch.
4. Microsoft Whiteboard- a basic whiteboard tool that integrates with Microsoft 365. Its good for simple brainstorming or visual work, but doesnt have as many features as Miro or Figma.

If anyone has used any of these please tell me what was easier for you.

My long-time client has scaled back our retainer and would like to start generating business cards for new hires in-house. In the past, I've happily handled it for them but I get that having an agency type in names and email addresses feels like overkill.

Everything was created in Illustrator—which they don't have—and uses fonts they don't have installed. The client isn't helpless, but they aren't designers, either.

We've spent a lot of effort developing their brand system and I would prefer they not muck up the design. Is there a good alternative for creating an editable template for them with reasonable guardrails? Do I recreate the business card in Canva?

And yes, I do plan on trying to talk them out of it. How have you all dealt with this sort of thing?

I have been working on a packaging project for a small skincare brand. The client keeps giving me feedback that makes logical sense. Move this logo up for better shelf visibility. Increase the contrast here. Make the ingredient list larger. None of these notes are wrong. But every time I apply them, the design loses the character that made it interesting in the first place. I am ending up with something safe, readable, and totally forgettable. I tried pushing back gently on a few points, but the client says they trust me on the creative stuff, they just want these practical changes. Now I am stuck. If I ignore their requests, I look like a difficult designer. If I follow them all, the work feels like a soulless template.

For designers who have been in this loop, how do you preserve the soul of a project when the client keeps chipping away at the parts that actually worked? Do you pick one hill to die on and let the rest go? Or do you find a way to meet the practical needs without killing the vibe entirely? I am trying to figure out where to draw the line between listening to good feedback and watching a project get flattened into nothing.

So this is embarrassing to admit but I've been designing professionally for 2 years and I just got burned by something I should probably have known about. I sent over a brand identity last week. Client comes back saying the blues look almost purple on their end and the whole thing looks oversaturated. I pulled up a screenshare with them and I could literally see it - same file, completely different colours. I was mortified on the call. I've never calibrated my monitor. I didn't even know that was something designers were supposed to do. I just assumed what I see is what everyone sees. Is this a common problem? How many of you found out the hard way? And what did you actually change to fix it - I don't even know where to start and there dont seem to be enough resources online to understand.

Nobody warns you about this when you start freelancing as a designer but clients will hire you for a brand identity or a website, and then suddenly you are the design person for their entire company. Next thing you know, they are dumping text files on your desk asking you to make their internal quarterly reports, investor proposals, and client onboarding docs look nice. It is the most mind numbing work because it is not even real design thinking, it is literally just tedious formatting. I used to open up Figma or InDesign for a twenty page text document just because the tool was already open on my screen, which is honestly absurd and such a massive waste of creative energy. I am trying to figure out how to draw a hard line in my contracts between actual high value creative design work and basic formatting tasks without annoying the client. How do you guys handle that transition when a creative project turns into a corporate slide formatting nightmare.

Some websites look visually impressive at first, but the actual experience still feels frustrating because of things like slow loading, excessive animations, poor spacing or confusing layouts.

Meanwhile, some very simple websites feel surprisingly premium just because everything is clean, fast and easy to navigate.

The best websites usually seem to come from good balance between graphic design and development rather than focusing too much on only one side.

Curious how designers and developers here think about that balance.

My folder structure has evolved over the years into complete chaos. I’ve got folders called things like FINAL_v2, FINAL_final, FINAL_forreal_thisone, and somehow none of them are actually final.

Stuff is split between my desktop, Dropbox, Google Drive, random external drives… mostly because different clients wanted different workflows. The other day I spent like 20 minutes looking for a logo file I KNOW exists somewhere and that kind of broke me.

So now I’m trying to build an actual system instead of just piling stuff wherever it fits. What folder structure or naming system actually stuck long term? Do you use strict naming conventions or keep it looser?

I’m less worried about backups and more about quickly finding the exact file I need in the middle of a deadline.

So this might be a bit long but pls bear with me.

Hi so I'm a budding artist and design aspirant. I do acrylic painting, sketching and crafting. Now these days I have been seeing on instagram how everything is wrong in art.

All my life I have been using references or something. For example for paintings i usually take a tutorial step by step or a picture and recreate it. How else would I know where to give highlights and shadows and the correct shades ?

Even with crafting each and every one of my works were either pinterest inspired or a yt tutorial.

Same with live sketching, your looking at a scenery or whatever now is that wrong ?

Now about drawing I used references or maybe from my imagination but the others ? Ofc art can be created beautifully from imagination but for these elements you need references and you need tutorials sometimes. Nobody is a pro. Does that make me a bad artist?

I really would love ppl's opinion on this. Feel free to comment.