r/graphic_design

Hey everyone, I just wanted to vent cause this weeks been pretty hard.

I’m a packaging and branding designer for a large toy company, iv interned with them, and have been a full time member for a year now, my bosses and co-workers are some of the most kind, understanding, talented people Iv ever met, yet I’m finding time and time again I’m making mistakes, specifically legal mistakes on sizing, and warnings, mistakes that matter.

The way the business works is when I release a file for production it’s out of our hands and we won’t hear about it for months until production mocks are shown to us, it’s creating a situation where I have at least 4 projects from months ago with mistakes I wasn’t aware of that would cause real problems. Problems idek if we can fix now because it’s so far in production.

I understand I’m new and the youngest designer, but I have such bad anxiety and I work such long hours now so I make sure mistakes iv made before don’t repeat. I just feel like the damage is already done and I’ll disappoint everyone and possibly negatively affect my bosses. It’s like every MONTH 3 times a month we notice mistakes iv made and have to do backflips to fix them, then when I relax and think it’s ok I find out there’s so much more I missed. With the tariffs and war now we’ve been on red alert trying to save money and my fuckups won’t help this if reprints happen.

I’m trying so hard now to be better, I just wish I wasn’t so neglectful of rules and regulations before, and I wish I had asked more questions, triple checked my work, and done mock prints more diligently.

I’m scared I’ll lose my position at this gold opportunity, I’m stressed because it’s all I think about, and I’m worried I’ll disappoint if I’m brutally honest. I know all I can do now is try and fix what I can and move forward with better systems and mindfulness, which I’m REALLY trying to do, I just feel doomed I feel like I need to express it instead of bottling it up like I have been

Long rant ahead…

TLDR: I’ve fallen behind and I’m finding the job market (and my portfolio) make me want to crawl under a rock.

After surviving two corporate acquisitions and pivoting from graphic design, to product design, to web design, the latest corporation went bankrupt and belly up and now I find myself unemployed. I had seen the writing on the wall for a few months but actually getting an email with a letter of termination 3 days before what would’ve been my 21 year work anniversary was quite gut wrenching. No severance, just my remaining PTO balance and a swift kick in the arse.

I feel a lot like I did when I first graduated from college in a bad job market and struggled to find a design job. I eventually did find one with the help of a creative recruiter, and I’ve worked steadily since then, well, until like 5 weeks ago.

After two decades with a corporate gig (the last 14 years working remote in a state where I know no one) I’ve admittedly fallen behind on design trends and systems. Every job I’m seeing on LinkedIn (which already has hundreds of applicants by the time I see it) mentions Canva, Figma, and project management tools I’ve never used (Trello and SmartSheet are the only ones I have experience in). I’ve Googled them and know what they are, and I will definitely have to go to my most trusted source of tutorials (YouTube), but in the meantime I’m without any experience in them.

I’ve got a portfolio website I put together that I personally like, but after looking at some portfolios of younger, more current designers, I realize now mine is extremely reserved, very corporate looking and not the least bit edgy nor maximalist. I also committed the sin of showing my work by category (branding, packaging, web design, etc.) vs. by project, because I never had the opportunity to do a full branding project like someone at an agency or a more tech/health designer would. The area I was in was very much design a logo here, layout a package there, design a marketing website here, etc. It was a very non-tech consumer goods (not sexy at all) field of work.

I live in a metro area of a thriving city. I know there are design jobs out there, but I’m no longer the young enthusiast graphic designer I once was. I’m in my late 40’s and I’ve never had an Art Director or Creative Director title. I’m not qualified for those positions and I’m probably over qualified for entry level design jobs, but probably over looked anyway because my design skills are not current. But I’m reliable, I have strong banding and Photoshop skills, I have worked with some recognizable big brands, I interview well and I’m a great communicator. So I have that going for me I guess 😂

I know I’m not the only one struggling right now. I had it good for longer than some of you reading this have been alive! I never took it for granted. I was thankful for the opportunity, income, health insurance—my god it’s expensive when you have a family and a corporation is no longer paying a huge chunk of your health insurance—flexibility of working from home, steady work, feeling of contributing, etc.

Has anyone else been in my situation? Was there any key thing you did to better yourself or help your chance of landing a job (shoot just getting an actual response) in a saturated job market? Any career changes you’re glad you made? I was thinking about Marketing Coordinator or Project Manager, but I don’t know how to break into those fields without prior experience.

Thanks for listening 🤪

Playboi Carti poster, i was looking more for that composition editorial kinda look mixed with a pixelated look + some textures. I think i could have added the text a little different here. I was just experimenting with blending modes here + camera gallery to make it bright.

profound pondering poster, i just gathered a bunch of images and tried playing with the drop shadow to create this kinda 3D look then i slapped a gradient map and a bunch of textures.

Gentle Monster Poster, i was aiming for that editorial look mixed with a grunge style, though i think i overdid the grunge texture a little too much. I also tried cutting it and adding a mixed media effect.

2000s style kinda football poster i made, i tried experimenting with halftones and textures combined with this pixelated look. Spent a lot of time on this one just moving around the text and the subjects.

Ethereal poster, my favorite out of everything ive made so far. This poster i was just trying different blending modes and putting a gradient map. I tried practicing also my text layout and grids. Though i dont think i used the grid as a guide for the text haha.

Mirrors edge poster, i used a gradient map for this one and really got inspired by early 2000s video game covers. i was experimenting with blend modes and how i can blend each image together.

Oakley poster i made! i did a different style here of mixed media by cutting and distressing some images of this oakley campaign.

wisp poster i made, went for a grunge and dirty style here with the mix of the ethereal style i did.

Tour de france poster, this was my first time experimenting with grids and mixing them with other textures. i tried going for a kinda rough style with this one or industralist type.

Ye poster, i really experimented with blending modes in photoshop for this one, i was going for that paint splatter kinda style mixed with the grids.

Aphex twin supreme poster, tried making my own layout and experimenting the order between my images. I also tot of using the aphex logo as a pattern for the backgrond.

I started designing the past years as a hobby, specifically because i wanted to make my own posters for my room. So far here are some of the posters i have made. Im very inspired by music, fashion and sports so you can mostly see its music and clothes. Im only 17 and in highschool. Im looking for advice on what i can improve on and what you guys think of my style especially as a teen.

Hey everyone,
I’ve been working on some poster concepts, and I’d love to get your thoughts and advices....

Attaching a few here -

https://preview.redd.it/i25llrpr44tg1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=fb29004819cbc9d54bfb6b614d81e4645ab17a81

https://preview.redd.it/hliu5qpr44tg1.png?width=1587&format=png&auto=webp&s=9f196371f0ee975d46ccdfb8965d688e92bb2bd0

https://preview.redd.it/kzqkbrpr44tg1.png?width=1587&format=png&auto=webp&s=1e102f9996d9c5c6d66075803226c5f7877669d4

https://preview.redd.it/2gr6pspr44tg1.png?width=1587&format=png&auto=webp&s=6638803f24e445d1ea10757df734326e3b2e19a3

https://preview.redd.it/bqv5jrpr44tg1.png?width=1587&format=png&auto=webp&s=69569f92998962e886ca5efa79ef37710f97a28a

https://preview.redd.it/zdp67wnv44tg1.png?width=1587&format=png&auto=webp&s=4b6bbf270d7d3a9f05c5d960b67a2fd1aafb1b48

https://preview.redd.it/ot5bocnv44tg1.png?width=1587&format=png&auto=webp&s=dedb01182906552d2975626e940d7a820154236d

https://preview.redd.it/ll35v4v764tg1.png?width=1024&format=png&auto=webp&s=77c2d946cf408390bf2862bb95d44c4405238887

https://preview.redd.it/2svrh1vje4tg1.png?width=1587&format=png&auto=webp&s=c2488729d8e5dcead1ca4448cf12159a80deaf81

https://preview.redd.it/qil7d2vje4tg1.png?width=1587&format=png&auto=webp&s=3229719d5e8b976c49faee951eb3064814b85a25

https://preview.redd.it/n8ljs0vje4tg1.png?width=1587&format=png&auto=webp&s=d3fd9a4448eaa680e629da553c5eff15365485fe

https://preview.redd.it/fhqcn2vje4tg1.png?width=1024&format=png&auto=webp&s=b0a877cde367fe9bd53f42881acb33c5094b2dd8

Theyre having me skip the initial screening because they liked my portfolio and resume and stuff (idk if they say that to everyone) and are having me do 2 exercises. Theyre both due on Tuesday via email.

One is to clean up a deck which is self explanatory, but for the other one it’s UI. Do you think i should go the extra mile and present it in a designed deck as well and explain my process and show sketches and stuff? Or would they think im too try hard lol. Or should i make a separate pdf deck of all my process? Or should i just include some bullet points in ghe email about my process?

Ive never done a design assignment in an interview before and im super desperate for this job. Also they never asked for me to show process necessarily, im just overthinking rn.

Any advice or tips please 🙏

I'm reaching out to yall designers to see if this job is legit. I received an email today from a company to set up a interview time for next week. However, I did not apply to this company. I thought it was quite strange since I usually record all the jobs I applied for on an excel sheet. I don't mind interviewing for it but I would just like to make sure this is legit.

I haven't responded yet as I wanted to research the company more and see if this is a real invitation. This is what checks out to me:

• The email seems okay. The email is (and I will be censoring): careers@companyname.online
• The message seems like any other recruiter message if they wanted to set up something.
• The person who sent it at the bottom has given and name which I have checked on linkedin to see if they do work there. And they do.
• And they also sent a pdf of the job brief. Which the job description and about us section is a copy and paste of the job posting from their website and other job listing places.

Here is what makes it suspicious:

• The document design template looks slightly pixelated along with the address info at the bottom which isn't like bad but I don't know. Could be a sign?
• In the brief pdf file they attached, at the bottom.... there is a "How to Schedule your interview" section. They said to download signal messenger app and basically create account, start a new conversation with the interview manager (username was provided).
• As I mentioned about the interview manager in my last bullet point, I did try to search her up but found nothing about her.
• And lastly, I don't know if this is a BIG ISSUE but HR person who sent me an email, there was no professional signature. It was basically: First Name Last Name (first line), Position | Company Name (second line). I guess it's not a big no no but usually i would see some sort of like customized signature.

What do you guys think? I also did think of just applying to their application on their website and see if it's the same email (as if I did not see the interview invite), but thats seems bad too.

Something to note: On indeed and some other job listing sites, I did select the option to let recruiters/companys reach out to me if I am a fit for their job.

Hi there, im looking for content and creative case studies online that worth studying, for example real branding case studies of creative projects being explained and rewind on why specific decisions have been made

thanks for all your recommendations!