I’ve got two degrees (a BA and an AS) and about seven years of experience, but none it is very impressive. I think my portfolio isn’t bad - it needs work, but it could be so much worse. But I’ve only had two graphics positions, and a little bit of freelance. The first one was for five years and I did the same thing for all five years (and was the entire department). I could go back there, but 1) I really really don’t want to do that work again, because it was sooo boring, 2) I don’t like the salesmen there either, 3) the boss is a pain, and 4) I left because I didn’t get paid for like four months (I did get my money, and I’ve worked some freelance for them since). The second one was for a few months and, again, it was a tiny company (actually two companies in one building). I’m never working someplace with no lunch room again (I tend to pack a lunch and having to eat at my desk or outside on the grass sucks.)
I don’t really want to do freelance. I like having a regular paycheck and a boss. I’d like to be able to work with other designers. I keep throwing my resume out there and not getting any responses. Where are the jobs for the lower-level designers?
I’m currently working a temp job and the temptation to quit and try to start freelance is overwhelming. (I can’t do it right now because by the time I get home and have dinner it’s eight and I have no creative energy. And I don’t really want to work the whole weekend - I’d like to socialize and work on hobbies. And y’know, do housework and laundry and stuff.)
The fact that I have no savings is about the only thing keeping me in check (I have no savings because I’m trying to pay off my debt.) On the other hand, I don’t have to worry about rent or car payments…
Step 1: Make your portfolio amazing. Great jobs want people who can do great work, and you need to be able to prove you can do great work by showing the great work you’ve already done. You rarely get a second chance to make a first impression, so don’t burn great opportunities by showing a mediocre portfolio and planning to come back with a better one later. I have seen that work, but it’s exceedingly rare. Remember that there are a whole lot of people who think they’re graphic designers without being any good at it. The last thing you want is to come across as one of those people. Top tier jobs see huge numbers of applications, and you need to stand out.
You don’t need a job or a client to improve your portfolio. Give yourself assignments and work hard on them. Do the absolute best work you can, then throw it out and do it better. Be ruthless when choosing work for your portfolio. If it doesn’t blow you away, it doesn’t belong.
Yeah. I’ve got probably a dozen things started, but I put up the things I had. (I’m not sure if I’m being overly harsh or overly kind by this point.) It’s at www.lydeanworks.com if you want to give an opinion.
It took me a while to figure out where I’d seen that web design style before. It isn’t quite Geocities, but it’s close. I think its actually the film industry’s idea of the Internet in the late 1990s. Don’t really see many moving buttons around these days. Also, the cutout job on your tagline.gif is really bad. You can see a ton of black pixels remaining.
In this day and age, when everyone and their mother has a blocker on because of popups and popunders, why use popups for your site? The best lesson I ever had in web design was “Let the user decide when to open another window” e.g. if you’re linking to an external site, let them know the link will open a new window, but if they’re browsing around in your site, keep straight hrefs and let them decide to open in a new tab or new window as they require.
The site took forever to load for me, and honestly doesn’t look anything like what I’d be looking for when I’m hiring a designer (in the context of top tech companies or creative firms, at least).
For some inspiration, maybe these aren’t the best, but they are some that popped into my head
You really need to simplify and clean up that website a ton. I’ll be blunt: in its current state, I don’t think it will find you much professional work. However, I didn’t have any issue with it taking long to load–it loaded right up for me, and it looks to be a pretty light webpage resource-wise, so I don’t know why FoundWaldo had problems with it.
If you want specific criticisms:
There’s a cacophony of fonts on that page. That homemade-looking orange one, in particular, is amateur. The main body font is fine, but nearly every line of text doesn’t need to be bold, oblique, or both. And the debossed fonts on the asteroids? Illegible. And, I hate to say this because I’m sure it’s become part of your identity, but I’d seriously reconsider the logo, too.
And why the moving asteroids? First, I can’t even read what my menu options are unless I hover over them and get that orange font but, perhaps even more importantly, it’s frustrating as a user to have to navigate a menu that is moving. Why would you do this to someone? You want to make it as easy as possible for interested parties to get to the information they need.
I’m also unclear as to the space background. In general, avoid distracting backgrounds on your webpage.
The colors are also not harmonious. You sort-of have a complementary color scheme going on with the orange and the blue, but then you have this odd pink hotlink, and this dark, red 3D figure on the left (whose presence I don’t understand, either) sitting on a dead blob of grey. It’s visually disjointed.
And then there is the pop-up issue.
Rather than try to fix this design, I think it would be good to start over, sit down, go through other professional web designers web pages for inspiration and ideas, and give it another go.
I’m going to comment merely on the website itself and not the content therein.
I hate to be mean, but I showed this to two friends and former colleagues of mine; one is a concept designer at a large international digital marketing agency, and the other is CEO of a fast-growing digimarketing company here in Finland. One commented “this is so ugly it looks like someone made it ironically” and the other compared the site to the website of the movie Space Jam, whose website is still online and hasn’t been touched since 1996.
All of the criticisms leveled above are spot-on. I would suggest benchmarking other designers: what do they do well? What do you think looks good on their websites? Does someone have a cool little detail on their site that you could draw inspiration from and transfer it into something that’s you? You don’t have to attempt to follow every single latest trend in website layouts slavishly (that way lies the horror of bad drop shadows and overusing word clouds and share buttons), but it’s good to know what looks “current” and what generally looks good and professional. I’ll give you a hint: moving meteors with debossed text - not really. Sorry, but I agree with pulykamell: I think the best course of action would be to rethink the website from scratch and simplify it lots.
Silver Tyger Girl your website looks like a Geocities homage. Please, at the very least, ditch the pop-ups and the meteors. I’d also think twice about linking your personal website with your proffessional one.
Oh now. That’s amazing. I’m so glad I know about this now. I love this kind of internet history!
As an idiot with no artistic ability whatsoever, I think your business card collection looks good. The graphics & packaging are hit & miss. The illustrations & cartoons look juvenile, and need to go away entirely.
The website has been described in detail already.
As a lay person, I would not be that impressed here. I hate to be so tough, but there it is.
My main concern is that you said:
My excuse detector is going off.
If you truly have a dream to become a great graphic designer (or anything in life), then these things need to fall by the wayside. If you commit yourself totally- Learn new techniques, different softwares, etc.- you will begin to network with other designers through whatever continuing education graphic designers do to improve themselves, and the jobs will come to you. Unfortunately, hanging out on the weekends doesn’t get you to that goal.
If you work hard enough, you can get this done. Get crackin’!
You are in LA, which is a huge center for design. This means competition is going to be stiff, so you have to be on your a-game at all times. And graphic design is a really hard field to get into and make decent money in if you are not fantastic. But it’s also a plus for you, since you are surrounded by business and people that do what you want to do.
I agree that I would personally drop the cartoons/comics altogether from your professional page and place them your on your own personal page. Really beef up and focus your portfolio - I would argue that it will be hard to push both design and illustration and excel at both. Redo your website, and keep it simple. (NO STAR BACKGROUNDS!)
I have a lot of friends that do graphic design in NYC, and most companies now want extensive web/flash/coding skills even if you are print-oriented. My best friend works in the book design industry, and she still has to know flash. So I would try to work on your coding skills. I currently do publication and exhibit design, but I got here by starting as a web developer and basically weaseling my way in to where I wanted to go.
The great thing about freelance is that you can find projects that interest you while you work your other job - but I think it would be a really, really bad idea to only freelance if you don’t already have evidence that you can keep enough work coming in to support you. Try to find new small businesses or non-profits and offer to design their identities for cheap. Look at the cheapie newsletters/brochures you see around town that are terrible and call them up asking if they’d like you to redo it. Talk to friends and see if they have any small projects they need graphics for. For someone with your aesthetic, you might also find luck doing e-book covers. You could also try to find local art collectives to join to gain access to like-minded individuals. Start hanging out with other designers/artists and let them know you’re looking for work. If you like the anime/furry art scene, get booths at conventions to showcase your skills and services.
For a low level job, I would try to hit up all the sign/printing/t-shirt stores in your area. It will be boring and corporate while not paying well, but it is good experience. Talk to the owners and ask what they are looking for. Other ideas - You might also target small start-up game devs or apps creators. Try to find local web developer companies and ask if you can intern. Look for other intern positions at museums, galleries, or publishing houses.
Go to the design oriented galleries around you and start trying to meet people while seeing what is current. Devour design blogs and art magazines. At the same time, never stop updating your skills, defining your own style, and doing personal projects all the time. Good luck!
Did you major in graphic design or visual arts in college, or have more than a trivial amount of coursework in the area? Was your work in school critiqued? What kind of reception did it get? What prominent graphic designers have inspired or influenced you? Do you subscribe to any graphic design trade magazines? Without searching online, what are some examples of Humanist typefaces? What typeface was prominent in campaign materials in the Obama presidential campaign? Who designed the IBM logo? Do you know how to use Adobe Illustrator? Adobe InDesign?
As well as what others have said, most of what I’m seeing on your site has a nerdy theme. There’s not much range in the work you’re choosing to put on display.
Well, fuck me. I thought the site was good (I’m not happy with the pop-ups, but I couldn’t get it to work any other way), but I guess I worked with it too long to be objective. I just finished the damn thing. I wanted something the reflected me - scifi, comic books, a bit childish. I guess I’ll just scrap it all (dammit) and go with a blog thingy that’ll be boring and like everybody else. Fuck.
And, I’m not dropping the comics. I want to do character design. There’s no way I’m going to get that job without that stuff in my portfolio. It needs to be expanded, but I haven’t had a chance.
And I know it sounds like I’m making excuses why I can’t do stuff, but seriously, I get up at 6:30, I leave at 7:00, I get home at 6:30ish, have dinner, clean up and then it’s 8-8:30 and I’m wiped out. I get half-days on Friday and between then and Monday, have to do housework, laundry, talk to my family and deal with whatever they’re doing (I can’t work while Dad is running the vacuum all day Saturday or tearing up the kitchen all weekend - I can’t concentrate). I try to work on creative stuff, but I have a dozen projects - writing, updating my website (which desperately needs to be done…), redoing my portfolio apparently (did I mention ‘fuck’?), redoing my mom’s site which she has been bugging me about, trying to make up some designs to sell on stuff on etsy, making comics, etc etc etc. Seriously, I have grocery bag full of just sketchs, notes, and things. Plus folders and folders to organize on my computer. And sometimes I’m just fucking tired and want to watch TV all weekend. Which then I feel guilty about because I should at least do something while I do that.
I’m not made for 70 hour weeks or whatever. I’ll admit, I’m somewhat lazy and I don’t have the best time management skills, which is why I don’t really want to work freelance, but I’m fucking sick of this temp job and crappy graphic jobs where I have to completely reorganize EVERYTHING so things don’t take three and four times longer than they should, and no one else there seems to care or back me up. (The job where I didn’t get paid for four months or whatever? Best job I’ve had, because at least I had authority and everyone thought I was awesome. But I won’t deal with the boss and his love of a five year old version of CorelDraw that he insists everything has to be able to go into so he can fuck up everything any more.)
I couldn’t get it to work any other way (I was trying to use something like hi-slide, but I couldn’t get it to work).
Those are boring and I wanted something that reflected me. I guess reflecting yourself isn’t acceptable anymore.
The tagline is a professional comic font from Blambot. Because I use a comic aesthetic.
You do realize you don’t have to hit the actual asteroids, right?
The logo is fine and not changing. It may not work well on that page (because apparently I’m an idiot), but it reflects me and my style.
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The colors are also not harmonious. You sort-of have a complementary color scheme going on with the orange and the blue, but then you have this odd pink hotlink, and this dark, red 3D figure on the left (whose presence I don’t understand, either) sitting on a dead blob of grey. It’s visually disjointed.
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I, uh, tend to heavily like avatars and anthropormorphics, thus she’s me (sorta - if she was me, she’d be blue and have wings).
I’ve seen portfolios from people that are more exciting that another boxy, bloggy, boring thing. Obviously, I didn’t hit the right note (did I mention, I’ve been working on that since May, off and on? fuuuuuuck). And apparently, I like starscapes a little too much (not my fault!).
I had someone say they liked it, but he’s not a designer, so, y’know it doesn’t really mean anything.
I wish I could show you guys my old one. It more boring. Quick description - it was based off manila folders, with a polaroid of me and post-notes leading the parts of the portfolio. No animation. Does that sound better or do I have to go with the boringness?
I really don’t want to learn Flash. I don’t think I can, first of all (I know, I know, negative attitude). I know I can’t teach myself and I don’t really want to take more classes. I just can’t seem to learn programming stuff - probably bad teachers (my Flash teacher, who I think sympathy passed me, used all pre-existing scripts. Which I find less than helpful).
Here, I was going for something like this: http://www.loungelizard.com/ sorta style, although obviously I overdid it on the movement. Just something more personal and exciting (I can find more examples, but I’m supposed to be working. At this job that I’m growing to loathe, except that everyone is really nice, they feed us regularly, and I get half of Friday off.
I really don’t enjoy doing webdesign, although I can do it (my personal site is somewhat better - www.curiouslylydean.net - although I need to update, and I’m going to be reformatting a bit - removing backgrounds and such. I’m going for something like Lileks.com, except aimed for younger people.)
I’d be willing to move, except I can’t afford to right now and people don’t want to hire people who are living out of their car. And, uh, I’ve never found a place (I’ve lived on my own, but after my sister found the place and moved out.) I’ll be 30 this year and I just want to get my career started, y’know?
To tangent a little, any recommendations for stuff to learn to be a package designer, software-wise? I’m thinking CAD?
Oh, and any designer blogs to follow?
Wow, that is srsly tl:dr. Sorry, I’m not summarizing, except, yes I will be changing the site, but FUCK. If I work up some sketches can I get feedback BEFORE I spend six months or something that’ll look like crap?
I know approximately zero about graphic design, but I’ll give you a piece of advice that’s relevant to the job climate we’re experiencing, and to creative fields in general. When you’re young and starting out, don’t limit your job opportunities based on lunchrooms, whether the work is boring, whether or not you like your coworkers, or whether or not your boss is a pain. Not getting paid…ok, that’s a good reason to leave a job. The other stuff, not so much. KEEP WORKING. GET EXPERIENCE. ALL work is boring sometimes (yes, even fun stuff like graphics). ALL coworkers are annoying. ALL bosses are a pain in the ass. A lot of companies don’t have stuff like lunchrooms. This stuff will dog you the rest of your life, and none of it matters right now. What matters is building your resume, learning stuff, and making money. That’s it.
I was wondering that myself when I looked through the website, and I didn’t see anything on the resume that would give me a clue. The degrees are just given as BA and AS.
This is not to say you need any degree to be good or even taken seriously in the visual arts. Not at all. Nobody gives a damn where you went to school or what you studied, as long as your work is good. But there’s a lot to learn out there, and a structured learning environment with easily accessible resources for honest critiques is very important to many people.
