being a designer sucks

i'm really beginning to loathe my job as an art director/creative director/designer. everyone tries to do my job and tell me what to do but only after I have created something from my head. then they descend like a pack of vultures so they can say what they want done even though they haven't a creative bone in their body. they have to lift their leg on the project to justify their meaningless jobs. I'm lost as to what to do. find a new studio? change careers in my late 30s? I keep going through the same thing.

if it really pisses you off just quit, but before you do secure another job. you don't want to get sucked into inbetween job limbo. i'm in one now. it sucks.

  On 3/15/2012 at 7:52 PM, jules said:

i'm really beginning to loathe my job as an art director/creative director/designer. everyone tries to do my job and tell me what to do but only after I have created something from my head. then they descend like a pack of vultures so they can say what they want done even though they haven't a creative bone in their body. they have to lift their leg on the project to justify their meaningless jobs. I'm lost as to what to do. find a new studio? change careers in my late 30s? I keep going through the same thing.

I am showing people 2-3 different versions of what I am after so they kind of know what they will see at the end. then I get as close to this as possible. makes it much easier for me and them.

I'm sorry to hear that. That sounds fucking annoying :(

  On 3/15/2012 at 7:56 PM, o00o said:

  On 3/15/2012 at 7:52 PM, jules said:

i'm really beginning to loathe my job as an art director/creative director/designer. everyone tries to do my job and tell me what to do but only after I have created something from my head. then they descend like a pack of vultures so they can say what they want done even though they haven't a creative bone in their body. they have to lift their leg on the project to justify their meaningless jobs. I'm lost as to what to do. find a new studio? change careers in my late 30s? I keep going through the same thing.

 

I am showing people 2-3 different versions of what I am after so they kind of know what they will see at the end. then I get as close to this as possible. makes it much easier for me and them.

This is pretty much the standard way of presenting your work to the client. 3 is the perfect number... 4 or more is overkill. oh wait jules, you work at a firm or company right? and the middle man is telling you what to do? That sucks! I've been there with my last job. doing freelance now so it's much easier dealing with clients first hand. Especially when they don't know anything and gobble up what you do for them.

^ yes.

the account people get involved and play creative director. it's really fucking annoying. many things get killed before we can even present them to the client. and not killed for strategic purposes, killed just to say im above you, when really they are not, but they get away with it.

I hear ya man. I was on my way to a design career but stopped because I just didn't have the patience. It can be really taxing when your client doesn't know what they want, but doesn't like what you come up with or constantly wants to change things without understanding how much effort is involved. Its great when they trust your ideas or judgement but that seems to be a rare thing these days. Even worse when some higher up poops all over your work because they have their own axe to grind.

I used to do layout work and had this one massively complicated job putting together a 4 page medical records NCR form. Each page was different with certain elements that had to line up on all 4 pages, elements that had to black out private info, etc. The spacing needs were intense, so much data, and after months of coordinating and laying it out so it all worked some higher up insisted that we rearrange the whole thing because he wanted it to be landscape instead of portrait. So I did, and then he was like "Hey your right, portrait is better".

oy

asym, how did you get on your own? i cant imagine building a client base big enough to offset my salary while still at work, yet i can't leave work to pursue that because of financial reasons.

also, this may be personal and do not feel like you have to answer but is your wife the bread winner? of all of my designer friends, i am the only one who makes more than their spouse. all the other designers are the lower income of the couple.

i need to get on my own but i have no idea how to make what i am making at an agency without losing my house.

Solution - a.head and jules form new design agency which will best tdr in album covers for warp.

  On 3/15/2012 at 7:52 PM, jules said:

i'm really beginning to loathe my job as an art director/creative director/designer. everyone tries to do my job and tell me what to do but only after I have created something from my head. then they descend like a pack of vultures so they can say what they want done even though they haven't a creative bone in their body. they have to lift their leg on the project to justify their meaningless jobs. I'm lost as to what to do. find a new studio? change careers in my late 30s? I keep going through the same thing.

People likes to take decisions, I'd say just try to get them involved in your creations so they feel them as their's so they don't piss you off. Don't forget that between the ideas and the real thing there's a lot of hard work to do, and if they don't get your ideas the right way it will probably be done wrong. And who knows... sometimes adding the good stuff from other ideas to yours makes a better creation, but that should be up to you.

I took a year of graphic design after being very interested in the visual arts and whatnot in my teens. I gave it up because I figured it would be too hard to build a client base while working a full time dead-end job and also because I have the social skills of a 16th century hermit. So I took a bachelors degree in economics instead, started on my masters, dropped out cause of boredom, took a few jobs, dropped them cause they were totally monotonous and depressing and am now back in uni studying accounting. I'm now 26, live with my parents, haven't held a real job for more than a year and am failing my studies because I hate them, but I go on so that I can get a study loan to live off of and repay sometime in the future.

Anyways, not sure what I'm trying to say. I know "it could be worse" isn't comforting at all when you're up to your knees in shit but there you go.

just dance

  On 3/15/2012 at 9:04 PM, jules said:

oy

 

 

 

asym, how did you get on your own? i cant imagine building a client base big enough to offset my salary while still at work, yet i can't leave work to pursue that because of financial reasons.

 

also, this may be personal and do not feel like you have to answer but is your wife the bread winner? of all of my designer friends, i am the only one who makes more than their spouse. all the other designers are the lower income of the couple.

 

i need to get on my own but i have no idea how to make what i am making at an agency without losing my house.

This is my second stint in freelance. I first did it while working around 2003 - 2007. Back then it was mostly just doing business cards and stationery for small businesses. I stopped when I moved to Florida to concentrate all efforts in keeping the job I had there. It turned out to be a good move, but then made the pretty bad decision in moving back to California. I rebranded myself and started up again around late 2010 when I moved to Murrieta, CA. I have about 4 clients right now that are constant. Most work I'm doing is branding for small businesses. I really don't know the first thing about hustling. But I'm pretty good at dealing with people once I have their interest.

So far I had one situation where I was doing a site and logo design for a client. He was really passionate about the logo designs I came up with, he picked one of the 3 I made, asked for some color revisions and I was done. We made business cards and he was really excited. I was about halfway done with his site with a template that he chose and he calls me and says "I was talking to my friends, and they weren't too keen on the logo!" I was like "Maybe you should have gotten their opinion before you finalized it?" He then asked if I can redo it and I of course told him that it will cost him since There was a window cling made for his office, a banner on the side of the building, and stationary. He told me that he'll think about it. A few days later, I call him to advise him that his site was done, then he was all like "I'm going to do the site myself with iWeb!'' I told hime "good luck with that!" and never talked to him. I passed by his business about a week ago and the logo I designed is still up as well as the banner. I went online to check the website and some abomination is up! In a way, I felt pretty insulted that he decided against the website I designed and went with such putrid muck of a site.

  On 3/15/2012 at 9:12 PM, chenGOD said:

Solution - a.head and jules form new design agency which will best tdr in album covers for warp.

Now that isn't such a bad idea!

Oh Yeah... My wife is the bread winner!

create your own product line and start banking it. all it takes is a domain, some html, and a zip file.

http://photoshoptexteffects.com/

http://www.mystockvectors.com/

http://arsenal.gomed...op-brushes.html

etc, etc.

I'm an interaction designer and it's exactly the same. No one respects your job in the "i have no business trying to do this persons job" sense, like they do with the developers, analysts and managers.

The key is basically to prove your value and become a trusted expert as soon as you can, so that people will show you a bit of respect

For me it's become a lot easier lately because I am in house at a largeish company. I can point to products I've already designed for the same company and basically say "look, I did that. now shut up and listen to me"

also there are lots of strategies on blogs etc for dealign with this sort of overentusiastic stakeholder

I highly recommend The Inmates Are Running The Asylum by Alan Cooper

jazz band. you posted this exact thread about 6 months ago. try a change of studio. or go freelance.

  On 3/15/2012 at 7:52 PM, jules said:

i'm really beginning to loathe my job as an art director/creative director/designer. everyone tries to do my job and tell me what to do but only after I have created something from my head. then they descend like a pack of vultures so they can say what they want done even though they haven't a creative bone in their body. they have to lift their leg on the project to justify their meaningless jobs. I'm lost as to what to do. find a new studio? change careers in my late 30s? I keep going through the same thing.

Man I hear you. I can easily say I've spent more energy building relationships with people I worked with inside an agency than making a design that is good and meets the needs of a client. I started working in agency about seven years ago when I was at the beginning of my studies which I later dropped because I thought my job would bring me better experience than college. It frustrated me to the point where I almost gave up on design.

I'm freelancing for the last two years. I earn less than I did before, but it helps me to focus more, and I think I can deliver better stuff. It does bring a whole new deal of responsibility and discipline, but I believe that is all a good thing. Slowly the world opens itself and you start see opportunities and realize it's really not that hard if you love what you're doing. Now that I think back working at Grey, and all that corporate intimidiation shit they had, I must say that environment is bad to my health and karma.

Then a day comes, when it seems that everything I work is devoid of meaning and social relevance...like when my effort seems invane. That's hard to deal with, certainly because the sought solutions of the market are such. And people who run the market can be real stupid fucks, who just copy others. It's most frustrating to cope with "make it look like it's expensive and prestigious so we can sell it with higher price", or "make it look like Apple, with icons, but not quite like that...I'm sure you can come up with a whole set of polished icons and develop the whole interface just for the screenshot....It's not like that actually, but we should make it look like it's well done."

See?

design yourself a new job

It takes a special kind of masochist to work for a corporation. Usually a soulless one.

  On 3/16/2012 at 6:17 AM, kaen said:

design yourself a new job

as a fellow graphic designer (i work in motion graphic design) and somebody who talked to you about problems at work in some other thread a while back, jules, i admittedly feel bad that this made me lol a little bit.

  On 3/15/2012 at 7:52 PM, jules said:

i'm really beginning to loathe my job as an art director/creative director/designer. everyone tries to do my job and tell me what to do but only after I have created something from my head. then they descend like a pack of vultures so they can say what they want done even though they haven't a creative bone in their body. they have to lift their leg on the project to justify their meaningless jobs.

http://hoveringartdi...ors.tumblr.com/

fucking LOL ^^

How could you not just turn around and pop one in the fucking jaw.

On th other hand, maybe they're not looking at corporate art. Maybe they're all watching the apple keynote.

Confront your superior(s) about your design work if they are wrong. Don't bullshit around. Be assertive without being an asshole. You are the expert on design, they are relying on your professional opinion. Some of your troubles seem like the result of poor communication. Be open to their suggestions. If a superior suggests something dumb tell them why it won't work. If you're presented with a vague suggestion ask them to clarify. (Not saying you are, but) if you act like a noddy whimp people will strain you like spagetti, and leave you in a cold bowl. And just when you're settled they'll pour scalding tomato sauce in your face, stab you with a fork, and chide you with flaky parmesan lullabies just before devouring your soul.

If you are truly fed up with middle-management, and are brave enough to break away, figure out what your firm is charging your clients, and then proceed to contact the clients and undercut your firm. You will have more freedom, and by creating your own business you can hire other people to help you. Get someone who's only responsibility is to find new clients. Create design proposals and present them to current local businesses. Build your reputation with clients and they'll refer you. Who are the most successful designers in the world? What are they doing that makes them successful? Learn, emulate, adapt, innovate. Or maybe you're fed up... ask yourself, "what would I rather be doing with my time?" and make steps towards doing that now.

  On 3/16/2012 at 7:31 AM, scones to die for said:

  On 3/15/2012 at 7:52 PM, jules said:

i'm really beginning to loathe my job as an art director/creative director/designer. everyone tries to do my job and tell me what to do but only after I have created something from my head. then they descend like a pack of vultures so they can say what they want done even though they haven't a creative bone in their body. they have to lift their leg on the project to justify their meaningless jobs.

 

 

http://hoveringartdi...ors.tumblr.com/

holy lol!