How hard is the life of a graphic designer?


Who hasn't ever said / thought / shouted: why didn't I dedicate myself to something else? This post is dedicated to all of them, those who on some occasion have had breakfast with a lost gaze while planning the annihilation of the human race, starting with customers and ending with accounts. The execution of all human beings except the designers, of course.

We are going to review common situations that many designers have experienced. Spoiler attention for students and future designers: you can continue with your design degree, or read this post and flee the country. You can always start a new life with a fake identity and a real job. 

1. DESIGN WITH A CUSTOMER / BOSS ON THE SHOULDER

It is difficult to work feeling his breath on the nape of the neck, his eyes fixed on the screen, and his enriching comments such as: A little to the right / More to the left / Put it in bold / That is not understood / Look for one more type cool / Mr. Wonderful type / Too modern. It can be stressful and you got to know how to deal with the stress.

2. MAKE A SMALL EFFORT

It is very frequent that in times with high peaks of work (in agency the average is 340 days a year) they ask you to make an effort. That means that you have to put in extra hours, since there is an important project in hand and you cannot fail. The customer is God, and your design is the offering. It must arrive in time so that God does not get angry and strike us down with his anger. It's time to hear things like: This is what our job has / If we lose this account… (they won't be able to renew you) / I've tried to change the meeting (he lies while sighing) / Tomorrow you can come in a little later (exactly 10 minutes later ) / I don't care, this has to come out / What are you doing this weekend?

3. PROFESSIONAL FRUSTATION AND ENVY


When you have some free time, you decide to see what other designers or studios do. Then you instantly envy them. You see brilliant work, spectacular designs that you would kill for just to have them in your portfolio. It's inspiring, but at the same time discouraging, because you find that you will never be able to do things like that, at least not in your current job. Then in your head you hear things like: Normal, they will have a lot of time to do it / If I did something like that, they would never approve / It is not so bad, I could do it better (yes, we all come up) / I would like to see those in an agency / Tomorrow I update my portfolio / All that is tricks / I've seen that before / That looks a lot like… / I'm going to follow them on Linkedin, let's see if…

4. THE CUSTOMER'S RESPONSE

You have passed the screening of the accounts department and finally your design reaches the client. It is now when you receive their feedback, exactly 10 minutes before the end of your workday. You get nervous because a part of you tells you that something is wrong. You start to read the email, hopeful at first, but little by little your anger is increasing because you read things like: I think you have not understood me / I like it a lot, could I see another option? / Put it in blue, that purple is from Podemos / Use the type of option 1, with the color of option 2 and the claim of option 3. Otherwise great / I like the logo, but give me 20 or 30 mockups to get an idea of ​​how it would look / It's fine, but in the end we keep what we had / Give it to me in powerpoint so we can edit it ourselves.

5. THE FEEDBACK OF THE ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

You have already finished your design and decide to send it to accounts. It's time to enjoy those minutes of glory and satisfaction after a job well done. Specifically 3 minutes. It is the time it takes to receive the email from the account on duty with their feedback. It's time to read phrases like:Very cool, but I do not see it / I like it, but the client will not like it / Give him more affection, that this client is very important / Okay, but give me 3 more proposals and that the client chooses, so we don't we complicate 😉/ I don't understand / He won't let me see it, give me a JPG.

Hope everyone keep a positive mind. Maybe it's no that bad right? It's just my view as a visual adventurer.




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