Graphic Design: A profession in which can create meaningful and impactful work by visually communicating information. A job in which we could potentially work from a laptop anywhere in the world, and to be paid $1 million to redesign the Pepsi logo. To some, it sounds like a dream job. It, however, does not seem as great as what it's made out to be. While the world gets to see the end results of our work, they are oblivious to the many real nightmares us graphic designers have to deal with behind the scenes. Here are 10 struggles that only graphic designers would understand and have to deal with on a constant basis:
01. WE CAN'T STAND UGLY OR IMPROPERLY USED FONTS
Okay... I have a cringy secret that I must admit. In elementary/middle school, I loved using Jokerman on ALL of my PowerPoint slides. It just seemed so creative and cool, and it stood out from the “boring” fonts. Luckily, I know better now. I absolutely cringe when I see legit businesses use Jokerman within their logo and signage. Like, yikes!😬 Sorry to break the news, but it screams unprofessionalism and tackiness.
Also, COMIC SANS. Let's.... just leave it at that, okay?
Speaking of fonts, another terrible thing that people just don’t understand and us designers can’t get through some people's heads: STOP USING 4+ FONTS ON A DESIGN! Again, it does not look professional! It also doesn’t allow a business to narrow down their branding so that they can speak directly to their target audience. It just looks like they don't have a plan.
02. WHEN PEOPLE THINK WE CAN QUICKLY WHIP UP A LOGO
People don’t realize the immense amount of time put into design work. There are endless hours of research into target markets, competitors, inspiration, and more. And behind every logo, there are 100 versions that didn’t make the cut.
03. WHEN CLIENTS SEND YOU PHOTOS IN A WORD OR SHEET DOC
I don’t know how this became a thing and why people think it is okay, but it is soooo frustrating! It is nearly impossible to extract a good quality photo from these files. Just send us the actual png or jpeg—PLEASE!
Pro Tip: You CAN extract a photo from Google Docs. Just go to File>Share>Publish to web, and then you can right click and save as image.
04. PEOPLE THINK THAT PHOTOSHOP IS THE MAGICAL SOLUTION TO ANY PROBLEM
If a product looks bad, a person misses team photo day, someone blinks, or someone needs a crazy, epic scene using these poor quality, tacky photos… "yOu KnOw PhOtoShOp, RiGhT?" Please, we are no wizard or fairy godmother that will bibbidy-bobbidy-boo people's problems away.
05. WHEN YOU HAVE TO CHANGE A DESIGN FOR THE 100TH TIME... TO THE FIRST ONE.
No further explanation here. Like, really? C’mon ☠︎︎
Protect yourself and your time. Within all of your contracts, make sure you clearly state how many revisions a client gets and how much you are charging for additional revisions.
06. ADOBE PROGRAMS CRASHING
Save yourself, and Ctrl/Comm+S the living daylights out of it!
07. A FLASH DRIVE OR FILE BECOMES CORRUPTED
This happened to me twice in college. Back-to-back, I had two highly in-depth projects that were nearly done... and then my flash drives got corrupted. I had to redo those projects ALL. OVER. AGAIN. 😭
To help prevent this, make sure your flash drive is formatted to PC, MAC, or both (depending on what you are using) before putting any files on it! Also, save your files EVERYWHERE. Save a copy on your desktop, upload it to Google Drive, have an online cloud that backs everything up, or even save it to an extra flash drive. Save a back-up of your back-up, and a back-up of that. There is no such thing as overdoing it here! You may never need them, but it'll come in clutch if you do.
08. PEOPLE ASKING FOR A DISCOUNT OR FREE EXPOSURE
I was asked multiple times for discounts from friends, family, or other people I know. This is sometimes fine with me, but only if it’s reasonable. I have also been asked to design things for FREE, and that it'll gain me exposure or something to add to my portfolio. No thank you. I already have a portfolio, and us designers also have bills to pay too.
09. NOT GIVING US THE PROPER TOOLS TO WORK WITH
How are we expected to create high quality, professional designs when given tiny, blurry pictures and a pixelated logo without a clear background? We can only create through the tools that are given to us. Sure we can vectorize a logo and make certain things look better, but only so much is achievable—especially within the time or pay given.
Oh, and there are also those who tell us to just grab their logo off of their website or to write copy for them without supplying us with information, which isn’t found anywhere online to look up. Sooo…. what are we supposed to do again??? 😕
10. MaaaKe iT pOp!
Aaaaaand let's not forget our favorite: MaaaKe iT pOp. What in the world does that mean? Make it pop? How? Clients need to trust us as designers that we know what we are doing. Balance and hierarchy is important, and “making it pop” can ruin the whole thing. Oh, and by the way… there are other ways to increase hierarchy/attention other than “making it bigger.”
In the End
Although there are times that I want to scream into a pillow or give up on a certain project, I wouldn't trade this profession for the world. Creating and helping other people is what I live for! Sure, there are some struggles and frustrations, but there are no professions without any. And the pros far outweigh the cons 😀
How many of these situations have you faced? Got any others? Just know that you are not alone. Us other designers are on the same struggle bus, and we feel your pain.
If you are a designer who really connected to this blog, make sure to save the pin below and to follow my socials for more related content! And, if by chance you are someone who is looking for a legit designer based in strategy that can transform your business, you have come to the right place! We can connect by you submitting a inquiry form here.
I look forward to personally connecting more with you!
- Tori Amber
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