Is a career as a graphic design sustainable long term?

Reality vs Reality at University

Looming deadlines and high expectations surround the table of a staffed production artist or graphic designer. Multiple projects overlap. It’s always a balancing act. At first this can be fun and almost thrilling to maintain and thrive in a high pressure job environment. Not all graphic design jobs are high pressure. However, for most it’s sadly a world of deadlines and recycled graphic designers and life-work balance has become even more difficult to maintain. Every time new management is hired, you might be replaced also. No one ever tells you that. Pressure mounts continuously that you might be replaced by a new hire or that your performance might slow. The excitement of designing the next best thing for a product, tradeshow, or printed material can be addictive. The flashy part of this career can be alluring. You fall in love the “oh that’s great” or “Oh I love that” when your work is reviewed and work towards that. However, is a career in graphic design really sustainable in a modern world? Burn out affects everyone.

When you run out of inspiration you can be fired or replaced.

Graphic design is different from every other field because once you burn out, your performance drags or halts. It’s the type of field where lacking inspiration can make you lose your job. I’m going to repeat this now. A lot of people don’t tell you this in design school. They don’t tell you that you can be fired for not having the same design taste as your manager. I saw it happen at more than one job. This is possibly the single most important thing anyone could tell you. If when you burn out, you don’t have ideas, lack creativity like a normal human, or you’re not a robot, then don’t pursue graphic design as a career. This brings me to reality number #2.

It’s under paid.

You have to move to cities you don’t want to live in to get a decent living wage. For example, you need a higher degree like an MA to get paid what you are worth, AND you will have to move to a major city to make enough money to live. This also means you might have to commute if you’re not keen on living in a big city.

Look up what the current wage is for graphic design here. Compare it with current rent prices. This is something I wish I had done in college when counselors encouraged me to pursue what I was passionate about, or encouraged me to go into a certain field because THAT department didn’t have enough enrolled students to keep running. This is a real thing. Education is not there to point you in the right direction. They are there to keep enrollment numbers up and graduation rates high.

Another problem you might encounter is that not only do you make less than manager positions with a higher degree, you might also be working more hours. In most cases you work more hours than you are paid for. If you get stuck working for a company or product you’re not passionate about, this might become a nightmare real quick.

Graphic design is different from every other field because once you burn out, your performance drags or halts. It’s the type of field where lacking inspiration can make you lose your job.

I’m writing this after working in the field for over 13 years.

Can anyone truly be inspired to do the best work they’ve ever imagined — constant? I ask this question because I wasn’t able to be. There are many designers who are extremely passionate about design and have made it their life. I don’t think this is sustainable. This is because “the idea of a designer” at most companies does not line up with what a designer really is. I’ve worked more than 6 design positions. In all of those, I was only hired onto 1 where I actually did graphic design work. I had a recruiter complain that I had too many samples from that one job. It left me feeling confused. If that was the only company I was designing for at the time, why is it a problem? She wanted to see side projects. The reality is you don’t have time for many side projects when you are designing all day for someone else 40+ hours a week.

What do you think? What has your experience been. I would love to hear from you. Feel free to shoot me an email if you’d like to discuss this topic more.