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here is the delima. i started off in achitecture then switched to graphic design as a major, 5 years and three different schools later. as the need for gainful arose, i took a year-long course for automotive technology. i am 13 classes short of a degree in graphic design, 9 of those classes are core classes. i have been an automotive tech for 4plus years and currently make $18 an hour. i have had plans of finishing school but life happened. i figure max for my current position (without owning my own business) to be in the up to $24 per hour. in anyones opinion, what is the job market like for graphic deign. i have been and artist all my life and have been working with macs and computers since 94. any opinion will be greatly appreciated. please email me at jamalharvey@sbcglobal.net
Depends on where you live. Basically most graphic designers will find work around a metro area. but your best bet is to freelance for the most $$ per hour. The good and fast and experienced ones can go around $55-65 / hour here.
Although the hours will be hectic and if you work for a company, the pay is not that great. Expect to work lots of nights and possibly weekends esp. if you work for an ad agency.
There are often layoffs, esp. if your agency loses a client. And the field is extremely dependent on the economy. Many places hire temps and do their hiring through temp agencies.
Personally I would stick with the auto tech... can you do your fine art on the side?
I work for a company that has 3 fulltime graphic designers and I doubt that any of them are getting paid more than $12-$15 an hour. Look into doing freelance work at night, in a previous job I had a couple of freelance people that I would give work to and I paid them $35-$45 an hour.
Almost every graphic designer that I know of works fulltime for a printing company or design firm until they get enough clients from their freelance work to quit. You should also check your local market to see what graphic designers get paid. I used to live in Phoenix and there was a large graphic design college there, so we could get graphic designers fresh from school really cheap. Some of my clients have also started to outsource their graphic design work to Asia and India. If all you need to do is clean up a logo to print something simple, paying someone overseas $15 an hour is a no brainer.
You really can't outsource a mechanic to India. You'll always be in demand if you know how to fix cars, especially these days when most people don't even know how to open their hood.
Offshoring so far, has not hit the graphic design market in a big way though. I suspect because it requires a high level of english proficiency and communication skill and it is often super-fast turnaround (same day).
Drawbacks: not a stable field and doesn't pay real well unless you freelance, then you get no benefits. Hours can be killer.
Pros: not boring and you get to work with fun creative people.
The few times that I have had to interact with graphic designers overseas I have found a couple of things out. If it is a simple thing like taking a logo and converting it to a PDF or digitizing a logo for embroidery I have had really good luck. But if you need to explain to them that you need room to grab a sheet to feed it into a press or that A4 paper is NOT the standard sheet size in the US, then working with overseas graphic designers is a pain in the rear. Plus, they work when we are sleeping, so if you need to actually talk to them it gets kind of tricky.
micrguy: exactly! You really do have to have good communication skills as a designer you need to work with copywriters, acct. execs, sales force, vendors, other artists, on a daily basis. If you can do just print production work - it is not as crucial - but still impt.
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