Please help

[irishred36]

Hello,
I am a sophomore in high school. I have to write an essay on a career that I would like to pursue. I would appreciate it very much if anyone could assist me by answering a few questions.

1. What type of education do you have?
2. How long have you been doing graphic designing and do you still enjoy it?
3. What got you interested in graphic design?
4. Do you work for a company or do you do independent work?
5. Does your job pay well?
6. How many hours a day do you work?
7. Do you recieve any benefits?
8. Do you work in an office or at home?
9. Do your clients tell you what they want or are you free to design what you want?
10. What type of designing is an option other than posters and cd covers?

If there is anything else you care to add it would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you so much for your help!!!

[PrintDriver]

1. BA
2. Didn't like the stress of design so went into print production
3. Movies- as in scenic artistry. Just as I was about to go into the field a good friend warned me about the coming of CGI. Pixar wasn't even born yet but it was coming.
4. company
5. yes
6. Usually 8, sometimes 10, rarely 12, and once in a great while until it was done (overnight and into the next day).
7. yep.
8. office- with a window!
9. is the greatest misconception, and biggest disappointment in the student world. The only time you ever get to design what you really want is while in school. Enjoy it while you can. Graphic Design is a service industry. Unless you are extremely persuasive and incredibly talented, you will be doing what the client, or your boss, tells you to. There is a difference between being a Creative and being an Artist. Artists tend to starve more.

10. annual reports, power point presentations, stationery, business cards, newspaper ads, magazine layouts...bored yet? (oh yeah, and there is web design too....:D)

Museum exhibits, trade show booths, dimensional signage...now that's more like it.

Anything visually conveying a message is graphically designed. From the newspaper lining the birdcage to the swirly graphics behind the news anchors, from supergraphics wrapping buildings to matchbook covers.

Where did you get the misconception it was all posters and CD covers?

[Virgo Nightingale]

1. BA in Music Industry; AAS in Graphic Design
2. As an amateur, 12 years; professionally, 1.5
3. I'm a very visual person and have a natural artistic talent. GD seemed the most logical way to make a career out of my abilities.
4. For a company
5. Pays less than I'd like to make, but my bills are paid.
6. Usually 8, but sometimes I stay late or take work home and it's more like 10 or 11.
7. Basic HMO health insurance, plus dental & vision
8. Office, unless I take work home :D
9. Some clients think they're designers and tell you exactly what they want and where, and as much as you try to convince them that they're breaking several cardinal rules of good graphic design, they usually stand their ground - and since they're paying you, you just do what they tell you. Other clients know the work you've done and trust that you'll come up with something really awesome that fits their needs and budget, and thus will leave the creative side of the project completely up to you. Most clients are in the middle, giving you a general direction as to style or imagery but leaving you to work out the details.
10. Anything and everything you see has been designed, from the nutrition label on your pack of gum to giant billboards. Aside from posters and CD covers, I personally have done: business cards, greeting cards, brochures, logos, training manuals, newsletters, envelopes, mailers, postcards, magazine ads, calendars, flyers, trade show panels, book covers, folders, food labels, data sheets... the list could go on and on....

[budafist]

1. Bachelor of Art and Design
2. Full time = 2 years.
3. Art.
4. Company
5. I make enough to get by. I'm not struggling.
6. 8
7. No. Unless you count free printing.
8. Office.
9. Work to a brief.
10. Publication design (books, magazines, newspapers), identity design - such as logos, stationery design, web design, clothing design, packaging design, signage/environmental graphics. Designing typefaces, illustration, photography and copy are also are parts of the industry.

[captain spanky]

1. art college but no real bits of paper sadly.
2. professionally - 11 years / unprofessionally - 18 years ...and yes, i still enjoy most of it :D
3. just always liked drawing/being creative and found myself to be good at computers so put the two together.
4. Both.
5. until 2 months ago, no. not at all. for the next month, yes. after that, i have no idea, I'm going freelance.
6. 9am - 5.30pm most of the time
7. it gets me out of the house
8. an office mostly
9. they tell me what they want and i just steer them towards something that actually makes sense.
10. see other 10s above.. you name it, i've done it. standard printed literature/advertising/stationary/admin stuff, display stands, manuals, web design, tshirts, photography, vehicle graphics, greetings cards, canvasses, i've even designed someone's tattoo! ...not done much font work or package design tho yet... :)

[Typically]

1. BFA Graphic Design
2. 2 1/2 years. Still love working the field
3. My high school art teacher
4. Both
5. Could be better
6. 8
7. i get 20% off wholesale price of our umbrellas! and health insurance
8. Mostly at work
9. Both. Sometimes i have free reign on the design and other times they know what they want and just need me to produce it.
10. Catalogs, Medical Illustrations, billboards, calendars, anything that you hold in your hand that has ink on it a graphic designer can make.

[j1983m]

1. BA Degree
2. 3 years in industry - some days i love it / some days i hate it.
3. photography/computers
4. a company
5. quite well - yes
6. depends - 8hours+
7. joy of seeing something you designed being used everyday by someone else?
8. in an office
9. free to design but clients usually THINK they know what they want(dont listen to them!)
10. get in at an agency and u would be working on anything from cd artwork and posters as you mention to brochures, websites, leaflets, stationery, packaging, logos, ID briefs....anything you ever see that looks nice was prob designed by someone!

[C.E.]

1. AAS Graphic Design, currently working to get my BA in Web Development.
2. As a hobby, all my life (I was always the kid who made homemade bday cards and place cards for Thanskgiving). Professionally, about 4 years.
3. I never really thought of it as graphic design. I just knew I liked computers from an early age, and I liked aligning things and printing stuff. I didn't really think about graphic design until I saw a commercial for a college offering an associates in it, and that I could get my college degree in 2 years.
4. A bit of both.
5. It's OK, would be better if I got more than 10hrs/wk. I work for a college, what can I say? And my freelancing isn't very big yet.
6. All hours of the day. Mostly 10-12 hrs.
7. With my 'day' job, yes pretty good ones.
8. Both
9. Most of my clients tell me what they want but since they don't really know what they want I get the fun job of trying to read their mind. :)
10. Boy the sky's the limit on that, but me PERSONALLY, I do alot of webdesign and business cards and logos. That seems to be the chunk of my change.

[hewligan]

1. Masters Degree in physics. Oh, and a Diploma in Graphic Design. The physics doesn't come up much...

2. A while. Professionally, about 5 years.

3. Working at a university newspaper. Or, at least, that's the short answer.

4. Company.

5. Yup.

6. 7.5 :)

7. We have quite good Chiristmas parties... ?

8. Office. I, too, have a window.

9. They tell me.

10. Forms, magazines, web, brochures, packaging, flyers
, ...

[cornfed]

1. BFA Graphic Design
2. 12 years
3. A way to make money while being creative.
4. Independent work
5. It's ok.
6. 5-6 hours
7. No - we get them through my husbands company.
8. Home
9. It varies. Some of them are adamant and some like to be surprised. There are generally at least a set of guidelines to follow.
10. Logos, brochures, ads, everything you see is marketed or promoted in one way or another that generally could use the assistance of a graphic designer.