I’m new here and not very experienced regarding graphicdesign and I signed up in sites like DesignCrowd, 99design, logoarena. I did a little research here and realized that I was a mistake to sign up there and that these sites are nothing but detrimental to the job as a graphic designer…
But I wonder if there are sites that help rather than hurt the job as a graphic designer…What do you guys think of Zombo.com? Are there no sites where I can practice ore make clients aware of me on my portfolio except my Webseite? I used to enter a lot of art contests but aren’t there any sites that are recommended for specifically graphicdesigners?
Please be kind and thank you in advance for your support.
I would recommend enrolling in a university design program if you’re serious about design since you’re unlikely to learn much of anything from the contest sites other than how to win contests on contest sites. Besides, if employment and earning a good living are part of your goals, companies that hire designers typically require relevant degrees in much of the world.
Then again, if messing around with graphics, photos, and typography is a hobby instead of a professional goal, well, enter all the contests you want and have fun with it.
It won’t be long until I finish my studies… I plan to start as a freelancer . and build my own business. I think as an employee I couldn’t stand it for a second.
I would strongly suggest not going straight from college to freelancing. You need four or five years’ experience in the industry first before freelancing. To be quite blunt, you won’t know what you are doing.
Once you have earned your stripes with a few years of experience, you will know exactly what I mean and will likely end up back here banging on to newbies about getting a university education and five years’ experience.
When I was a whippersnapper, I was working in prepress and our company had absorbed 3 or 4 companies who were going under, it was back in the day that the print industry went to the gutter and places were shutting down left right and center.
I had only been there 6 months - and noticed that the competition for places was wild. People being let go, people made redundant. It really was dog eat dog out there.
I was talking to a guy who had about 20 years’ experience. And just said:
If you don’t all this in 2 years then you’re done, you won’t get a job in the industry.
That lit a fire under me - so I learned it in 2 years.
I have thought about it for a long time and I have come to the conclusion that there is no really right time to start as a Freelancer. I already work also as a freelancer beside the studies. Thanks anyway for your recommendation.
I’ve come to the conclusion that that graphic design as a profession is a lost cause. I mean, why on Earth would you need experience to start a business that relies on skill, right?
There is; it is when you have enough knowledge and experience to know you know what you are doing.
Being a freelancer, is not distinct to running a business. It’s just a small,business. You have to be offering an honest and viable service to customers and without industry experience, how can you know that you are?
That may be so, but there is a right time to NOT start as a freelancer.
Five to ten years, give or take. That would be roughly the span for a reasonably intelligent designer to know what he/she does not know. It’s the least one can do to be responsible to clients.
People are not all the same and everyone has their own experiences.You can’t put all people in the same category. I am not alone by the way, I have friends and family who have more experience to help me. Thanks again.
You can of course start a business anytime you like. I worked with someone that wanted the owner to buy some digital printing machines and he wouldn’t. She went off and got a business lone and bought the machines and set up.
She only had 1 year experience. That was 20 years ago and still going.
I think some of the comments were meant as generalities rather than aimed at your specific situation, which only you know about. As a general rule, the inexperience of recent graduates makes them more likely to stumble into avoidable blunders than someone with more experience.
However, we can all point to examples of the opposite: Bill Gates and Steve Jobs come to mind.
… You don’t know me, skills and all! I’m lucky to have people by my side who have more experience than I do. I am just very lucky.