Times are tough folks. You’ve spent the better part of 4-5 years in college earning your BA in Graphic Design. Now you’re looking for a job, but to no avail! What is this madness? Where is this greener pasture your parents promised you’d find after you received your college degree? Well, some believe it’s in the hands of terrible designers. During my studies at the University of South Alabama, my personal motto was for every good designer there are 35 not good designers. This concept is probably nothing new to you, reader. Allow me to elaborate anyway: This day in age of connectivity and ease of accessibility, everyone’s cousin or uncle has a pirated copy of Photoshop. And then people kind of teach themselves the ropes online with the vast amount of tutorials available. Don’t get me wrong folks, I am not bashing the “rags to riches” designers who couldn’t afford college and got a job with self taught knowledge. I applaud anyone who can rise above hardships and make a living. This issue can, however, saturate a job market. Any body with enough grey matter between their ears can learn a technique in a program. It’s the talent, theory, and aesthetic they lack could though. This article isn’t debating what constitutes a good designer and what doesn’t. This article will discuss my own personal research as to why the graphic design well is dry today and what to do to combat it. But don’t loose hope anxious readers, along the way I’ll give recommendations on how to do better for yourselves in a populated industry.

So what’s the current state of affairs in the industry? Well according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2010 to 2011:

• Employment is expected to grow about as fast as the average, with many new jobs associated with interactive media.
• A bachelor’s degree in graphic design is usually required.
• Jobseekers are expected to face keen competition; individuals with Web site design and animation experience will have the best opportunities.

Well that’s better than the doomsday attitude some legitimate designers I’ve spoken with have had. And actually maybe the market isn’t entirely saturated if it’s prospected employment will grow 13% in the next few years. Also I’d like to cite what the website has said about advancement in the field:

Advancement. Beginning graphic designers usually need 1 to 3 years of working experience before they can advance to higher positions.

I knew this from the beginning as I am dealing with that issue myself. I’ve freelanced for over 6 years now, but it’s not considered professional experience. However, I am lucky to work at a trade magazine as a graphic/web designer for their magazine and sister websites. This can be a long stretch for designers sometimes. I know many, talented individuals that do A+ work, but couldn’t get a high paying job, or junior graphic designer position due to their inexperience. Perhaps these companies want work to go as smoothly as possible and don’t want any surprises when hiring a new person. They want the skill, maturity, and level of expertise someone with 3-5 years experience would have.

And here’s one more statistic on compensation.

Median annual wages for graphic designers were $42,400 in May 2008. The middle 50 percent earned between $32,600 and $56,620. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $26,110, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $74,660. May 2008 median annual wages in the industries employing the largest numbers of graphic designers were:

This sounds, actually just about right from what I’ve witnessed. Obviously, designers with coding skills are considered a more valuable asset this day in age. It really pays off to be a jack of all trades in graphic design. You can market yourself accordingly with market trends as they change. Besides, my father always told me, “The day you die is the last day you stop learning.” So flex those brains designers and learn something new in the field. Whether it be how to properly vector trace or learn CSS language, you can only benefit from it.

It’s important to arm yourself with knowledge folks. Know current market trends and statistics so you aren’t getting bent over backwards for bread crumbs. And also you know when to compromise and how much you should compromise if the situation should come.

Question: Is the creative design market saturated? Answer: In my opinion, yes. Unfortunately, anybody in the business today can tell you it is a saturated market. Well why is it saturated? What happened?

Obviously the state of the economy isn’t helping, although I’ve been reading we’re on the up and out of our dreary times lately. Better economy means more businesses opening and more operations going on. Since the world’s belt is getting tightened a notch this means fewer opportunities to the creative design masses.

I’ve seen a lot of employers using Microsoft Word or Photoshop to design their materials such as flyers, posters, brochures, and even websites. In a stable economy, employers would be more willing to outsource their graphic work to graphic designers. Also doesn’t it seem like everyone has a nephew who can do websites for cheaper? Hopefully, readers, you know to teach your client that websites don’t come in 3 ways: good, fast, and cheap. Choose two as the adage goes. Clients need to know they pay for what they receive. Just like a computer or a car. I’m digressing though. Speculative work also deters business with us designers because it undercuts us very badly. In order for a client to get what he/she wants they should set up meetings and work with the designer to deliver them what they want.

Crowdsourcing sites just have a free-for-all, time wasting frenzy for junk, cliché logo, web, and print designs. Employers should know that speculative work websites are a waste of their time and money too! I’ll get more into spec work later on in this article though.

For whatever reason you need to look for a job in the creative design field. You may say to yourself, “Well there’s Monster.com and Craigslist. Hope I snag a company.” And you leave it at that. Well, truth be told by the time you see a job listing that position has been filled. Why? Because the internet is hooked up to more than just your computer. Job positions online go fast, but yes it is still worth the time to look for them and apply for them. What I’m saying is, you need to do more than just post a resume on these job sites. Research companies and that they do. This will give you a better idea of who you are requesting a job from. Also, the company will recognize this through your cover letter and potentially in a future interview. This is a priceless trait to have as a designer. Wouldn’t you want to hire someone who took the time to research your company? Flatter them a little and say, “That Ronnie Rocket Radio logo you did was great!” Flattery is good, but butt kissing is not. Please use this skill with disgression.

So what can we do to combat this saturated market? Well obviously have a good portfolio that is peer reviewed by other designers. Have a solid resume that is simple, concise, and impressive in content. Promote yourself always and everywhere.

I’d like to discuss what happened when a black leather clad Laurence Fishburn sat me down and offered me two pills.

This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe about spec work sites. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.

Well, like Keanu I couldn’t resist the red pill. And then I woke up with the knowledge of what speculative work was and how wrong it is. Funny references aside, I want to talk about speculative work websites such as 99designs.com and crowdspring.com. I’m not a white knuckled crusader against these sites as I’ve mentioned in a previous article entitled “Brick Laying a la Speculative Work”. I do side with great minds like the AIGA, David Airey, Jeff Fisher, and Debbie Millman, however. But Brett, times are tight! Yes you are correct, sir. Who knows where our economy will take us in the future, but it’s important as a professional to maintain dignity and integrity in your work at all times. You aren’t going to prostitute yourself on the street because you used to wear Diesel jeans and now have to resort to Bugle Boy jeans. There are other ways to increase your income and if it comes down to it, get a second job to pay the bills for a bit. Don’t think that just because you submit 50 designs to 99designs.com at least 1 of them will win. The odds aren’t even that great. If you read “Brick Laying a la Speculative Work” you’ll see why I think this way. Yes, people do win and some consecutively at that – but few are very freaking far in between. Personally, I want to be a graphic designer that is known for his passion and hard work, and not my shotgun in a barrel tactics. For the heck of it I’ve compiled a short list of things to do other than spec work:

1. Promote yourself around town with flyers and business cards
2. Cold e-mail local businesses offering your services for a discount
3. Ask friends, family, coworkers, and/or classmates if they need any work done
4. Promote yourself online through avenues like Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Graphic Design blogs, etc…
5. Create mockup work to keep your design muscle flexed and put in your portfolio to further promote yourself
6. Utilize another artistic talent of yours to make some cash with like photography, painting, or carpentry
7. Offer pro bono work to get your name out there and be known as a swell guy

Here’s a rundown of sites to my knowledge that are helpful in looking for a job. Do you know of any not on the list?

A useful site like Linkedin.com is a useful tool as a professional. Where it won’t directly land you a job with a company like Monster.com would, it will give you the opportunity to rub elbows with a CEO of a company because he knows your college roommate.

Twitter can be a useful way to look for a job, but I wouldn’t count on it. A lot of people use the group “Graphic Design” and its chalk full of tweets about helpful links, to portfolios, to promotions, to thugs bragging about their mad design skillz. So your tweet might get drowned out. Still, every bit helps doesn’t it?

Facebook is a handy site because it has a strong community that is networked. It’s very popular these days for businesses to also have Facebook profiles or groups. Personally, I don’t use Myspace although I would if I were looking for a job I suppose. Myspace is great for bands and other designers. I’m not condemning Myspace, but I think Facebook has a bit more professional spotlight than Myspace does. Maybe you have a different opinion?

Craigslist, Craigslist, Craigslist…you make me sigh. If the internet had a Garage sale this would be the site for it. Aside from risque massaging and serial killers this can be a useful site as a designer. There are job postings and a place to promote your services for 30 days. You can also trade a paperclip for a pencil and turn it into a house there too, apparently. The downside is spam mail and scammers. Spammers monitor Craigslist and scammers live their too. Just use your head when you use it like any other social networking tool. You should come out alive.

Cold calling. I don’t recommend it and I’ve never done it. But I’ve heard of designers cold calling companies asking if they were hiring. It’s better to consolidate your inquiry of an available position, request of position, resume, and portfolio in e-mail form. This way, if the employer is busy he/she can return the e-mail when they are free. It appears less bothersome to them in my opinion as a straight call to their desk.

In the Classifieds section of my Mobile Press Register the Job section lists one job. A truck driver position. I’m not a truck driver nor do I have my license to be one. So perhaps, newspaper classifieds isn’t the best resource. Maybe they’re better elsewhere in your part of town. Still, you might find something.

In conclusion, you can always get another job to pay the bills folks. Don’t be too proud to to what it takes to put bread on the table for you and yours. You can always moonlight or freelance on the side to keep yourself in the motion as a designer. Hopefully the economy will get better as it once was. But it’s important to stay sharp, don’t give up, network, and promote, promote, promote.

Thanks to Mnico at DeviantArt for the picture in Chp 2, Designcrack.com for the campfire pillow in Chp.4, Bethesda Game Studios for use of the PipBoy in Chp. 7

Helpful links related to this article:

• http://www.core77.com/design.edu/job_start.asp
• http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080616151914AAfFvZo
• http://www.davidairey.com/graphic-design-jobs-advice/
• http://www.no-spec.com
• http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos090.htm