Why graphic designers are leaving the corporate world in droves
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Or as one awesome, fellow FB group member said, "how to go gray at 23 and other uses for your design degree" 😂 Thanks, Shereen K.!
But let's be serious for a sec:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that about 20% of graphic designers were self-employed in 2014...The graphic design industry has been growing for the past five years, and freelancers now account for almost 90% of the design industry.*
*[src: Shutterstock, "The Reason So Many Graphic Designers Go Freelance"]
I started my first in-house design job in 2006, so I’m not new to this design industry. In fact, I’d consider myself an expert at a few things within it.
I’ve occasionally searched for design jobs throughout that time, and here’s something I’ve noticed: a scary trend of scope creep, high expectations, and lowering pay with no benefits.
These things do not, a good employee make. 😂
READ MORE:
How to know when a 9-5 isn’t right for you?
So I’m about to get on my soapbox for a minute; bear with me.
From my own experience and those of my fellow designers I’ve met in design Facebook groups, this seems to be a common scenario:
Employee: I got a job in the design field. Yay!
E: Oh. My checks aren’t that big, ..but that’s okay; I can grow & move up the ladder.
E: Shit, there’s nowhere to move up at this place… my department is all there is unless I want to change careers.
Boss: Glad you’re settling in. I want you(r department) to come up with 10 extra designs, a logo for this company, and create a website to sell them on, but can you do that in overtime, –like, at home? I don’t want that work to interfere with your work here; we still have deadlines to meet. I’ll pay you though!
E: Wait, …what?
B: Can you start posting to our socials and add new designs to the gallery on our website? Oh and I also got this new printer, can you start training on it so we can use it? I already have 3 clients waiting for product.
E: –Wait, what printer? You bought a production printer? Is it even good??
B: Yeah, they did a demo; it’ll be really great for us!
[Read B didn’t ask anyone in the only department that would know whether or not it actually is “great.”]
E: You want me to add all that to my current workload without hiring help? I don’t have time for all of that… (tries doing it anyway, works a lot of overtime, gets super stressed out, starts to hate their job, …morale is low)
B: What takes so long? Why are the customers always waiting on their art?
E: 😒 I can’t take this anymore; I quit!?
Obviously, I’m generalizing here. So not that exact scenario for every single designer, but I know I’m not alone in experiencing several different versions of that myself over the last 15 years as a professional designer throughout several design jobs I’ve had.
Employers & managers in general typically want to hire as few people as possible & bleed them dry to try & get the most value out of each person. From a financial perspective, I get it. I really, really do.
That being said, though… that environment is 1,000% toxic for creative-types. It’s demoralizing. It can even be borderline unethical, depending on how it’s handled.
So why are designers leaving the corporate world in favor of entrepreneurship? Let’s hit the finer points that made them leave your employment to seek another option in the first place:
You get what you pay for.
Ultimately, you get what you pay for. And if you pay your experienced designer less than a minimum of $40,000 annually, you can’t really expect them to have serious expertise in all or most areas of the design industry.
My own college education taught me creativity, conceptual design, principles of design, how to paint, draw, design using creative software, etc. My marketing classes taught me some basic concepts and behaviors. The rest? I’ve learned by myself or through real-world experience.
My degree program didn’t teach ALL of these things (& I feel I can safely say most don’t, because I transferred universities 4x –yes, four– & none of them offered everything in this list):
graphic design for masse print production
graphic design for websites & digital designs
brand & logo design
package design
animation
audio or video editing
video effects
professional photography
professional videography
advertising design & strategy
marketing
email marketing
social media ads
networking
Google ads
SEO
etc.
web development
HTML
CSS
Javascript
and more
website design & management
app development
app design
UI/UX design
IT
Those are all different skill sets. Different industries within an industry, no different than contractors that build houses & businesses. You still (also) need to hire an electrician for your electrical, and a plumber for your plumbing, etc.
Yes, maybe one person can do all of those things, but she’s most likely only REALLY good at a set number of those things. Anything else you ask of her is ultimately wasting your money because the more you pile on, the more distracted she’ll become and output will suffer.
Each of those bulleted jobs listed above requires a specific, special skill set. Maybe the person is self-taught, maybe they’re educated, but it still took time (and likely money, too) to develop those skills in one way or another. It might’ve even taken several degrees, or one degree with one or more minors to collect all that knowledge. And NO graduate walks away as an expert; that comes from real-world application and experience.
A common misconception: just because we “know computers” doesn’t mean we can do ALL of those things and more at your every whim, and ultimately: you get what you paid for.
If you’re paying your designer less than $40k a year and they’re doing all or most of those tasks for you, that person isn’t likely to hang around long. Soon they’ll begin to feel overworked, undervalued, and develop an itch to have less stress in their lives. An itch to grow, learn and thrive. To have health insurance, time off, and a retirement plan for cryin’ out loud.
Due.com lists some salary examples for many of these industries here:
Graphic Designer (5+ years): $63,500 to $90,000
Graphic Designer (3 to 5 years): $51,500 to $72,000
Graphic Designer (1 to 3 years): $38,750 to $56,500
Package Designer: $59,250 to $89,750
Package Production Artist: $46,750 to $65,250
Layout Designer: $46,500 to $64,500
Litigation Graphics Specialist: $58,250 to $87,000
Infographics Designer: $55,750 to $78,000
3D Animator: $61,500 to $89,500
3D Modeler: $60,000 to $85,250
Multimedia Designer: $57,500 to $86,250
Presentation Specialist (3+ years): $55,500 to $81,000
Presentation Specialist (1 to 3 years): $44,500 to $57,500
Interactive Creative Director: $100,500 to $180,250
Interactive Art Director: $84,000 to $125,000
Interaction Designer (5+ years): $80,500 to $114,500
Interaction Designer (1 to 5 years): $54,500 to $85,000
Responsive Designer: $70,250 to $101,750
Digital Designer: $63,000 to $89,000
The people who will work for less than that, may not be your best-producing, most efficient, and productive employees.
Not sure what to pay your employees?
I get it. Times are always changin’ and it can be hard to keep up. Check something like Payscale to find out what salary your position should be paying in your area based on the skills you need.
How to lose all your best employees, fast.
The absolute, hands down, fastest way to lose your best & most innovative employees and develop a high turnover rate is to create what they will consider a “toxic” environment or work culture. Why?
They eventually feel like they are overworked, micromanaged, underpaid, undervalued (or unappreciated), stressed TF out, burnt out, tired of fighting you every step of the way, and are confident they can’t do anything right by your standards.
Meanwhile, and I’ll include myself in this, we’re trying to keep you out of copyright infringements, provide quality work as quickly as we possibly can while not making tons of typos/errors/mistakes, and not missing details from client requests when they submitted their work order.
Frankly, we’re trying to do our damn job; ya know, the one you hired us to do because we’re one of the experts in that field?
If you’re walking in, interrupting us with questions about the status of X, Y, and Z because you forgot to communicate a deadline, or you don’t know how to check the project management app we’re using, or you don’t understand why good art isn’t created quickly, or you have 5,000 other ideas you want us to implement on top of our main job (that we’re already “too slow” at)… we deflate. Fast.
How can we give 100% to all of those things? All at once? All the time?
It quite literally bleeds them dry of all their “cares” related to creating quality work and you end up with a shell of an employee that does a job just good enough to pass.
Who wants that person on their payroll?
Want your employees to care about your work as much as you do?
Create some trust and dammit, –STOP micromanaging. Your best employees do not need you looking over their shoulders for them to do their work well and on time. You already know this, but I’m confirming your fear. This level of control is not necessary. You are not the expert, let them do their job and I guarantee you most will thrive not being under your thumb.
Yes, some won’t do their jobs or will perform inefficiently. Maybe they’ll even take advantage of you not watching, but you don’t want to keep those people anyway. Put your trust in everyone regardless of this, as a way to weed out the good ones from the bad & kick the baddies to the f*ckin’ curb.
You hired us to be the expert here; don’t ignore our warnings.
If your employees are consistently unable to meet your idea of a deadline, no matter how much you talk it out, plan it, and rearrange it, –and you KNOW they aren’t slacking… then chances are your deadlines just aren’t feasible on a regular basis.
If your employee tells you that a key step in the process is losing or costing you money unnecessarily: LISTEN. They are the ones completing these tasks and they know all the intricacies of it; you don’t.
I’ve personally done the math on how problems affect the business’ bottom line, then submitted the findings to management when I voiced the problem so they could see real numbers. I was still ignored over and over, even as that problem worsened, causing a domino effect across departments.
Listen to your employees. And I mean LISTEN. Think about it from their perspective. What might you be missing?? What are you overlooking because it may not be convenient for you to deal with or hear? Just because you don’t want it to be true, doesn’t mean it isn’t.
Your employees are people, generally trying to do a good job. Let them.
One of my MANY pet peeves about being an expert in someone else’s business is that I’ve been hired to do a job, then get micromanaged to the point that my efficiency is cut drastically and when I’ve complained and suggested a better strategy that could positively affect multiple departments, I’ve been unceremoniously shut down with a simple statement like, well “I don’t really think that’s the problem.”
If that’s the case, what TF was I hired for then? Maybe I was even asked my opinion, –but it promptly got shut down. Why did you even ask if you didn’t plan to hear me? You’re wasting everyone’s time, including your own, by having these same conversations over and over.
Did you want an expert or did you want an obedient robot that doesn’t care about your business?
Develop a teamwork attitude, then actually flex & grow together.
Of course, I’m not saying I know it ALL. Or that my suggestions for specific changes would’ve even helped fix the problems, but the fact I cared enough to consistently bring an ongoing problem to management that I believed was wholly fixable and was still shut down? Yeah, that’s a problem.
Having those problems ignored often exacerbated the problem itself, allowing it to grow, fester, and wreak havoc, all while making my life there much worse.
The problems compounded, of course, and eventually began affecting other departments; bad habits were formed, overall morale lowered, resentments formed, people became quick to anger or stress…
Can you see the butterfly effect there?
What I most wanted was better communication, collaboration, and someone to listen to my plight and be willing to adapt WITH me.
Learn to adapt.
Try it. So what if it doesn’t work, at least you listened and tried it! The creatives I’ve worked with, myself included, were always expected to flex and adapt, –so why was no one else required to do that too?
Management would make changes that we just had to adhere to, even if it dampened our workflow, didn’t make sense to the way our industry works, made deadlines or the actual work itself harder, formed more questions, or didn’t give us adequate information to get started efficiently, etc.
And yet many times, we’d ask management to adapt and they’d just get to say, ‘no, that won’t work’ or ‘listen,… I don’t have time to go do X, Y, and Z for every order’ (even if it means that by management NOT doing those tasks, we’re suddenly tasked with doing X, Y, and Z instead, because SOMEone has to do it).
Never tell your employees to do something you’re not willing to do yourself. If you do, they’ll develop resentment, quickly. Resentment can ruin the team effort and form an every-man-for-himself mentality. Better known as, “A, B, and C aren’t my problem. As long as I do X, Y, and Z, I can go home and leave the rest to” so-and-so.
Are most graphic designers experts in 10 different industries?
No. Probably not.
Not to mention the fact that some designers are hired to do one set of tasks, and then more and more get piled on as management realizes their skills are more diverse than they initially realized. Or that person is highly capable of learning new skills and seems happy to do so.
This is how “scope creep” happens in the workplace.
What is scope creep? It’s when the position or project starts out including one set of tasks & slowly begins to collect extra duties that weren’t originally agreed to, all while still under the same monetary value or investment (ie: no raise for added work or responsibilities).
And just in case that doesn’t resonate with you, as a manager or owner? Think about it this way: if you got a quote from a contractor to finish out a basement for you, and during that project, your water heater dies, you add walk-out french doors to access the backyard from the basement and a brand new bathroom –that contractor is going to charge a hell of a lot more money for the added project scope & everything is going to take a LOT longer to finish.
What you did when you hired this expert is give them a ‘quote’ when you told them what you’d pay, but then you added extra stuff and kept the pay the same. This person is looking at you like you have horns growing out of your head because they’re now doing double/triple/quadruple the work without being properly compensated and they will NOT stay in an environment like that for long. If you value them & their work, increase their pay appropriately or they’ll look elsewhere & leave you out to dry before you can think of a fifth layer to add to their stress. 🙃
Those bulleted jobs I listed at the top: each of those requires education of some sort. Whether it’s online SkillShare classes or from a university, that person had to learn from somewhere, most likely.
Also, keep in mind that HAVING a skill and being GOOD at that skill are two completely different concepts.
I can take decent photos, but would you want to hire me to take your wedding photos? Probably not.
This difference is KEY for finding good designers. Just because one knows how to use Adobe Illustrator, does NOT mean they can illustrate. Just because one can use Photoshop, does not mean they create phenomenal logos and it also doesn’t mean they can actually (professionally) edit photos.
SIDE NOTE: no higher education teaches the creation of logos in Photoshop. If your applicant says that’s what they do, they’re not a good fit. 😬 Trust. Me.
What to aim for?
When you’re advertising or looking for a new designer in your art department, look for stacked skills that are truly related or complementary.
Examples:
web developers can also create websites
videographers can often edit audio and video
print designers can often do brand design too
web and app designers often understand UI/UX design strategies, etc
Carefully list your requirements in the job listing, with the must-haves being more realistic, and the preferred list just being bonuses. Meaning, if you find someone that can do it all, –great! But go into it knowing that unicorn may be difficult to find and will cost you an arm and a leg if they are truly experts at #allthethings.
Why entrepreneurship?
It’s likely for the same reasons you started your own business or became a manager. You wanted better pay, better benefits, and more freedom. Am I right?
READ MORE: How to know if a 9-5 isn’t right for you
If we’re being 100% honest here, you also didn’t want to be under someone else’s thumb, and neither do we. NO ONE likes being micromanaged.
We want to break through the income ceiling.
We want to choose our own projects.
We want to choose our clients and the type of work we do for them.
We want to create our own schedules.
We want more time off and we want benefits.
Some of us want more time with our families or more time for hobbies.
We want rewarding work. And far too often, that just isn’t what most employers offer.
“Jobs” are jobs. “Work” is work. Some of us want to make an impact in the world or genuinely be able to HELP people with their skill set, and if they’re leaving your workplace, most likely they didn’t feel that in your office.
We’re leaving in droves because we’re tired of the bullshit.
We’re tired of the overtime, the low pay, the astronomical expectations, the commute, your schedule, and the shitty (on-the-cheap) clients. We’re tired of the projects, the work itself sometimes, and the severe lack of team effort.
We’re tired of the constant interruptions, the meetings that will never change anything, the systems you put in place that always fail because no one else is being held accountable for anything that matters.
We’re tired of being told we’re not doing it your way. We’re tired of being yelled at for not caring when YOU taught us not to care by cultivating an environment where nothing we do is ever good enough.
We. Are. Tired.
And we want more freedom.
READ MORE: How I launched the damn thing
final thoughts
Apparently, all graphic designers are unicorns.
Most designers can literally do almost any half-related design job you throw at us, but just because we CAN do a lot of it, doesn’t mean we should.
It also doesn’t mean we have the time to do all of those things WELL during a single workday or deadline.
It also doesn’t mean that us completing those added tasks outside our expertise is actually beneficial to you or your business. You’d most likely be better served by hiring multiple experts to do those jobs really well, than hiring just one person to do 1,000 things & having to half-ass much of it just so they can tick it all off of your massive to-do list.
That’s why we specialize. That’s why I specialized.
I didn’t like doing branding, logos, and print design for lowballing clients anymore so I switched to web and now I specialize in that. I don’t offer a litany of other services, because I’m good at web. I really enjoy the work itself and I’m honing my skills there so I can be most useful to my clients in this one specialty service.
Don’t get us wrong. We know you most likely don’t have any idea of the time which these types of design tasks represent.
We know you don’t understand our field of study & that’s okay as long as you are ready to work WITH us, empathize, listen and treat us with the respect that we deserve for the years it took us to be the expert you just hired.
When we say a job/project will take X amount of time, give or take a little bit, we actually mean it. It’s like baking a cake: it takes the time it takes in order to be edible when it comes out & if you take it out too early, it can literally make you sick.
Another comparison I often like to make, for managers that hate collecting enough detail from clients for their designers: projects are like tattoos, we need all the details first so we don’t waste everyone’s time. If you go get a tattoo, you aren’t walking into that shop going, “Okay, I’m ready! I want a tattoo now“ and blankly stare into the artist’s face expecting them to literally take over everything from there. No! They’re gonna have questions: black, color, what style is preferable, am I even the right artist to take this, –you know this is permanent, right?!" 😂
Anyway, as the saying goes, …
“If I do a job in 30 minutes it’s because I spent 10 years learning how to do that in 30 minutes. You owe me for the years, not the minutes. ”
It took me a long time to perform quality work, quickly. I’m an expert because of the years, not the minutes. 😉
Need help getting more eyes on that DIY freelance website? 😉 I gotchu.
