Recently discovered the Sainsbury's Archive (a UK based supermarket brand) and it's a fun little rabbit hole to see some very well designed packaging. Found it interesting how modern and close to the current trends of today the 60s and early 70s packaging looked. Very clean, block colours and minimalism - whereas the 80s and especially the 90s starts to look dated. The actual archive website is a bit of a slog to use, but they have an Instagram at @sainsburyarchive.

I’ve been a freelance graphic designer and artistic director for almost 14 years now and every now and then I apply to job posting that I consider cool opportunities and this time i got offered the job. I'm fairly happy to try something new (more stability, super good work conditions and a very interesting salary are the pros, working 9-5 is the main con for me I guess) but I'm super clueless about the daily life of a salary graphic designer in terms of workload. Like, are you guys always in a rush and finish your day super tired of too much stuff to do and not enough time? Do you have time to be off of your computer in order to do creative research and sketching?

To give you some context, the job is in an arts Museum. I've worked a lot with the cultural industry (music and arts) so I’m guessing this is what helped me get the job. I’ll be starting in a week and I started to analyze my own workload and realized I often clock out pretty early, unless there’s a rush (which I’m happy to work on if it means being more relaxed for some time afterwards).

Anyways your opinion are valued as I don’t really know what I’m walking into. My thoughts are “try it and see if you like it”. Thanks Reddit! 🙂

Please be careful with this company. They show up first in organic google SEO for 'free qr code generator' and 'free permanent qr codes', and basically they let you create a code and start using right away, then a week later deactivate your code and demand $20/month if paid YEARLY or $35/month paid monthly. FOR ONE QR CODE. It's absolutely insane. Imagine paying more for your QR code than Spotify and Netflix combined. Please beware.

https://qrfy.com/

Saw this on a road trip. What were they thinking designing this?!

Hi all! I’m wanting to pivot from digital marketing into more focused graphic design roles. Over the past 5+ years, I’ve led creative work across social, video, web, and branding, but my job responsibilities lean more towards marketing, which I worry may be holding me back.

I just finished refining my resume and would really appreciate honest feedback, especially on wording, focus, and whether it clearly reflects design experience. I'm targeting in-house creative roles at tech/product companies: graphic design, strategy, etc...

A few specific questions:

1. Would it be okay to reword my job title to Graphic Design & Digital Marketing Specialist, or is that misleading? For reference, I manage my company's social media, all paid ads and retargeting, website, various digital platforms and with that a majority of the creative... 🫣
2. Do the performance metrics help or feel out of place on a design resume?
3. Is the resume too plain? I went minimalist but might have gone too far.
4. Should I delete this Accountant role & Presentation Designer role? I wanted to include it because I was also in charge of making many pretty presentations lol
5. My degree is in Business Admin (specialty in marketing). I also feel like this is also a mixed bag, since it isn't graphic design.

Thanks so much in advance for any thoughts! Just feeling like I'm at the crossroads of being a jack of all trades but not good enough to hone in on one thing, like I have to start over from the beginning.

I also have a portfolio (csworkportfolio.com), but I'll save that for another time...!

How much time are you given to make things such as:

A small online ad/banner Social media post Brochure/trifold Posters Flyers Anything bigger?

And do you feel you are given the resources needed to accomplish your job?

I'm an artist taking graphic design courses so I can find entry level work(hah) so I've been getting my feet wet learning more Adobe software... trying my best to learn the fundamentals of design because the course doesn't teach it.

I'm really enjoying the software, especially InDesign that I wasn't expecting but even with learning styles, I still take soooo long to make anything. I've been given projects and these hour long YouTube videos making the same thing in comparison take me days, more than half the time spent is me trying to make up a business and gather references for ideas and figure out what to even put in it. I made a single sided basic dinner menu that took me days of fritzing around in InDesign.

Speed has always been something I've struggled with in all my jobs and it's been giving me anxiety thinking about the idea of maybe finally getting hired somewhere and not being able to pump multiple things out a day. I worked at a UPS store for less than a year last year and I was forced to use PowerPoint to make stuff,then measure w/ ruler,cut,etc usually just printing pre-existing things on a Konica all ready to go but if I had to make it, it was impossible to gauge the time spent because of constant interuptions of dealing with returns and customers, so things would take days to make the laziest ugliest thing and the job just made me feel awful about my capabilities and icky from boss making me just take stuff off Google to get things done faster.

I guess I'm just looking for clarity on what entry graphic design/or publishing jobs are like and me going through a phase of doubt on whether or not there's any chance for me in this field haha...

I THINK THAT THE NEW MTA SUBWAY MAP IS A WIN FOR NEW YORK.

Yesterday, the MTA revealed its first complete subway map redesign in nearly 50 years. This new version combines two very different design styles: Massimo Vignelli’s 1972 modernist, abstract map and Michael Hertz’s more realistic 1979 map that replaced it. The result is something New York hasn't had in a long time—a map that's both beautiful and easier to use.

Let's go back a bit.

The 1972 Vignelli map was a bold vision for what a subway map could be—CLEAN, MINIMAL, and designed with a clear graphic logic. It got rid of the noise and reimagined the subway as a system of lines and connections, rather than actual locations. For designers, it was a landmark piece of work. But for the average rider, the abstracted layout made navigation tricky. The map prioritized STRUCTURAL CLARITY over REAL-WORLD ACCURACY. And so Central Park became a square. The distances didn't match the streets above. It was a beautiful system, but wasn’t always practical for getting from A to B.

In 1979, the MTA switched to Michael Hertz’s version. This map followed the layout of the city more closely, helping people better connect what they saw on the map with what they saw outside. And it worked—I grew up with this map. It was FUNCTIONAL and FAMILIAR, but over time, it got crowded. More lines. More stations. More noise. The system kept evolving, but the map didn't evolve with it.

THE 2025 REDESIGN CHANGES THAT.

It keeps the usability of the Hertz map while bringing back the CLARITY, COLOR, and CONFIDENCE of Vignelli’s design. Bold lines. Brighter, more distinct colors. Simpler transfers. Station names you can actually read from across the platform. And crucially—ADA-accessible stations are now clearly marked, not buried in the details. That alone makes a huge difference for so many riders.

This update isn't about looking backward. It's about moving forward.

A subway map is not just a poster, it's a tool that people rely on every single day. And the old version, while familiar, wasn't doing the job anymore. For decades, the MTA had to layer patches and band-aids onto an outdated system. This redesign finally breaks free of that approach and says: LET’S DO THIS RIGHT.

Not everyone will love it at first. That's how change works. People often prefer what they’re used to—even if what they’re used to doesn’t work well.

But good design solves problems. And this redesign solves several.

It honors the past without being stuck in it. It puts USABILITY FIRST. And it works for EVERYONE—not just locals, but tourists, seniors, people with disabilities, and anyone trying to make sense of the city.

To me, that's what public design is all about: making life easier, clearer, and more accessible for everyone involved.

The map won't fix everything, but it's a solid step in the right direction. And more importantly—it shows how that smart, human-centered design can still make a real difference.

This is design done right.

See my full post here: https://jonathanlin.xyz/

Disregarding the flagrant copyright violations (it's black market so it's common) , how is the cleanliness and professionalism on it?

Hey there everyone, i recently made this animated hero section design for a solar company completely on figma, it took me some time as i was new to animation. But i tried to give a story touch by showing:

1. the Animated heading and company logo at first

2. and then by animating the border of the sun and the sun rays which are pointing directly on the CTA (Sun rays providing the solar energy).

So in this way the visitors will get a a feel that this is might good solar company. Also each and every information is delivered to the visitors right away with not much textual information.

1. Heading at first

2. Then sub heading

3. Then an animated CTA

4. A proper social review at bottom right

5 . Animated sun and sun rays to make them feel that services are good.

1. A nav Bar with proper navigation and social media.

look guys it's my first "proper animated" homepage design (i use to do normal designs before) complete on figma. So your reviews will be really really helpful for me. thank you.

Hi, I recently had the opportunity to make a design for a new clothing brand, is kind of a gym-style brand and they were looking for a cybersigilism design for the back, I am new at design and I don't know how much should I charge for this design and another one that is pretty similar but has the name of the brand in the wings of the character so is both sides (btw only the skull was ai generated, the rest was hand-drawn)

Here's the design: https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/672858300265660447/1357563366700351651/diseno_en_rojo.jpg?ex=67f2a328&is=67f151a8&hm=baf7c5cc7c6b3cdc4fb3a510ad9a2d4e0974936edb607adebf8d658af01641fb&

I wanted to share my experience in case it resonates with someone out there. My Boss, the CEO, Terminated Me Because I Was Struggling with Mental Illness Due to Nepotism in Her Company

I used to work remotely from the Philippines for a company based in Dallas, TX. At the time, they were rebranding because they had been hit hard with negative reviews on Glassdoor and Google.

I was let go during this transition, not due to my performance but because I became a target of workplace bullying and toxic gossip. I had informed my boss that I needed some time off due to my medications, and after I mentioned I would be taking a week off, my boss decided for me that one week wasn’t enough. Without a conversation or any prior warning, she simply removed my access to all company tools and terminated me.

The bullying was being fueled by my project manager, who had a private group chat with her relatives (some of whom worked at the company). They were spreading false rumors about me behind my back. One of them, the live-in partner of my partner’s boss, even went as far as threatening my family and my partner’s job. She explicitly told us that we should be grateful they didn’t demand a cut of my salary for “referring” me to the company.

I eventually confronted the project manager about it. I sent her a message that started with, “Hope you’re okay,” and shared a screenshot of the conversation between her relative and my partner. In it, they were gossiping about me and a friend I had recommended for the team — someone who is a highly qualified senior graphic designer from a multi-billion dollar mall in The Phillippines. The issue was that she wasn’t part of their inner circle, and they were already referring their own family members, even though those family members had fake resumes and portfolios. My referral seemed to disrupt their setup.

After that, the partner of my partner's boss responded aggressively through his Skype account (not even directly to me). They demanded that I apologize — for what? For exposing their gossip and threats?

The company liked to preach about “transparency” and “wellness,” even requiring us to submit weekly updates to track how we were doing so the team could “adjust expectations” if needed. I took that seriously and shared when I was struggling. But in the end, it was clear no one was actually reading them. When I mentioned how mentally taxing things were for me, I was met with silence.

I raised my concerns with my boss, explaining the toll the bullying was taking on my mental health, the impact it was having on my creativity (as I’m in the design field), and how the person bullying me was also managing my performance. To top it off, I was working 16-hour days — 8 of those hours were overtime that I dedicated to helping the team meet their targets during their peak season — all while recovering from childbirth.

I had planned to ask for time off (They advertised "unlimited PTO," for those who worked overtime. I was the only one who worked seven days a week to contribute. Nobody wants to work overtime.), but before I could say anything, I was locked out of all work tools. No warning. Just gone. Later, they claimed it was “for my own good.” By that point, I was already seeing a therapist.

The job was low-paying with terrible benefits, and honestly, I still can’t believe I put up with it as long as I did.

Now, I’m freelancing and looking for new opportunities. I’m in a much better place, mentally and professionally. But recently, I saw that same company running ads attacking freelancers, calling us “inexperienced” and saying we “don’t understand the product.” The irony is that freelancers were the ones who got most of their work done. Many of them are still connected to me on LinkedIn, so it felt like a personal jab.

I’m not posting this to stir up drama. I just want people to know that this type of behavior happens way more often than we realize. Employees are not disposable. We’re people, and we’re just trying to do our best. No one deserves to be treated like that.

Hey everyone,

I just ordered the new 15-inch MacBook Air M4 (10-core CPU/GPU, 32GB RAM). I’m currently using an old Intel MacBook Pro (i5, 8GB RAM), so I’m expecting a huge boost in speed and performance.

I’m a web developer but I spend a lot of time in Figma, Photoshop, and Illustrator. Most of my days involve UI/UX design, mockups, exporting assets, and working with multiple files at once. No video editing or 3D work – just heavy multitasking across design and dev tools.

Now I’m wondering if I should’ve gone with a MacBook Pro instead, mainly for the active cooling. Do you think the M4 Air can handle intensive design work without thermal throttling or overheating in the long run?

Curious to hear if any of you are using the new M4 Air for serious design workflows. Would love to hear your thoughts!

Hey guys, fairly new to using this platform even after 2 years of having it but I need some help. I have a person who is interested in my taking iver their visuals and company marketing.

I already have a full time job which already does this but I need some help in pricing, if it's per project or per hour.

I am very well versed in Canva and Adobe. What alese can I learn to maybe expand or increase the amount I can charge.

Useful info: I live in FL

Thank you all!

Hey fellow creatives. I’m a designer with 7 years experience. Within that time I have done an array of work that touches on packaging design, presentation design work, social media asset creation and a bit of motion design work. Most of this work is what makes up my portfolio at the moment.

I really want to break into brand design work. Brand identity is what really gets me going but I’m having a hard time breaking into these types of roles (but then again, designers as a whole are having a hard time getting jobs).

Anyhow, I have a project that really focuses on brand design and how it is translated within print and digital. My question is, how do I add this to my portfolio? Do I need to explain the development of the brand within my portfolio? Like a case study? I think examples of other brand design portfolios would be helpful. I hope this makes sense and thank you for your help everyone.

Hey, has anyone here done a master’s at LABASAD? I’m thinking of applying and would love to hear how your experience was, was the content good, did you feel supported, and did it actually help with your career?

Thank youu

When you get a vector logo from an organization with a caption on the pasteboard saying FONTS OUTLINED, but they neglected to outline the fonts in the caption. 😵‍💫

Hi, I’m realizing I need to upgrade my online portfolio and I’m looking for the best mockups to apply my work to (web, print, digital etc). Any recommendations of sites where I can download quality templates? Thanks!