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/

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...

the end of the rainbow

Hey guys, I’m not a graphic designer but a musician. I make very minimal cover art design for myself like this one because I don’t like thinking much about that side of things. I wanted to have a cool gradient vibe with the purple fading into the black since I usually just use full black and this is a special release. I hate however the way you can see each tone/layer of purple in this really pixely sort of way. Is that just inevitable since I’m using such simple colors, or did I do something wrong exporting and is there a way for it to look smoother?

Thanks in advance!

Using Touch Portal on my Boox Palma to make a touch screen interface for my drawing software....

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...!

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.

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.

I am working as a freelancer in this Game Studio. They told me to create a logo according to the name. The company didn't had a story, Ideation as well as a brief for their logo so they gave me the whole creative freedom with a deadline of 24hr. I did this logo without any grid or rules & aligned things optically. Designers I need your opinions for any kind of improvement.

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.

Hello all! (If this post isn't allowed, moderators are welcome to inform me about it and remove the post if need be)
Me and my classmate are currently working on our thesis, as a part of our bachelor's degree.
We want to reach out to this community with a handful of questions related to the use of AI in design.
We would like for those who are interested to answer the questions, and maybe even discuss them further between each other.

With that said, we are of course aware of ethical questions, and will not ask anyone for any personal information. The answers that we will collect will not be shared with anyone who isn't in immediate contact with our thesis work. The collected information will simply be used in our thesis, alongside other method results.

If you have any questions or concerns, I'll be happy to answer them!
We thank you in advance!

The questions are:

1. What contribution has AI made to a designer's everyday life?
2. Does everyone understand the meaning of using AI in their work, and do they know how it is used?
3. How can AI, what it is and what it does for a designer, be explained in an easy way for someone who doesn't have any deeper knowledge about it?
4. Is there a way to use the language phenomenon of metaphors to explain what AI is and therefore make it easier to understand?

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

hello everyone, i understand, a lot of you might be tired from this same question, but one more time haha. i wanna start learning graphic design and i have several important questions before i start this journey.

1. ive heard from several people that it isn’t mandatory to be good at drawing but i want real answer, is that right? also, there is a huge difference between drawing on a paper and on ipad, i used to draw a lot in my teen years (which i studied myself and im not naturally good at this) but that was years ago and i didnt touch a pencil since then, so considering this situation will it be hard to draw on ipad if ever necessary?
2. im scared that i wont be creative once i study graphic design so i need advice and your thought on this. i cant say im not creative but once im face to face to my work what if i wont know what to do and nothing comes to my mind?
3. in which books should i invest money as a beginner?
4. my laptop isnt super good atp but im considering getting new one so i wanna know which is the best for graphic design (but i will also use it for my university and personal needs which mostly only contains watching movies and writing) on budget. im considering getting a macbook but i dont really know much about apple laptops, so id be more than happy if you recommend one (which wont cost my liver plz😁)
5. more like study material, i do not have time right now at least till summer to go to academy ro study graphic design (thats why i have so many questions myself), but im super sure and consistent about my decision and i wanna start learning it myself before professional help, so i wanna know which youtubers or whatever online sources do you recommend?
6. this one you dont have to answer if you do not want but when did you get your first job/project as a graphic designer after learning it and making portfolio? and just wanna know your experience as a beginner in graphic design.

thank yall in advance, have a nice day/night. 💌

Hi everyone, I’m currently working with Canva, Figma, and Procreate (for illustrations) and am also experimenting with CapCut for video editing. While I’m making progress, I feel like I could really level up my skills, especially when it comes to more advanced design and editing techniques.

I’d love to hear any advice or recommendations you might have!

I’m interested in anything from: - Courses or tutorials - YouTube channels or other resources - Suggestions for other programs or tools I should consider learning

Any recommendations would be much appreciated!

I work within a creative studio as a mid-level designer. We have a few clients, and the most recent one was signed with us late last year.

One of the things we do is have the client/ point of contact submit a project intake form. Our other clients do this just fine, but this new one just refuses to do it. They usually do it informally by emailing myself directly for example, or going to our Document Advisor, who also won’t use the form, and just sends us an email with vague details and so much time is wasted going back and forth via email that the timeline to get a proof out gets shorter. The worst part is that this advisor has now got us, the creatives, blocked from reaching out to the clients directly— which makes it even harder to get the specs and have that collaboration between designers and the client.

Anywho, I’ve been thinking of ways to effectively ask the questions that we need answered from the get-go when we get new submissions. I am wondering what your tips or standards are when obtaining new project specs/ summaries/ briefs?

Hi everyone

Quick question here, I expect to graduate in a month or two and am considering making use of the adobe student membership for one year paid upfront. However, I expect to lose access to my student email after graduating, how do I go about this? Can you add more emails to your account or do I have to contact support immediately after signing up to switch emails? Thanks 😅

Hey everyone! 👋

I just updated my Behance portfolio with some of my recent work, and I’d love to hear what you think. Whether it’s design, layout, concept, or anything else — your feedback and thoughts would mean a lot and help me grow as a designer. 🙌

Also, if you like what you see, feel free to drop an appreciation — it really motivates me to keep creating! 💙

Check it out here: https://www.behance.net/gallery/218774529/Portfolio