• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

Graphic Design

Robopop

New member
Joined
Mar 28, 2010
Messages
692
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5w4
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
I'm in a graphic design program at my local tech college and just want to get more information about this career. I've always had artistic talent and thought this would be a good career for me, but my teacher keeps insisting you have to be very extroverted and outgoing in this career. I myself am very detached and a loner. Is there an graphic design career for an quiet introvert like me?
 

InsatiableCuriosity

New member
Joined
May 20, 2010
Messages
698
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5
I'm in a graphic design program at my local tech college and just want to get more information about this career. I've always had artistic talent and thought this would be a good career for me, but my teacher keeps insisting you have to be very extroverted and outgoing in this career. I myself am very detached and a loner. Is there an graphic design career for an quiet introvert like me?

I teach in the fields of Graphic Design Production and PrePress and what they are saying is complete twaddle. :doh:

There are so many different career path potentials within Graphic Design only some of which are likely to require Extraversion. Usually the likes of flashy sales people for an ad agency.

The skills that are required in spades are the ability to creatively think outside the square, adapt rapidly to the newest technology and see its possibilities, being insightful enough to understand a client's needs even if they don't, good time management, great technical skills in the "tools" to be used, excellent spatial skills (and math funnily enough) and a thorough understanding of the media you are designing for.

You have encountered a person with a very narrow perspective that I can assure you is not shared across the whole sector. Extraversion would be at the bottom of my list.
 

Katsuni

Priestess Of Syrinx
Joined
Aug 22, 2009
Messages
1,238
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
3w4?
They're not being entirely untruthful, unfortunately.

There's alot of career paths, but almost all of them have more people than there are jobs available. This means a TON of contact building and social networking. I suck hard at this too, fortunately my college goes to great lengths to ensure that students know how to build a social network of contacts so that they can get jobs.

Yeu can be a brilliant artist, but yeu'll never get hired if noone knows yeur name.

It requires alot of stuff that's generally considered to be extroverted, such as being sociable. I'd suggest getting a linkedin account fast, and start keeping track of people yeu know, starting with yeur professors and instructors.




For the matter of how many 'jobs' there are, the numbers that are provided are very unrealistic unfortunately. They count "jobs" as jobs that are/were available. Think of something like a movie - a movie is made, they need posters, they need advertisements, they need paraphernalia, and so on and so forth... people do those jobs, and then... they're gone. They're not needed for that movie anymore. So those same people now move onto another job which just opened up when a video game was being worked on, and do that instead, then that job dries up, and they move elsewhere. Yeu're going to be needing to go through 2-3 jobs a year on a regular basis with different employers, and the number of jobs available is deceptive since the same group of people will be getting 2-5 jobs a year, it's not a one shot deal with job security most of the time.

There's exceptions, of course, but most of the time yeu'll be moving around alot. This means yeu need to know how to get into the next job quickly once the previous one runs out. Know yeur workers and boss; they know others in the industry and if yeu do good work, and get to know them as friends, they're far more likely to drop yeur name to a colleague who's working on something else which they need someone with yeur talents for. Knowing who to talk to, who to suck up to, and so on, is a major thing in the industry...

These aren't things that come naturally to me, I know people for a short time, rarely very well, and then just kinda drift apart from them. In this career market, yeu need to cling onto contacts for YEARS.

This's going to suck for me to get used to, and I imagine it's the same for yeu, but it has to be done. Talent and skill are only a minor part of getting work in the industry... a much larger portion is who yeu know, and how little yeu can get paid. If yeu are female, native american, handicapped, or some visable minority, the government will subsidize part of yeur wages which makes yeu more attractive to hire. Do all yeu can to find anything yeu can apply for in those regards, and so on. Yes, it sucks, but I hope this gives yeu an idea of whot yeu're getting yeurself into.



Regardless, InsatiableCuriosity is correct as well. The jobs THEMSELVES don't require all that much extroversion, it's the GETTING of the job in the first place that does.
 

ragashree

Reason vs Being
Joined
Nov 3, 2008
Messages
1,770
MBTI Type
Mine
Enneagram
1w9
I'm in a graphic design program at my local tech college and just want to get more information about this career. I've always had artistic talent and thought this would be a good career for me, but my teacher keeps insisting you have to be very extroverted and outgoing in this career. I myself am very detached and a loner. Is there an graphic design career for an quiet introvert like me?

What Insatiablecuriosity said ;)

Also, my brother used to be a technical draughtsman, I think that's what he was trained as, and did it sucessfully when he was younger for quite a few years. He's a definite ISTP with quite strong Ti, and typically not any more outgoing than he has to be. It actually suited him quite well because he could either work from home (as he often did) at his own pace, or in a relatively quiet and laid back office environment where he didn't have to interact with people he didn't get along with that much, or face many distractions (he hates engaging in small talk or being distracted when he's doing any kind of work). He was mostly working on the design of specialist heavy machinery; I know he spent a few years working for a company with the delightful name of "Fluid Transfer Ltd" who made ground support and refuelling equipment for aircraft, for example.

He only gave it up because he decided he wanted to be completely independent and do more hands-on, practical work instead of sitting at a desk so much (this is rather typical ISTP-ness) so he now works as a self-employed carpenter and tradesman. His draughtsmanship and CAD skills still come in useful from time to time when he's planning his work and presenting projects to customers; sometimes in fact he spends a little too much time on that and not enough time actually getting on with it!
 

OrangeAppled

Sugar Hiccup
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Messages
7,626
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4w5
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
Regardless, InsatiableCuriosity is correct as well. The jobs THEMSELVES don't require all that much extroversion, it's the GETTING of the job in the first place that does.

This is a problem with all jobs....most request extroverted personalities in their descriptions, even if they desire work that requires retreating into your head & NOT being in contact with people for lengthy periods. That's how graphic design is - you often interact with a computer & only a computer for hours on end. It's actually ideal for introverts in that sense.

Most graphic designers I know are introverts - but yes, the ones who make more money, get the "fun" jobs, & advance into creative directors are the extroverts. I don't think this is right - it's outright bias against introverts & it overlooks people who have more to offer in many ways, but that's the way the world thinks. IDK what people think introverts are good for....

As a graphic designer, there are many avenues you can take as far as finding work goes. The hardest one for an introvert is freelance design, because it requires major networking & you're basically constantly "interviewing". You're really a designer slash salesperson.

Working for a company often cuts the sales part out (as they usually have salespeople), but you do have to deal with clients & co-workers (but you would on almost any job). However, graphic design is extremely competitive, and it's heavily saturated (everyone who knows Photoshop thinks they are a designer :rolli: and it's an increasingly popular major to study in college), which means that you will have to really standout in interviews. Unfortunately, people often hire based on who they like over based on who is really qualified for the job. Your portfolio & resume get you the interview, your personality gets you the job.

Oh, and the pay sucks, you rarely get to design anything interesting or to use your own ideas, your work often gets slaughtered, you have to do what the client wants (even if it's ugly), and often you work as a contractor (even in full time positions) & have no benefits or vacation time.

I'm saying all this because graphic design sounds like a great job in theory to many people, but the reality is you don't get much in return for what you put in, be it creative fulfillment or material payoff.
 

InsatiableCuriosity

New member
Joined
May 20, 2010
Messages
698
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5
Just reading the other responses here - they can be correct but there are other avenues. An investigation I have done here in Australia shows that greater than 80% of large companies have in house design and/or publishing departments. These are a great way to obtain work experience and a portfolio. Often you would work in either the marketing or human resources department, but almost always you would be managing and using the Corporate Style of that company preparing anything from Tender Documents to staff and/or customer newsletters, leaflets, brochures, stationery and fliers.

Our grad. students have found that those who did work experience with a printing company and learnt the intricacies of preparing print ready documents, and those who knew the nuances and efficiencies of multi-purpose design for publishing across media (phones, web, ebooks etc) were the most successful in finding work.

Good luck ;)
 
Top