Boom or bust?

Are jobs in this industry on the rise? Are there any sub-sectors that are growing?

Where are the jobs? Which places have the most graphics designer opportunities?

I have been looking almost 2 years. After working five years for the same company I left to work for a small firm that failed after a few months. I find jobs but most dont really want a designer. They want a person to code and adminster web sites or to do som administrative work as about 50% of the job. It's tuff. Still looking.

MANHATTAN.
Bring yourself to the city. It's where I have worked... if you do a job search on here.. you'll see that New York has the most graphic designer opportunities. atleast 20 new postings per day, I've found.
I feel if you're looking for a place that wants admin. work and web work... then thats what you'll find. if you search for "graphic designer" generally you'll find just that. graphic design jobs. mediabistro.com and creativehotlist.com has alot of them.

I have been looking for 3 years - in Charlotte North Carolina of all places. I used to live in NY, before I became a designer and I'd hate to have to go back - it's just too expensive to live there.
There are just no jobs down here for a beginning designer - not that pay anything anyway. Especially if you do not have webdesign experience. Mostly they want to pay between $10-$13 an hour and you can't live on that down here. Most jobs that are available want 3-5 years experience and Flash and Dreamweaver. If you don't have that you are screwed.
I had a great job with and advertising agency subsidiary - for all of 8 months - the boss decided that $125,000 in 8 months wasn't enough income - he wanted more like $250,000. (Wouldn't we all) He charged $45 an hour for my work. So he closed down the subsidiary and we were all out of work. That great job paid $12 an hour - no benefits and 43 miles of driving.
Freelancing might be promising, but I don't know how to find clients.

Well I have to say after moving from a larger market like Atlanta to a smaller one in Louisville, KY I've found the job market to be few and fare between here in the mid west. In Atlana, it was like digging for gold in a positive way! You just had to have the energy to get out there and meet people in related industries like Marketing, PR, Small Business Owners, ect. And the cost of living is not bad either. The only drawback is the TRAFFIC!!!

Anyway, pay your dues, freelance to make the ends-meet and in time it will balance out... trust me. Ive been designing for 13+ years and I still work freelance stuff... teach design courses and hold down a 9to5.

So keep working and you'll get what you want out of it!

I don't know about designers makine only between 10 and 12 dollars int he city. The cost of living is higher so the pay has to be higher. I was a part time designer for an ad agency.. I basically just did resizes and photo toughups and I got paid $20 per hr. Ive recently went on 3 interviews where the pay is $40,000 and up.
True some places do only pay $12 per hour in the city.. but those are basic jobs. not really super creative. and I haven't found many that pay that little. just don't apply to those jobs.

Also, most people dont actually live in the city. most people commute. 5 of my friends live in Bloomfield in Montclair and pay 900 a month for an apartment and commute 30 mins into the city. not bad.

here's the direct link to job listings on Indeed for Graphic Designer: www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Graphic+Designer&l=&radius=

In the left-hand margin you'll notice several ways of refining your search. Under location it shows you the cities and states that have the most amount of results. Looks like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington have the most job listings for right now.

Yeah, but you have to be aware that the big cities also tend to be oversaturated with designers. I went on one interview 2 years ago where the employer told me that he had over 400 resumes come in from just a CraigsList ad.

Emma said: here's the direct link to job listings on Indeed for Graphic Designer: www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Graphic+Designer&l=&radius=
In the left-hand margin you'll notice several ways of refining your search. Under location it shows you the cities and states that have the most amount of results. Looks like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington have the most job listings for right now.

Steve G said: Yeah, but you have to be aware that the big cities also tend to be oversaturated with designers. I went on one interview 2 years ago where the employer told me that he had over 400 resumes come in from just a CraigsList ad.

Wow! Sometimes a good way stand out in such a crowd is to be among the first to apply. You can see how anyone's resume can get lost in such a large response.

Sally Young said: I have been looking for 3 years - in Charlotte North Carolina of all places. I used to live in NY, before I became a designer and I'd hate to have to go back - it's just too expensive to live there.
There are just no jobs down here for a beginning designer - not that pay anything anyway. Especially if you do not have webdesign experience. Mostly they want to pay between $10-$13 an hour and you can't live on that down here. Most jobs that are available want 3-5 years experience and Flash and Dreamweaver. If you don't have that you are screwed.
I had a great job with and advertising agency subsidiary - for all of 8 months - the boss decided that $125,000 in 8 months wasn't enough income - he wanted more like $250,000. (Wouldn't we all) He charged $45 an hour for my work. So he closed down the subsidiary and we were all out of work. That great job paid $12 an hour - no benefits and 43 miles of driving.
Freelancing might be promising, but I don't know how to find clients.

I agree 100%. I moved from South Florida where jobs are easy to get if you are good. I have been here since July and can't find anything except what you said. Graphic designers and Web Designers are what is coming out of school. Now they are trying to teach students both so they can do it all. Personally I do not know web and don't plan to. Many companies else where have designers and web designers but for some reason in this state and that is not only Charlotte they want all in one and want you to work for nothing. I have extended my search to all of NC and now to other states. I applied for a job much like any job in NJ that is just a graphic design position with knowledge of quark, photoshop and illustrator and the salary is 50-70k. The problem with applying to jobs not local is nobody pays for artists relocation and 9 out of 10 times they prefer to hire someone local instead of even considering someone from out of state.

One problem I've found is that employers aren't sure what a graphic designer does. So they're not prepared to interview candidates, much less tell which ones are really good. And these days, everybody who fiddles around with a graphic software program seems to think they're a "graphic designer." Just because you make your own Christmas cards and party invitations doesn't qualify you to be a graphic designer. But some employers are impressed by that, and because they can get someone to do the work cheaply, they'll hire them.

EndoMedia said: Well I have to say after moving from a larger market like Atlanta to a smaller one in Louisville, KY I've found the job market to be few and fare between here in the mid west. In Atlana, it was like digging for gold in a positive way! You just had to have the energy to get out there and meet people in related industries like Marketing, PR, Small Business Owners, ect. And the cost of living is not bad either. The only drawback is the TRAFFIC!!!
Anyway, pay your dues, freelance to make the ends-meet and in time it will balance out... trust me. Ive been designing for 13+ years and I still work freelance stuff... teach design courses and hold down a 9to5.
So keep working and you'll get what you want out of it!

Hey EndoMedia. I live in Fern Creek I graduated from college 2 years ago and haven't found anything for entry level design work of any kind. I was wondering if you could give me some pointers/tips/advice on where to look in the o so great city of Louisville.

Hey T in Louisville, which discipline of engineering are you?

I am a laid off Electrical Engineer and I was considering moving to Louisville to look for work.

Are EE jobs in the Louisville area scarce?

Hope you fare better than me I can't get interviews.

[QUOTE who="T"]
Hey EndoMedia. I live in Fern Creek I graduated from college 2 years ago and haven't found anything for entry level design work of any kind. I was wondering if you could give me some pointers/tips/advice on where to look in the o so great city of Louisville.

My advice is to look for another field. Graphic design jobs mostly require web design now, as well as a diploma as a minimum. The wages are going down every year because the software is so user-friendly now, most people can do their own document layouts and ads etc. Not a great field to get into. I was on the Dean's list too and have now been looking for a job for 4 years with no success. I only worked for 5 years in the industry after graduation, for small companies that didn't pay and eventually went broke. I'm changing careers again. It's just not a good career move unless you have amazing skills and good marketing savy.
Good luck,
H

I figured ontario would be big in design and art. After I graduated i took me 3 years to be placed (through a temp service) in a design-esque position. That company crapped on me, ended the assignment on the way home from work day. 2 months later I obtain an ad design pos. @ the local newspaper. nothing major but hey. BOTTOM TO THE TOP!!!!

Most design jobs will be eliminated in the next few years due to variable printing. Traditional graphic print positions will be eliminated because templates will be available online giving the client the ability to customize their own text and photo.

Read about variable printing when you get a chance.

zincink.com

They said the same thing when internet connections became more prevalent. Variable printing is cool, but it's not going to put us out of work.

You have to know what you want, and have the chops to pull it off. If you aren't getting the job you want. Go get some books and do some work on your own; study fine art, classic design and current design. Hang up the x-box controller and pick up your pen.

I already went to art school and have over ten years experience in the field. Variable printing allows the client to make their own changes and put together projects without the help of an advertising team.

One person puts together the templates, one programmer and then can run a business without the help of five other designers making changes all day long.

Not only that but from what I have seen on the Tristate area, NJ,NYC etc...alot of companies are outsourcing to save money.

Why should I pay "Bob" 45 and hour when I can get the same work overseas for 15.

sorry zincink the comments were general comments to what I found on the thread.

still not worried about loosing my job to a template. Web Designers have been buying templates for years, if anything it's helped their turnaround on compressed timelines.

as far as the outsourcing comment "same" is usually "similar"