Funny or Not Funny?

As I was getting fed up with the fact that none of my Craigslist ads offering services as a Graphic Designer get any sort of response, I decided to check out my competition. Every day I check out Craigslist ‘creative gigs’ section where people looking for designers to help them with simple design needs, such as logo, business card, brochure, website design, etc. I respond to every one of them and not yet once I had somebody write back to me to inquire further into my skill set, price range… So, as I said, today I decided to check out my competition. I composed a fake ad where I posed as a small business owner in need of a logo design and a simple website. I asked a potential designer to quote me his/her price for a job and send the link to his/her portfolio. I posted this ad at around 10:30am. By noon I went back to my mail box and found around 40 responses to my ad. Price quoted for a logo design started as low as $60 and never went higher than $200. Everybody promised to give me the first priority, execute unlimited amount of sketches and ideas, unlimited corrections.  I am shocked! What am I doing within this industry? My cleaning woman, who is over 60 years old and doesn’t speak a lick of English, makes $80 for 4.5 hours of work, but here people, with Bachelor degrees, sophisticated computer equipments, CS4s and CS5s installed into their flat screen Macs, are offering to work days (maybe weeks) for a $60? Could this be a reality?

Change of Goals

As I started this blog few months ago, I had an agenda-  I wanted to land a graphic design gig, any graphic design gig, be it a job, an internship, a paid project… As I found a paid design job by placing an ad into a Russian classified newspaper, and successfully completed it, I could have assumed that my goal has been reached and I could have stopped writing this blog. As I landed an internship opportunity with X media design company, I could have said- I did it, and be done with writing the blog.  But I don’t feel that my goal has been accomplished, and here is why: I want to be getting paid for my work.  The Russian gig came and went, I got paid $200, which has been spent and forgotten about. And even though I enjoy my internship and the people I work among, it doesn’t even cover my metro card. C’mon, you have people who come to your studio and spend  whole day holed up in your basement, breathing your pot fumes,  staring into your computer screen and working on your project, can’t you even offer them a sandwich for lunch, or a bottle of water/cup of coffee, or pay for their metro card?

Sometimes I can’t help but feel that my employers take a bit of advantage of me and my unemployment. I was looking to join a creative group even on intern basis hoping to learn new skills and be prompted into a right direction, but instead I haven’t even spent 1 minute with any of the in-house  designers. I am given a task that falls into my comfort zone and my skills set, and on that task I work. At the end of the day I show the results to the partners, who would stare at my computer screen and complement me on my work. They might say- it’s very good, you are almost there, try taking this to a next level. But what does it mean? If I am to figure out these kinds of riddles on my own, so why do I need this internship? I could work from home on my own pet projects…

So my goal might have shifted a little bit, but it’s not achieved: I want paid gigs!

Day 34

It has been a week as I am an official intern of 3X new media design studio. I am promised to get thrown into a number of creative challenges and if I am to prove myself worthy- I may start getting paid. Also there will be plenty of chances to acquire new skills, if I wish to learn. There is a good chance to learn some web design, especially as I like to pretend that I already know some. Same deal with Flash. All good skills to have.

So far I spent two days at their studio, as I said that I was available two days a week. I am thinking I am proving myself quite capable. First day I struggled a bit with a business card design for Jo’s girlfriend’s dog walking service. I think I had a bit  of a creative block, while starting out in a new environment and needing desperately to prove myself capable. But as I got home and dwelled on that challenge for a little bit, I was able to loosen up and generate some ideas. Next day I worked on a logo for Bud’s pet project- rainwater collection system. I was able to come up with few interesting ideas and execute them in Photoshop and Illustrator. I think that Bud, as well as his creative partner Jo, are liking where I am going with this. So I am starting to relax.

The studio where I intern is a ‘pot-friendly environment’, as per Jo. What it means is that starting as early as 11 am and throughout the rest of the day somebody in that studio is smoking pot. Another thing it means is that people in that office have the most relaxed attitude towards everything that’s going on. And I find this really excellent, because I translate ‘pot-friendly’ environment in the studio into a ‘stress-free’ environment for me. I hope I am not jinxing anything here…

Day 23

Just read a good article on the web about how to keep on getting better as a designer. Want to share it with everybody: http://digitalmash.com/journal/articles/stepping-into-web-design. Something I need to learn from. Sometimes I get satisfied to easily with my designs. No way to succeed…

Day 22

Success! I had an interview today, with a new media creative studio. First interview in a long time… The studio looks really fun- big loft-like space located in a basement of some cafe in the midtown Manhattan. Exposed brick walls with graffiti all over them. Young girl, probably younger than I, as a creative director. Two hansom geeky guys, the partners. Two friendly black dogs. What else can one want for a creative environment? Anyway, I sort-of got hired, starting next Monday. Will learn all there is to learn about new media and web design. Yoo-hoo!! So happy…

And yeah, the auto-guys contacted me today. Loved my designs, finally. So I did manage to ‘make it look nice’. This drama is not over yet, now need to design the inside of that brochure and a poster. Lets see if I’ll succeed making those ‘look nice’…

day 21

Back in business. Heard from auto-guys again, they want me to go on. I tried to get more creative direction, but didn’t get any. As usual- mmm…..you know, make it look nice….maybe another picture…..I don’t know…..  Anyway, I did 2 more designs, they will be final ones. I feel strongly about both of them, so the guys better like at least one of them.

Day 19

Decided to act according to the new plan: create a fake new resume where I say that I am a new graduate from the FIT with not much work experience. Hoping to land a decent internship where I can learn how to work within a creative department rather than solo. I am quite discouraged after my fiasco with the TNM Autogroup. Keep on thinking about things I might have done differently… Anyway, here is my resume! my resume (superNew)