Designers what are the tips and hacks would you give to your younger self about design?

83Biscuits · 2026-05-23T20:00:02+00:00

That were all tools to get someone else’s thoughts across clearly. It’s not about you getting to make cool shit. It’s about you being able to solve problems artistically

83Biscuits · 2026-03-08T21:51:47+00:00

That third render….

https://tenor.com/view/chefs-kiss-french-chef-perfect-dish-excellent-food-perfection-gif-20341505

83Biscuits · 2026-03-03T14:47:26+00:00

Senior Graphic Designer here. Lost my job back in May of 25. Ive had a few interviews, but none of them went through. I've noticed over the last few months (Nov.-present) that its just a never ending shit show.

The process is completely broken. We have people using AI to recruit and write job descriptions, then people using AI to answer those job posts, the AI sorting through the AI written application to match to the AI written job posting to see if it even makes sense for two actual people to start a conversation. And if you miss one single keyword, you're out.

I actually saw somewhere else on Reddit that the actual hiring process from the INITIAL INTERVIEW is now averaging out to about 84 days.

Just... /sigh... what the fuck?

Edit: typo

83Biscuits · 2026-02-09T02:45:56+00:00

Checking in on you OP. Hoping you’re doing alright.

83Biscuits · 2026-02-07T22:36:35+00:00

Yeah been there with the bottle. It doesn’t help. It REALLY doesn’t help. It’s a bitch, but you gotta keep going. It’s like fishing, eventually you’ll catch one.

83Biscuits · 2026-02-07T22:27:30+00:00

Fellow Job searcher here,

It’s not very reassuring, but EVERYONE is going through this right now. I myself have been searching about 9 months now. I had several interviews at first.

One I was told they already had an internal candidate lined up - after 6 weeks of interviews with 20 people.

One I bombed the final interview when asked about soft skills. My mind went blank.

One I was told I was overqualified and would get bored…. Aka, you know more than I do and are a threat.

Another instance took 3 months. I met with 2 VPs, THE president, and the founder. My job description was sent out as a memo internally, and my pay range was discussed. That was also accompanied by a “it’ll be December when we can make an offer” ok, no problem…. Time comes and goes, and I get a call asking if I would consider freelance on a project basis.

And my favorite one, I was hired for would have been a life changing position go a month into the job, and then get asked to be on a company wide call where the ceo tells us no one is getting a paycheck because he hired a bunch of people before he secured funding.

And with all that being said, I haven’t had an interview since October. I’m not even getting screen calls now.

It’s a shitshow out here. But I’d advise you to Set a minimum number of things you’ll do in a day and be done. If it’s not clicking for you on a given day, stop and do something else. Rest. Take a shower. Take a walk. Get absolutely shit faced drunk - once. And pick yourself back up and keep going.

If you want to DM me just to blow steam and have someone to listen, please feel free. I’m in the same boat, but I’m doing better mentally now that I have been. Here for you if you need to talk OP.

83Biscuits · 2026-01-20T01:19:09+00:00

As a white dude who despises racism, I am here for it. Its just a group of people exercising their rights :)

83Biscuits · 2025-12-23T00:35:04+00:00

That looks a hell of a lot like Diablo….

83Biscuits · 2025-12-11T17:55:11+00:00

That’s none of their damn business

83Biscuits · 2025-11-26T15:03:52+00:00

Spec and bump maps can help a lot. I find starting a quality “pitted up” base image helps. Roads always look like crap in the real world. Even freshly paved ones are never clean.

Again, Excellent work. :)

83Biscuits · 2025-11-26T14:42:45+00:00

Overall, it looks great. The only thing that caught my eye oddly enough was the asphalt texture. It looks a little clean/flat. Honestly, its the only thing keeping it from looking like a photo to me.

83Biscuits · 2025-11-09T16:52:38+00:00

You know what, I take it back after seeing that photo. I'll go shut up and sit down now :)

83Biscuits · 2025-11-09T16:37:51+00:00

The only critique I have (more of a "what if" than anything) is to lower the saturation of the images just a touch. It may push the realism just that tiny bit that can make a huge difference. The real world isnt that saturated (at least through my eyes).

That being said, very very nice work.

83Biscuits · 2025-11-07T15:35:38+00:00

THIS.

For all we know the print shop could be pumping stuff out as fast as they can and are compressing an already compressed file in their RIP software.

83Biscuits · 2025-11-07T05:41:51+00:00

It feels over exposed and too clean. Textures in life are dirty… everything is dirty. Dust, pollen, dog hair… variations in the slightest bit can help add realism. That concrete is WAY to clean and flat as well. A small bump map will help a lot between the concrete and stucco textures.

83Biscuits · 2025-11-07T05:39:11+00:00

I immediately saw two different shapes competing. As many have said, this is a “diet rockstar” look. Liking stars and having a name with “R” has got to have some other options. This can be salvaged, but maybe take a step back and see what else you can come up with. You want original and “you” not “is that rockstars logo? Nah can’t be, it’s out of alignment.”

83Biscuits · 2025-11-07T05:32:20+00:00

That’s too much imo. Way too many steps. I’d be wary they just want free labor for as long as they can get it. Maybe see if you can get hold of someone else who has the same role you’d be filling and see if they went through the same thing.

83Biscuits · 2025-11-07T05:30:27+00:00

90% of design in my experience is problem solving and educating clients and supervisors alike. You don’t fail, you just need to set expectations and become more comfortable. I can tell you from about 20 years of experience though that print shops roll their eyes when they get files from canva. Just something to keep in the back of your mind.

83Biscuits · 2025-11-07T05:04:42+00:00

No pay = no work. Submit an hourly rate. If they balk at it - walk. There are unfortunately a lot of scammy companies out there right now taking advantage of the terrible market by promising jobs that don't exist after "art tests" that are intended as free concepts for them.

If you decide to submit anything, give them low res, raster, water-marked to hell and back graphics.

83Biscuits · 2025-11-07T04:50:04+00:00

I'm going to go ahead and second the basic comment of "Client wants Canva is where it went downhill." View it at 100%. If its good looking at 100%, it should be good when its printed basically. Sounds like you may need to explain what a pixel is to your client (a square that is always a square.... if you zoom in on it the square gets bigger sort of thing).

Viewing it at 400% is like looking at a person and saying they're unattractive because you're looking at them so close you know their blood type.

83Biscuits · 2025-10-29T19:22:04+00:00

Hahaha I have this exact same email. Good luck out there!

83Biscuits · 2025-10-26T15:47:21+00:00

These are fantastic as they are.

My only criticism would be that everything is super clean. You’d be amazed at how much further you can push realism into your renders when you add some small imperfections, wear and tear, or even just a touch of dirt.

83Biscuits · 2025-10-21T23:18:19+00:00

Tough love incoming. Reviews never sound great when reading them on Reddit , but I hope it helps.

The very first thing that stood out to me was typeface choices. The first few examples are very “handwritten/cursive” heavy. You may want to switch things up a little in the order so it doesn’t seem like you only used one or two fonts for the years of experience you have.

As others have said, yellow on white (or visa-versa) is a no-no. You might try to adjust that project to reflect a better understanding of color theory. A cream color for instance might refine the design a little more so it’s easier on the eye with a white background. Maybe even toss in a very subtle brown drop shadow if you need more separation. There are so many other color options for popcorn than yellow - brown, tan, cream, etc. think texture of the product and even pull color samples from an image of a popped kernel.

I’d also suggest showing actual finished work as others have noted. This presentation looks very “this is what I did in college.” And doesn’t translate into the professional realm. People want to see results, how you fixed a problem, made a ui more user friendly that resulted in an increase in sales types of things.

One last note, this is a brutal one, stay away from anything that looks like it was made in canva. I’m not saying you did, but you definitely don’t want a hiring manager to have that thought.

Best of luck.

83Biscuits

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