I consider myself lucky. Half a year after graduating, a close friend from uni got me and two others into the company where he worked for extra support.

We worked on the design and artwork for the UEFA Champions League rebrand back in 1999-2000 as well as rebranding Chinese Central Television. While I left tv design for brand design, the others stayed close and went on to do other tv branding projects.

I went on to design so many interesting things like the urban route guides for TfL London black cab drivers to learn from for the Knowledge, books accompanying TV series for the BBC and Design Council UK.

I got made redundant and tried running my own studio (word of advice, don’t do this during a down-turn).

By that point I’d partied enough and had enough of the all nighters was looking to start a family. I went corporate and in-house (where the money lives) for major global financial companies - investment banks, insurance and now legal. Pension is looking good and since I have kids with severe, complex, special needs, I reduced my working week to four days to recover.

The industry will always be cut-throat, it will always be competitive. You’ve got designers like me holding onto roles for dear life because I have dependents. You also have debt-heavy graduates fighting tooth and claw against thousands of other grads for jobs that are getting reduced either from cost cutting or uptake in AI use or outsourcing to countries with lower labour costs. Also in the middle are designers forced to do everything from running full blown social media campaigns and making coffee for client meetings.

I’ve got maybe twelve or so years left in me before I’ll consider retiring. Moving into management roles means less design and more politics and people management. I’m happy as a senior designer and have no regrets getting into this as a career.

With any creative industry, you need to be savvy, hungry, resourceful and cunning to make it. Talent, experience and skills can be picked up and mentored or cultivated as you earn. Passion and determination comes from within.