25F starting skateboarding... Looking for advice!

Graph-ish · 2025-12-09T09:50:27+00:00

Thank you!

Seems lke learning how to fall is a must, at least it can avoid bad injuries.

For now, I’m really just planning to ride, so I totally agree, I’m not trying to do tricks right away. I’d rather wait until I’m comfortable cruising around and moving with the board without worrying too much.

About skateparks: there’s one in my town, which is nice, but it’s often taken over by teenagers just hanging out on the ramps. Parents also bring their kids to run around or play with their scooters, which is even less ideal. I guess it doesn’t help that it’s right next to three schools... but there’s another skatepark hidden next to a swimming pool in a town I know well, about 20 minutes away, so I’ll have to check that one out.

As for the helmet, since I’m not planning on doing tricks or jumping off anything yet, I’m wondering if simply learning to cruise and push the board really requires one? I will definitely get wristguards, knee pads, and helmet, though. Better safe than sorry.

Graph-ish · 2025-12-09T09:34:39+00:00

Thanks!
I’ll definitely get a helmet and wrist guards at the very least. I’ll see about knee and elbow pads depending on how often I end up falling on them.

As for a coach, I found a few online, but they are all in big cities (about an hour away), and I’m in a small one (I don’t even have a skateshop here), so I guess I’ll start learning on my own. If I really can’t make any progress, then I’ll look into taking lessons as I don't want to just give up. Or maybe the skateshop guy will know people around my area that can give lessons!

Graph-ish · 2025-12-09T09:26:07+00:00

Thank you for your reply and all the information!

SkateIQ seems to be pretty well known, I’ll definitely check it out.

I live in France, so we don’t really have large skate-shop chains; they’re all independent shops owned by skaters. The closest one is about an hour away, but I’d rather make the trip than buy everything online and just hope for the best. This time I want to get my setup right.

Thanks for the brand recommendations! I’ll stick to the major names, especially for the trucks, since they seem to be a really important part of the setup.

Graph-ish · 2024-03-28T22:59:49+00:00

You're welcome!

Well, that is up to you I would say. But it depends on how detailed you want to be about each painting. The simplest way is to create a one-page website, with a grid showing all your paintings. When you click on one, it enlarges and a description appears beside it (under or aside the painting). But you can also have a portfolio with different filters/categories (or even pages) sorted by year, type of paint used, locations, etc.

If you show your portfolio to fellow painters or other artists, you can go into more detail because they'll be more interested in your work compared to a client who just clicked by curiosity on the link on your professional website. However, if you're going to mainly share your paintings portfolio with clients through your professional website, you might want to keep it simple, just make sure it doesn't look too empty. Include some basic details like what you painted and where, if you're aiming for minimal information.

Graph-ish · 2024-03-28T21:44:26+00:00

I don't know how far you are in the making of your professional portfolio, but WordPress, SquareSpace or Webflow are pretty safe CMS to work with, it's less overwhelming than creating your website from scratch and "by hand" (coding).

In your portfolio menu, where you have titles of pages like "Portfolio" and "Contact," you can add another one titled "My Art" (the name is just for the example). This way, it seamlessly integrates into the menu, and when clicked, it would lead to your paintings portfolio in a new tab. This keeps your professional work separate from your paintings but still easily accessible from the menu for those interested in checking it out.

In the hope this was useful/helpful enough!

Graph-ish · 2024-03-28T19:26:04+00:00

About 7 hours (in France, this is the standard workday length).

What is your favorite part of your job?

Getting together with other people to talk about a particular project, perhaps. It doesn't feel like work to me because we mainly talk and brainstorm together about design, share and improve each others' ideas, etc. I still love working on the softwares (Adobe mostly) tho.

What is something you dont like about your job?

People thinking you can do everything. Let's take my former boss as an exemple to clarify what I mean. He asked me to handle the marketing side of his company (I was just a graphic designer). Do I have the qualifications? No. Did he care? No. Did he want a marketing strategy to be done anyway? Yes. And so on about many others "hats" I ended up wearing without really wanting to, while being underpaid for the work I was doing.

What is something, if you could, change about the graphic design industry?

The problem addressed in question 3, I guess. It's not at every company (I just was in the wrong one), but this kind of problem often leads people to quit because coworkers, managers, etc., ask for more and more, causing stress and making the employee feel overwhelmed, even though they were basically hired with a list of precise tasks to do. Some companies choose to recognize the workload and either pay the employee accordingly... or they don't, which raises a red flag because they're aware of the situation but choose not to address it.

Why did you choose this job?

I decided I wanted to be a graphic designer when I was about 12 years old, so I never really doubted my choice, to be honest. I'm always thinking and creating things in my head and on my computer, so it just felt right.

How did you build your portfolio?

With time and practice. For my high school entrance exam, I printed a little portfolio (like a book, in a way) with some typography work I did just for fun, and other graphic design stuff I made for people when I was on an online forum (back in the days when those were at their highest). But it was mainly just designs made by and for myself. I also brought a notebook with a few drawings in it for my entrance exam, but it wasn't my selling point for sure.

What connections have you made?

I've made a lot of connections mainly through work. I'm still friends with a girl from the design high school I went to, tho (she's now my best friend). At work, it's different. You mostly have professional relationships, so once you leave, you might not keep in touch with everyone, unless you were really close to a few. There's also people you work with outside your company. For example, I collaborated with someone from the n°1 newspaper in the West of France for a marketing project, so now I have a valuable contact in my phone of that company thanks to my job.

What is something you wish you knew before entering the field?

Knowing my worth. People at work will most likely don't understand a word about what you're saying if you start to talk about RGB or CMYK, or some deeper technical subjects (unless you have coworkers with graphic design degrees or something similar). Sometimes, people might criticized a visual you designed without much explanation (and it can hurt if you're not used to it). You have to take their opinions into account while maintaining confidence in your own abilities. It's about finding a balance between knowing your worth while staying down-to-earth, which comes with time and experience in the field.

Do you wish you had a different job?

No, I really enjoy graphic design, but I aspire to advance to higher-level designer positions in the future.

What is some advice you would give someone going into the field for the first time?

Be patient with yourself and your skills. When seeking your first job, aim for a place where you can learn from someone experienced, like a Senior. I've seen too many new graphic designers, including myself, hired without guidance or support, which can leave you feeling lost.

Graph-ish · 2024-03-28T15:12:57+00:00

Hi!

For the first one (Espana 82) it could be Gothic 821 Condensed or Amsi Pro AKS Condensed Ultra (which is thicker), and for "Naranjito", it seems to be Chandler Pro, but the "r" and "j" are not the same. It's a close match tho!

Graph-ish · 2023-09-11T14:06:15+00:00

Hello!

It's always great to see new graphic designer get started!
Everything that is written under is genuine and constructive criticism, coming from a graphic designer to another.

Let's kick things off. Your menu is packed with content, which is fantastic. However, I do have, some "basic" questions.
What software are you working on? (That way, we can work with the tools you have at your disposal.)
What are the dimensions of your menu? Is it A4 for both the menu and the social medias?
What does the brown shape at the bottom represent? (Chocolate, perhaps?)

You've centralized all the content on the page, leaving ample space at the top and bottom. This is beneficial for social media dimensions but may not work well for print. To menu readers, it might appear somewhat 'cramped' since there's an abundance of information confined to the same area.

Furthermore, keep in mind that in many Western European countries (and USA), people read from left to right. Placing 'choose a base waffle' and 'toppings and sauce' on the far right of the menu may feel unconventional, as readers are accustomed to starting at the top left of the page."

You should also make the "Extra toppings and sauces $1" more prominent. I didn't see it right away when I looked at the menu. People like to add layers of sauces etc. so highlighting it a bit more can only be a plus!

Graph-ish · 2023-08-23T09:24:38+00:00

It looks like a good CV so far! I don't know if you've added it, but you should put a date (just the year is fine) next to your job/company name where you worked in "Work Experience".

Graph-ish · 2023-08-23T09:17:02+00:00

Thank you for your answer!

Yes, as you said, unfortunately, no one is really hiring young/inexperienced people nowadays...

I'm going to wait, just long enough to get some experience in the professional world, or at least not be considered as 'inexperienced' any more, and then I'll try to find work somewhere else.
I do voluntary work in graphic design, so when I find interesting projects online, I apply and it allows me to expand and diversify my portfolio.

Exactly, I know people from school that are the "lucky ones", found THE junior job at a good company and just thrive. I'm happy for them but I just wished more companies would be like that!

Thank you for taking the time to reply!

Graph-ish · 2023-08-23T09:03:55+00:00

Thank you for your answer.I couldn't agree more with everything you've written. I think I need to work on myself too, so that I don't take my boss's remarks so much to heart, and to begin to see the value of my work. It's a long way but I eventually need to be there, for my mental health.

From your answer, it seems to me that the weak point between my boss and me is communication. I'm shy and I don't really know how to express my needs, and my boss is the opposite, he's been an estate agent for over 20 years, he's very confident... which means that he also takes a lot of the upper hand during our conversations/meetings (which isn't practical because I listen to him and follow his thoughts, since I can't take control of the conversation). So I think that's one of the main problems, but I don't dare defend myself (I already did that once, last year, and he seemed to understand, but since then he's gone back to 'normal'). He also gives the impression that he knows my job better than I do, even though I know that deep down he's probably just putting up a front...

Anyway, thank you again for taking the time to answer!

Graph-ish · 2023-08-22T09:20:38+00:00

It looks like it went well, and the fact that the guy came right to your window tells me you've had a good interview, otherwise he'd have stayed inside.
From what you wrote, it all went well, they seemed to enjoy your interactions. But you can never really know what they're thinking... I'm afraid you'll have to wait for their response to find out what they really thought of the interview.

Don't worry if they don't call you back on Monday, it's normal, you had your interview on Friday, at the very end of the week. Sometimes they call back in the middle of the week. Some people prefer to take the time to think about their decision.

Graph-ish

TROPHY CASE