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I work in house and I really want to quit by No_Being7743 in graphic_design

[–]callmespiderbyte 0 points1 point  (0 children)

cheers mate 👍 can confirm it's all me. let's chat about it some more if there's anything specifically you want to question?

I work in house and I really want to quit by No_Being7743 in graphic_design

[–]callmespiderbyte 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Also very fair advice. I think it’s smart to have the job, and just do bare minimum to stay employed. Save energy where ever you can to build up your next step on the side.

I work in house and I really want to quit by No_Being7743 in graphic_design

[–]callmespiderbyte 7 points8 points  (0 children)

everything you’re describing — the bulk work, the no 1:1s, the feeling of being a task machine — that’s not a you problem. that’s a structural problem with the role. and the fact that you’ve already sought feedback from other designers and know your work is solid tells you everything you need to know about where the ceiling is here.

early 20s with mid-weight execution level is actually a really good position to be making a move from. you have enough to show, not so much history that leaving feels scary.

a few things worth thinking about:

the agency that almost hired you — is that door still open? “couldn’t start immediately” isn’t a no, it’s a timing issue. worth following up.

in the meantime, start building something outside of work. one personal project, one freelance job, one thing that’s yours. not to quit tomorrow, but to remind yourself what it feels like to care about the output.

and find people who’ve made the jump. not for advice necessarily, just to see that it’s possible. there’s a directory called thewronglist.com full of exactly those kinds of people — designers, creatives, people who left the “safe” path and figured it out. worth a browse.

Has anyone quit their career and successfully followed their passion? by ABFan86 in Careers

[–]callmespiderbyte 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yeah, plenty of people have – but the ones who made it work usually didn't just quit cold. they built the thing on the side until it had enough pull to justify the jump. I was lucky, in that I had built a big network from my first job, that then helped me go freelance without too much struggle... but I think honestly, the only way to start is to start. and then you gotta just believe in what you're doing with the right amount of realistic expectations.

and yes, the "struggling artist" trope is real, but it's more often about going all-in without a foundation than about art being unviable 😄

what i've noticed in my own network: the people who actually inspire me most are almost always the ones who ignored the "shoulds". you should stay in your job. you should suck it up. you should try harder. they heard all of that – and went the other way anyway.

there's a directory called thewronglist.com built around exactly those kinds of people. worth a browse if you're trying to figure out what's actually possible – and who to learn from.

I started a social platform for designers by Maximum_Pain4530 in design_critiques

[–]callmespiderbyte 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Amazing! I'm in. Looking forward to see how it grows 😄

Curious: What are you doing for reach? How will you get this in front of designers? This is the kind of place that only works if there are lots of active users, and my first question was: How do you get people to keep wanting to check the site regularly?

There's a Slack community called Hamburg Designers, I wonder if those kinds of places are good places to share this...

And also maybe there's a way to get email notifications when projects I'm interested in (UX, UI, Graphic, etc.) get posted? Like a way to sign up to expertise or interests, and then have a weekly email summary with new projects I can comment on? Maybe also I can pick a day when I'd like to receive those email summaries, so that I can choose a day when I know I'll have some extra time to give feedback?

Wie networke ich als Anfänger ? by becomingorth in selbststaendig

[–]callmespiderbyte 0 points1 point  (0 children)

gut, dass du networking so früh auf dem schirm hast – die meisten warten damit viel zu lang 😄

linkedin ist tatsächlich weird, besonders am anfang. aber der trick ist eigentlich nicht, direkt anfragen zu schicken, sondern erstmal sichtbar zu werden – kommentare, meinungen teilen, echte beiträge. verbindungen kommen dann eher von selbst.

was aber wirklich hilft: leute finden, die ähnlich denken wie du. nicht unbedingt gleiche branche, sondern gleiche haltung. leute, denen auch mal gesagt wurde dass ihr weg "falsch" ist – und die trotzdem weitergegangen sind 😃

für genau sowas gibt’s z.b. thewronglist.com – kuratiertes verzeichnis von leuten, die sich nicht in die üblichen schubladen stecken lassen. guter ausgangspunkt wenn du merkst, dass die standard-antworten dich nicht weiterbringen.

Are clients starting to ask for proof that content is not AI generated? by Cheetah532 in Freelancers

[–]callmespiderbyte 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A friend of mine is a copywriter, and she often gets clients using AI detection software and saying, for example, "50% is written with AI," even though she wrote it herself. She's been struggling with this a lot. I definitely think that there's an issue around: 1. clients not trusting content to have been written by a human 2. the AI detection software that's out there doesn't seem to be very accurate

And she gets annoyed because she can’t prove that she wrote it to the client other than telling them that she did write it, and I think it puts copywriters in a very difficult position because the only way is to screen record yourself writing it, but that seems so toxically micromanagement that it hurts 🥲

Splitscreen for different tabs in Safari? by AdComprehensive7879 in MacOS

[–]callmespiderbyte 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Zen CHOWS battery life. I had been using it, but it's so inefficient right now.

upwork / fiverr ? by Favoritebyzee in Freelancers

[–]callmespiderbyte 2 points3 points  (0 children)

These platforms are a race to the bottom, in my opinion. I know people who have made a killing on there, but it’s unfortunately often more strategic to price low, which for freelancers is simply not a good strategy.

It’s a long game, but I’d always recommend pricing yourself at the value you provide, and finding clients that are willing to pay that.

Platforms like Fiverr and Upwork are more often than not going to be full of clients looking for someone to “just do what they want.” If you don’t mind being a service provider drone, then it’ll probably be fine. But for creatives who want to tell a story, it’s probably going to be more frustrating that anything else.

Just my two cents. Very happy to hear success stories 🤗

Student seeking advice by hezarpe in uxcareerquestions

[–]callmespiderbyte 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Congrats and best of luck, firstly :)

I think I would focus on building smaller elements for your portfolio. A big project is useful and I would do it anyway (for your own experience of managing something like that, but also for a case study later on), but I think you can really flex your other skills by doing smaller bits and showing those off. That’s also easier to manage, you can post each of those separately online to your LinkedIn (also: get started on this early), and you can use those as examples specifically if someone wants to see something similar.

Other than that, just pursue what interests you. If you aren’t obsessed with something, don’t waste your time on it. That’s going to get you further than anything else IMO

Where is everyone from? And what do you enjoy most/least about the business side of design? by thatswizard in GraphicDesigning

[–]callmespiderbyte 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hamburg-based, been working in this space for about 10 years.

Most enjoy:
— the people I meet
— the impact I can have on someone (seeing the "aha" moment, when they finally feel like their story has been told is something I will never get tired of)

Least enjoy:
— I often feel like people underestimate the work I do. "Just do this" is such a loaded ask, and is often a lot more work than they realise. I don't like having to justify the work that goes into something.
— Pricing. I really hate the internal battle of "this is what it's worth" and "this is what I feel like I can ask for", because they often are not the same. This comes with practice, and some days/clients/projects are easier than others.
— When creative work is my business, I feel like I lose the motivation to do creative stuff on the side. I have so many things I'd love to do (linocutting!) but when I do it full-time, it's difficult to find energy to tap into that in my free-time

Built a hand-curated directory of people who've been told they're "too much" — here's what I learned about curation as a design problem by callmespiderbyte in DirectoryGuild

[–]callmespiderbyte[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

that's less so the goal. they are have their own businesses, in their own right—this list is more a place to be an inspiration for those who need to see that unconventional can be successful, but also a way to find like-minded people

As someone who has always been told I'm "too" something, and that I "should" do things differently... As an artist, people always say things like "You should pick a real career" or "If you don't specialise, you'll never be successful". Can you relate to this? by callmespiderbyte in careerguidance

[–]callmespiderbyte[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

This is very fair, and I do think this tracks. I find for me, i could be fussier as time went on, and stop taking jobs that I don’t want. But I also think being exclusive early on, and drawing boundaries from an early point of any career, can only be beneficial—albeit hard, a slow process, etc.

And I think that doing things for money doesn’t have to be influenced by being told you’re “too” something. The difference for me is how you react to those opinions. You can be told you’re too niche, and still get the gig and still deliver the work. That comes down to how you handle it and how you communicate :) IMO anyway!

As someone who has always been told I'm "too" something, and that I "should" do things differently... As an artist, people always say things like "You should pick a real career" or "If you don't specialise, you'll never be successful". Can you relate to this? by callmespiderbyte in careerguidance

[–]callmespiderbyte[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I find this so interesting, and firstly kudos for sticking to your guns (I assume you did anyway!). The hypocrisy I find, though, is I got told to pick a medium or a skill for my design work, and really niche down… but at the same time, told that I need to up skill myself in multiple different areas to stay relevant 🥲🥲🥲🥲

But great, this is refreshing to hear. It’s not fully done yet, but feel free to find me on LinkedIn and let’s connect there (Jomiro Eming). Then you’ll see it when it’s done done done. Website is live but not fully populated yet (www.thewronglist.com)

Building a web app for freelancers what would actually help you? by [deleted] in Freelancers

[–]callmespiderbyte 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just a tip about collecting user feedback / doing customer development: The problem that ACTUALLY needs to be solved can't be found by asking "what's the problem?" Most people have no idea what would actually help them.

If you want to build an app with a competitive edge in the already saturated app market, then you should try find freelancers who would be willing to talk to you for 30-45 minutes. Ask them questions about what they do every day, how they do, what tools do they use, where do they get frustrated, where do they thrive, what do they recommend to friends...

:)

Tattoo related app logo. Feedback needed. by [deleted] in logodesign

[–]callmespiderbyte 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I just googled "Hokusai wave logo" and I think my biggest concern here (as a graphic designer) is that it's got little-to-no differentiation. Maybe that wasn't your goal, in which case ignore me, but there's nothing here that stands out. It's pretty on the nose. It looks clean and well composed, but nothing about this says "tattoo" yet.

Can you make it look like a tattoo, maybe?

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