How many graphic designers?

So Decado, do you only mainly use Freehand ? I thought by the looks of that atatchment it would be more Photoshop/Illustrator based work .... Oh and would you recomend any good digitalisers (well those pad and pen thingies) available to buy at stores in Australia ? :) i was thinking of those wacom ones or something.

I use Fireworks at the moment for all my stuff that i make because i cant afford creative suite at the moment. However people can go on about how you should only use industry standard programs like Photoshop, but it doesnt matter what tool you use its what you can make out of that tool that counts. Obviosly different programs are used for different purposes.

Randman, i agree a true designer has to be versitlle yet strongly efficient in their work. So having experience in a broad horizon of programs is obviously a higher advantage when going for a job within the industry. However people can say they know programs because they might've used them once or twice, so it is rather hard to distinguish between truely advanced users of some programs or just plain ametures.
 
hand-drawn figures scanned into photoshop 3.0 :). then i put them through adobe streamline and shaped them up in freehand. then i put them on different materials that i had scanned earlier. and finally i imported them into stratavision as textures. yeah i know... a lot of work for little :)
 
the thing i dont like about illustrator is that it uses a lot of processorpower sometimes, even when it just sits there.
But i really like the anti-aliasing and smooth shadow-effects :)
 
Maybe if Fireworks was better for print work you could use that :p - I really like fireworks for vector work but i have used illustrator and i prefer illustrator over freehand, dunno but freehand to me (mx) is just abit complicated for some reason ....
 
I'm a studying designer (doing a Bachelor of Creative Arts majoring in Graphic Design and New Media at the University of Wollongong).

I personally use Adobe Photoshop CS (this thing runs my LIFE), Adobe Illustrator CS (logos/vector work), and QuarkXPress 6.5 (because I haven't made my mind up about InDesign yet, and I'm totally familiar with Quark).

I desperately want a version of Adobe Streamline for OS X. Desperately. I also do a lot of cartoons and inkings that I scan and vectorise to digitally colour, and it was by FAR the best program for that.


Someone asked about graphics tablets:

I've, in the past, had three - one ADB Wacom (came with my Wallstreet). It was about 8.5" and it was really good in OS 9 (ADB tablets aren't supported in OS X). Really good. If anyone still uses ADB Macs and OS 9, I'll sell this to you and you'll cry with joy. Then, on my PC, I asked for one for Christmas, and my parents fell for the size hype. I got a huge third-party brand. VERY huge. Around A4 size of effective area. The tablet was supposed to have 512 levels of pressure (twice as much as many old WACOMs had). Well needless to say, it was tragic. The pressure sensitivity just never was right.
So then my cousin bought me a Wacom Graphire 2. It's tiny, only 4 or 5 inches of usable space, but it's the best tablet I have (works on a PC for the amazing openCanvas, and on OS X for Alias Sketchbook Pro and of course, Photoshop and Painter). It's really worthwhile for someone who does alot of painting with their mouse :p.


But don't expect them to replace a pencil and paper. A tablet doesn't feel "right" yet. I often have to put a sheet of paper ON TOP of the tablet so I get some resistance from the surface (I have very bad nerves)
 
Me too.

And to add my 2c, I'm an InDesign person. I used Quark a lot in the past but I got InDesign when it came out and never looked back. Most of the work I do is screen based though so I mostly use PS, Dreamweaver and Director (though not as much recently). I've been getting into Flash (well, LiveMotion because I hate Flash) but it annoys me.

I used to work for a design company in Edinburgh but I started a company with a couple of friends a few months ago; we'll also be doing music publishing and production.
 
I've been doing both print and interactive design for about 5 years professionally. I'm hardcore about Adobe products (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign) and if I had an A-bomb I send it towards Quark. Speciality would be in organic design with an emphasis on texture. I like to design stuff traditionally and then beat the stank out of it with Photoshop and Illustrator. ::evil::
 
In my previous life I owned a couple of skate/snowboard shops and started getting into design to promote my shops. I started my first online store in 1995 and made tons of t-shirts, magazine ads and POP around the store. I come from a pretty artistic family so I guess it was an easier transition. Then my suppliers started asking me to do their catalogs and websites and next thing I knew I was designing full time and hired someone else to run my stores. I sold those off in 1998 and have been running my home-based business since then. I have been offered a few jobs at design firms but chose to work from home to look after my son and now have built a pretty strong client base. For my web work I have a portfolio at http://www.e-brochures.ca it is getting a little outdated but have been too busy to work on version 3, maybe this summer while I am out by the pool sipping margaritas in my back yard :) Adobe CS and Macromedia MX is all i use. For those wanting streamline OS X, have you tried Flash trace bitmap? Depending on the result you want it can be useful in vectorizing images.
 
I'm studying Graphic Design in Argentina and this is my last year.. I'm 22 and been working as a graphic designer for 5 years know (i've always had a good sense of aesthetics).
I mainly do web design but I also love Motion Graphics and know about print design, etc. I use ALL the software you can imagine, each for its purpose. For pixel images photoshop and fireworks for optimization (it's tools are way better than adobe's Save for Web option). Illutrator almost for everything (layouts etc.) combined with photoshop for things that can't be done with vectors. InDesign for page layout, brochures etc. After Effects for Motion graphics. Fireworks Flash and Dreamweaver for web design.
I have ditched quark since version 5 and can't stand freehand.
That's all
 
I'm a graphic designer too. (arent we all?)

I've been doing it since the late 80s on computers. (Ventura Publisher anyone?)

I do and have done:
- print design (everything you can think of from small ads to huge catalogs)
- web design (same here, tiny sites to huge corp sites)
- illustration (2d and 3d, airbrush, modeling, etc)

I'm quite adept with Photoshop and know my way around a few other programs as well.

I've also done layout by hand using wax paste up, letraset lettering, etc. One thing I hated was those stupid ink pens (rapidograph), I'm left handed and always seemed to drag my hand thru the wet ink.

r
 
Robn Kester said:
I'm a graphic designer too. (arent we all?)
Click to expand...

Trouble is, everyone thinks they are a graphic designer because they have powerpoint! Sad state of affairs.

Though there are more jobs now than in the past 2 years. It's a cyclical business with folks thinking they can do without Marketing and just let the Sales team do it. Then you get black and white copied brochures and powerpoint presentations. Ugh! :)

I got in around 1995 so I didn't have to deal with paste ups and rubies and all that…
 
I have been doing other stuff with GD on the site lately. Got laid off after 8 faithful hard working years with a guy about 2 years ago and havent had any luck finding work since. I'm told that my portfolio isnt diverse enough, or that my work is not "world class". Which is BS because every peice i've done has a story, a budget, rules, reasons... but they dont care about those things, all they see is a piece and then judge me.

last time I tried to find work here was a while back. Just got tired of getting rejected over and over. Appearantly, if I had jumped from job to job with no loyalty, I would have been a perfect hire. but because I stayed with my job for 8 years thru crappy times, I was stupid and therefore noone wanted me. Wierd.
 
I have been working with graphic design, layouts, and photography for a while. I am a little young to have a degree yet(I won't tell you my age), but I plan to major in architecture and graphic design in college. I always enjoy creating something new.
 
Architecture is good stuff. That is what my father does and has done for most of his life. Actually, I work for his company, but mostly I don't do graphic design there. I run prints and errands and do the company website etc.
 
Robn, maybe you need to start your own project that meets those "World Class" needs (whatever the heck those are!) and then you can tailor your services to the needs of your market.

Here in San Diego companies want people that they don't have to train that they can depend on who can do a wide variety of things. Maybe if you showed in your area that you can do it all, web, print, etc., then maybe your stock will go up, as it were?

Sorry to hear that you've hit a bump in the road… :(
 
I am! I'm 19 years old and I'm studying Graphic Design in the Sint-Lukas Arts School of Brussels.
 
Qion - Never too young to do good design. Don't let your age bother you, I have seen some amazing artists/designers who were just kids with nowhere but up to grow! I'm still amazed when I see some of the complexity and depth that the younger graphic designers produce. Lots of skills out there!

Natobasso - The 'world class' comment was from one particular company and one guy who interviewed me there. He bashed my portfolio, told me I was not a good designer, and told me how they only want world class designers. Yet he not once considered each piece I presented to him, why it looked how it did, what it's budget was and how great it came out despite the low budgets, that sort of thing.

Any designer knows...each piece has a story, and if you ignore the story, the piece just has no meaning.

This particular company had/has their heads so far up their egotistical behinds that they think they are the be-all to end-all. And I doubt nothing I showed him would have been pleasing. What was truly ironic, and unsettling about the whole thing was really the best part...

The company I had worked for previous for 8 years did TONS of work for this very same company, and my porfolio was filled with great peices I did for them over the years! Hell, I saw some of my one sheets in their flyer rack when I walked thru the cubicles to my interview!

I found out later from the temp agency guy who sent me on the interview that this guy was a jerk to everyone. But it didnt stop it from stinging. Since I know I am a good designer, and I know each piece I have done was done above and beyond, I just like to tell the story to remind folks that sometimes people's personal attitudes interfere with their judgements when hiring.

senne - congrats on your choice of field. I love design, I truly enjoy my creative skills and using them to help others accomplish their goals. Have you chosen a particular subsect of design, like web or print or illustration? Or are you just hitting all the bases?

r
 
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