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Graphic Design Evening Learning Liverpool – 5 Things to Know about a Graphic Design Career
If you’re looking for an exciting new career path, one which allows you to flex your creative muscles, express yourself, enjoy financial and professional freedom, and really help people in a whole variety of different ways, a career as a graphic designer is the way to go.
Those in the Liverpool and surrounding areas can benefit hugely when signing up for graphic design evening learning Liverpool courses, where they will be taught everything there is to know about a career in graphic design.
For the sake of transparency however, and to ensure that you know what to expect, it is important to remember that a career in graphic design is not without its challenges. Sure, graphic designers enjoy a whole world of perks, but not everything is as glamorous in this industry as Instagram would have you believe.
If you’re thinking of signing up for a graphic design evening learning Liverpool course, here are several things you need to know about a career in graphic design.
Working from home isn’t all it’s cracked up to be
One of the first things you need to know about a career in graphic design is the fact that working from home isn’t as glamorous as the movies and social media would have you believe.
If you see somebody in the movies working from home, they’ll likely have a huge and spacious office, office furniture, an expensive computer, no distractions, and a stunning view to look out on and offer them inspiration as they work. For lunch, they’ll head out to a coffee shop or café and sip on an expensive drink and nibble on a pastry as they work while out and about.
In reality, working from home is far less glamorous. It can be tough to get motivated when you have no boss breathing down your neck and no co-workers to encourage you. Working in your PJs may sound like a dream, but it isn’t practical, not to mention the constant interruptions from cold-callers, delivery drivers, phone calls, family members, pets, and so on.
If one of the main things you’re looking forward to about working as a graphic designer is working from home, just remember that it’s nowhere near as glamorous as you may have thought.
Technology will probably fail you at some point
Technology really is a miraculous and wonderful thing, until it doesn’t work, however.
Just as a carpenter needs wood, bricklayers need bricks, and blacksmiths need metal, a graphic designer needs a computer and various other pieces of technology to work properly.
When you sign up for graphic design evening learning Liverpool, you’ll quickly realise just how important technology is for your prospective career path.
Without sounding negative or pessimistic, there will be times when technology fails you. This is why it’s so important to back up your designs regularly, save your work, have spare batteries etc, and to be as prepared as possible rather than leaving everything until the last minute.
The last thing you want is for your Mac or laptop to freeze on you and crash when you’re in the middle of a design you’ve been working on for hours, when you haven’t saved it or backed it up.
Not all clients will be helpful
Another thing to be aware of when it comes to a career in graphic design is the fact that not all of your clients will be helpful, in fact some will be a hindrance.
99% of your clients will be friendly, happy, easy-going, and willing to leave you to do your stuff and do what they’re paying you to do. The other 1% however, will be less easy to work with. You’ll likely find that clients are constantly asking for revisions, are bombarding you with messages and requests, and don’t actually know what design they want in the first place.
The simple fact of the matter is that, in graphic design, as with any other industry, some clients are going to cause problems for you. The thing to remember here is to stay professional, be polite and courteous and don’t be afraid to turn down work if you’re getting bad vibes from a client.
There will be times when work is quiet
If you opt to go freelance and work as a self-employed graphic designer, there will almost certainly be times when you’re less busy than before, and work may be quiet.
You need to accept this and find other ways of landing more jobs, rather than twiddling your thumbs and waiting for enquiries. Go ahead and answer graphic design ads, work on honing your skills as a designer, practice new techniques, and even consider messaging previous clients or offering special deals and offers to entice customers in.
Another thing to remember is that there will be times when you’re incredibly busy and are inundated with work, so it will go both ways and it just comes with the territory as part of becoming a graphic designer.
You must meet deadlines
If you want to succeed as a graphic designer, one of the first things your tutor will teach you when you sign up for graphic design evening learning Liverpool courses is the importance of meeting deadlines.
When you’re approached by a client, ask them for the brief and ask them when they need the work by. If you genuinely know you can deliver by, or before, the deadline in question, then go ahead and take the job and get to work.
If however, you don’t think you can meet the deadline, don’t lie and either rush the work, or deliver late because you could be letting down your client and landing them in hot water, which obviously won’t reflect well on you.
If you deliver sloppy work, or drastically late work, your client won’t recommend you or return to you again, and you’ve just gone ahead and lost a potential regular, and have landed yourself a negative review in the process.
