Hello and welcome to this beginner's
guide series to graphic design.
From what graphic design is, skills to be a graphic 
designer, design theory, education you need,
equipment you need to the graphic design 
portfolio and interview advice.
This series is for anyone at any level.
So if you're interested in graphic design and 
considering becoming a graphic designer
join me as I discuss a series of graphic design topics.
So you're wondering if you want to focus your
creative energy into a career in graphic
design. In this video I'm going to
discuss 10 key pros and cons of graphic
design, being a designer and becoming a designer.
Hopefully this will help you
get a good overall understanding.
So first let's talk about some pros. 
So number one: It's creative
If you're a person who loves being creative graphic
design is a good career choice for you.
On a day to day basis you will be
problem solving, coming up with cool
inventive solutions and creating a range
of graphics and design ideas.
Number two: It's fun. Graphic design can
be really hard work but at the same time it
can be really fun bringing your
imagination to life and being creative.
Number three: It's challenging. Graphic
design is by no means easy you're pretty
much problem solving most of the time. So to 
produce great work you will have to push yourself,
harness your skills, be resourceful,
tackle complex briefs and be able to
produce great results swiftly. 
Number four: Its educational.
to produce original and exciting work
you're going to have to do
a lot of research. Often you will find
yourself learning and discovering things
you didn't previously know. Getting paid
to research and learn how cool is that!
Number 5 includes 
multiple creative disciplines.
There is no limit to the techniques
you can use to create your work.
To name a few:
Illustration, photography, painting, 
screen printing, digital art, 3D modeling,
paper engineering the list goes on. One
of the great things about graphic design
is that it can be diverse and you don't
have to be tied to one medium.
Number six: Something to 
show your hard work.
So you may spend hours days or weeks
working on a particular project.
At the end of it you will most likely have
something to show for it.
Over time you will build 
a portfolio of work
you can show off 
and be proud of.
This will ultimately help 
you get more work or
a better job in future.
Number seven: Expressive.
Design is a discipline. 
In the industry you
will not always have 
the freedom to be
as creative as you want.
However there will be opportunities
whether your creating work
for yourself or for a client where 
you will have creative freedom.
On these occasions 
you can be
really creative with your ideas and
create some work that you feel justifies
you as a designer that 
you can be proud of.
Number eight: Rewarding.
Being a graphic designer 
can be really hard work but
you really get out what you put in. 
If you do a great job and your client is
happy that can be really rewarding. You
may enter a design competition and win
some recognition. That can be really
rewarding. If you create a piece of
design like a logo that gets used to add
marketing value to a client and
improve their business that 
can be really rewarding.
Building a great portfolio 
and getting a new job
and earning more 
revenue very rewarding.
Number nine: Collaborative.
As a designer you will be 
required to work alone.
but you may often have 
to work with other
creative professionals 
as part of a team.
It can be a great experience and really
rewarding working with other passionate people.
Collaboration can lead to amazing 
work. Everyone sees things differently,
when you're bouncing ideas 
off another designer
some amazing ideas 
can be generated.
Number ten: Career prospects.
As you mature as a designer 
build your experience and reputation.
You can move into more 
senior design roles and look
to become maybe, an art director 
or a creative director.
You may wish to become 
freelance and work for yourself
or maybe start your 
own creative business.
In graphic design there 
are a lots of opportunities
to further your career.
So a lot of pros to being 
a graphic designer there.
On a whole graphic design 
is a really interesting
and fulfilling career to get into.
But like any job it's not all perfect.
So now let's talk about some 
cons to be a graphic designer.
So number one: Location specific. 
If you want to become a graphic designer
you will have to accept the prospect of
having to move where the industry is and
today that's typically a city. Graphic 
design is not all commercial work but
a lot of jobs and a lot of well paid
jobs exist in cities. So to get work and
start out you may have to move 
to where the work is.
Number two: Competitive.
Graphic design is very fulfilling
creative and it's fun you are basically
being paid to be creative. Because of
that a lot of people want to do it which
means there's a lot of competition. When
starting out and looking for jobs it can
be really tough. You'll be up 
against lots of other candidates
which may often have more
experience than you.
Number three: The road is long.
A lot of people pursue 
graphic design but not
everyone becomes a graphic designer or
stays a designer. The path to become a
successful graphic designer can be 
a long and expensive one.
Unfortunately today it's not all about
talent and skill, it's as much about
attitude, discipline, application and
determination. Everyone's path is
different some take longer than others
to get to where they want to be.
Though if one stays highly motivated
disciplined and applies themselves they
will eventually achieve. The industry is
competitive and one will have to keep
learning and building a better portfolio if
one wishes to progress and succeed.
This may mean having to sacrifice a lot
of time to achieve this.
Number four: Learning creative 
software tools.
To work in the design 
industry you will need to
be proficient in essential creative
programs. There are lots of software tools
out there today and each one has 
a steep learning curve.
Number five: Finding the 
right job can be hard.
In the industry finding 
a job can be tough
but what can be even harder 
is finding the right job.
The job where you will be happy.
The job where you will get creative
satisfaction. The job where you will
potentially develop your career.
Some job vacancies can be pretty vague
it is only when you attend an interview
you can get a good vibe for the job you are
applying for. It can be disheartening
attending interviews only to learn
it's not right for you. More often than not until
you are working in that role for that
agency or company you will never truly
know what your role will be.
So finding the right role can be hard 
especially when starting out.
Number six: It's a desk job.
One of the biggest downsides 
to graphic design is that most
of the time you will be seated at a desk
in front of a computer for long hours
so you will need to 
get that gym membership!
Number seven: Long hours.
Graphic design is commonly 
not a nine to five job.
if you're working on a big project 
a pitch or you're facing a tight deadline
you may be expected to
work long hours
even weekends to get a job.
Now if you're lucky this may not
happen very often. But if you 
find yourself working
for a busy agency this
may be the norm.
Number eight: Working under pressure.
You may not always have as much time as
you want to fully research and develop
a piece of work or simply enjoy the job.
There will be times when you will have
to work the tight deadlines. This can put
a lot of pressure on you and be stressful.
Number nine: Have to do things you
do not want and working under others instructions.
Working in the industry
you will not always get
the creative freedom 
you want on a project.
Sometimes you may have to take creative
direction from someone more senior to
you or even the client. This can be
very good if the person is willing to
collaborate and has great ideas. But can
be bad if they do not. Sometimes you may
find you don't agree or even 
like what is
asked of you but still you 
will have to do it.
Number ten: Dealing with bad clients.
As a designer dealing 
with clients can be
really rewarding or a bit of 
a nightmare.
They can either let you do what you think is
best, work and collaborate with you.
Or simply try and make you do what they
want and this can be pretty bad if they
do not listen to you, have no good ideas
or any grasp of what makes for good design.
It can be really tough on a buzz kill
 having to implement someone
else's bad design ideas. More often than
not working with clients can be a really
positive experience but they can be
times it can be a nightmare.
So there you have it those are some pros
and cons to being a graphic designer.
If you'd like to take a closer look at
the list discussed in this video you can
find out more in the description and in
the PDF document that accompanies this
video series. The download 
link is in the description.
So what do you think?
Are you put off
or are you inspired?
For you current designers 
do you have any stories
to share of your progress?
Be sure to share your comments below.
Well I hope you enjoyed this video if
you did hit the like button on my facebook page.
If you would like to see more videos 
like this in future hit the subscribe button
and you can also follow 
me on twitter at TastyTuts.
Now some of you have asked 
the question should I do graphic design
and how do I know 
if it's right for me?
So in the next video I'm going 
to discuss just that.
So see you in the next video!
