Jumpstarting Your Creative Career

Is your creative career in a rut? It might be time to shake things up a bit.

Let’s be honest, taking the path to become a creative can be a road filled with disappointment. Like myself, the majority of the creatives who are just starting out find that the reality of it is not as rosy as one may have pictured. Those who choose the creative path are often lured by the idea of not being deskbound, and are avoiding the humdrum of a 9 to 5 job. Perhaps the idea of chasing after a passion, of doing what they liked for a living also helped to draw them into their field of choice. For those who have already taken the leap, like myself, can tell you that the reality of being a creative is bleak for those who come unprepared.

For starters, the competition out on the freelance market is simply astounding. The market is filled with cutthroats who are willing to cannibalise on their brethren’s work, and undercut prices to the point where it devalues the work of their fellow creatives. For example, a case study recently done on graphic design, took the service portal known as Fiver into question. Fiver is a website where logo designers can promote their services online, for cheap, some promising design services for as low as five dollars. If that did not sound dubious enough, the case study revealed that many of these designers were blatantly stealing or taking designs and altering them slightly from existing logo designs (what creatives refer to as cannibalising). The case study touched on two main topics; how the general public viewed design work to be of little worth, and how websites and some unscrupulous “designers” themselves are compounding the matter by undercutting the market.

Creatives can also tell you that there is little to no freedom as a creative working in a firm. Forget 9 to 5, creatives are often expected to slave away long hours without overtime compensation in most cities, and are grossly underpaid for their time and effort. These creatives, who often have crippling student loan debts to pay off, often lose heart in their first two years within the industry, and often cite feeling undervalued as the reason for leaving and jumping to a different industry. Career progression and job satisfaction is also a large issue; most creatives find that there is no difference between what they do, and the humdrum of a 9 to 5 desk job. Firms often do not take input from the creatives, often directing the project based on their own or client needs. The creative thus finds himself nudged out of the creative process, and leading the life of a disgruntled worker. In fact, designers and artists who work in firms have often described it as working in a “factory line”, where they are just given a task and a deadline to complete it by, with no questions asked. Financially, a job in the creative line is nothing to hoot about either – designers can expect a starting annual salary of as low as 20,000 USD in some developed nations!

With both freelancing, and full-time employment facing such issues, the creative industry is facing an ever shrinking pool of talent – with larger numbers leaving the industry every year. But all hope is not lost yet.

My advice for aspiring creatives, is to start out by working in a firm. This will allow an iron rice bowl for at least a year or so, while easing you into the long hours of being a creative. Don’t get too comfortable though, because the idea is to essentially meet potential future clients during your time there and removing that cap on your earning power.

When you’ve made the leap into being a freelance, remember not to underprice your services! Creatives who are just starting out fear that due to the lack of their experience, clients may not feel justified to shell out a decent sum for their work. However, this is no excuse for offering a measly sum of money in return for your skill and time. You’ve spent years learning your craft, and your work will take time to do, so charge in accordance to the amount of hours you will be spending on your work. Remember, if you charge obscenely low prices for your services, you are not just devaluing yourself, but hurting the image of all creatives in the field.

Lastly, remember that as a designer, learning never stops. The advancement of technology demands that we keep ourselves constantly updated with the digital tools that are out on the market, and picking up a new skill doesn’t hurt your chances of making it in the industry either. For example, considering how most industries are moving away from print media, graphic designers may want to consider looking at motion media courses, in order to be able to integrate their design principles into dynamic media platforms, such as the web, film and television.

Game designers can also take a leaf out of their book. Game development with Unity 3D, the revolutionary engine that takes programming languages out of the equation, allows designers and artists to easily pick up the scripted language in order to effect changes without the help of a programmer – shortening the development pipeline to more than a quarter in the case of most games.

With that, I hope to wish my fellow creatives the best in their future endeavours and to not buckle under the initial harshness. Speaking from experience, with a  little bit of luck, your hard work will pay off, granted you make smart choices along the way. Here’s to a fulfilling career as a creative. Cheers!