Graphic Designers - advice please!

For the price of the courses you were looking at you could probably get a annual subscription to lynda.com which would be better imo.
 
eatcustard said:
PCs are for word, Macs for design, no ifs no buts.
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Good to see cognitive bias in full effect here.

There is no major difference... a mac isn't going to all of sudden improve your skills.

It's like all audio engineering morons who buy macs like sheep when audio engineering has nothing to do with what OS you are on.....

TROLOLOL.......
 
We met with a design agency the other week and they were talking about a candidate coming in who wasn't very good and, to quote, "didn't even work on a Mac".

That raised a few eyebrows with us, mainly at how stupid they must be to think that makes any difference at all.
 
Macs are so entrenched in the modern-day design/print industry, it's embarrassing. Twenty or ten years ago, fair enough. But now, there is no difference.

Most of of the post-processing (RIP, Preps) is done on the Windows platform.

It's just image. "Oh, he has a Apple, he must know what he's doing".
 
I've been a designer for nearly 20 years! no formal training here it all started from me scribbling over my text books at school and moving onto computer graphics when it came about 2d onto 3d and then a games artist, i love it and i think thats what matters! im currently a senior web and graphic designer for a large company but i also freelance

the best thing i would say is a portfolio so get designing :) offer your services for free to get some experience, once you have a half decent portfolio you're half way there as for the Mac argument i used to use them back in the day but now im 100% PC

my portfolio needs updating but can be seen here....

and the WIP version... here... (messing with ideas for this still nowhere near finished)
 
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ImMrChris said:
I've been a designer for nearly 20 years! no formal training here it all started from me scribbling over my text books at school and moving onto computer graphics when it came about 2d onto 3d and then a games artist, i love it and i think thats what matters! im currently a senior web and graphic designer for a large company but i also freelance

the best thing i would say is a portfolio so get designing :) offer your services for free to get some experience, once you have a half decent portfolio you're half way there as for the Mac argument i used to use them back in the day but now im 100% PC

my portfolio needs updating but can be seen here....

and the WIP version... here... (messing with ideas for this still nowhere near finished)
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Some nice work there dude,

I like. I was thinking if things didn't work out with my current aims in life I would try to move into motion graphics/3D. I like working in after effects and enjoy cinema 4d.

But i'm fully self taught, but like you said you just need a good portfolio to prove what you can do.
 
I started doing computer graphics in the mid 80s, and after all these years, there are three things I believe you need to succeed.

1) Imagination
2) Ability
3) The patience of a saint

The first will let you come up with the ideas. The second will let you translate those ideas into actual content. The third will stop you killing the client, after the 15th time of them saying "Oh, that's not quite what we wanted, we actually meant this..." :D

I remember working on a fighting game in the late 80s, and the client came round and said "We want him to move like Bruce Lee". So I copied Bruce Lee's actual moves from film, and they said it was wrong... go figure. It got to the point, where they would request a change, we would leave it a few days, then send them the exact same graphics, and they would frequently say "That's much better".

Doing design for yourself is one thing, but doing commercial design to a client's specifications, is a whole other ball-game. It will quite literally, drive you insane. And if you get a tosspot creative director in the middle, things will get 10x worse. The client will tell the CD one thing, the CD will decide to tell you their version of that request, and when the client doesn't like it, the CD will blame you for interpreting it wrong... and if you get it spot on, the CD will take all the credit.

Which actually reminds me one more thing you need to get used to, and that's being told that the best thing you think you've ever done, is "just not good enough". Being a creative professional is physically easy, but mentally tough... but ultimately highly rewarding.
 
joey1211 said:
Macs are so entrenched in the modern-day design/print industry, it's embarrassing. Twenty or ten years ago, fair enough. But now, there is no difference.

Most of of the post-processing (RIP, Preps) is done on the Windows platform.

It's just image. "Oh, he has a Apple, he must know what he's doing".
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Our Esco system is on a Mac Rip, and I have to say we get less problems than the new windows based rip we have, but its new so probably buggy.

Agree not much difference between the Mac and PC, except all the top designers use a Mac.
 
Back on topic.

Customer will ask for you to come up with a design for item X, you do that, customer says thats not what I want, I want it to look look like this. DOH!

Also OP look into artworking, thats where you put together what the designer "designs".
 
Russinating said:
We met with a design agency the other week and they were talking about a candidate coming in who wasn't very good and, to quote, "didn't even work on a Mac".
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Now, this is just idiotic. Fair enough if his work was sub standard but to blame it on the system is ridiculous. I've met far too many imbeciles like this.

Use what feels comfortable. I feel that using a mac streamlines my processes and makes me work more effectively but others may disagree and prefer working on Windows. It's all person preference.
 
I've been in advertising for 24 years, I work for a large London Agency in the studio as a senior creative art worker and retoucher. With hindsight, i'd not touch the industry with a barge pole.
 
Right so I've spoken to our IT guys and they said they can custom build a laptop for me, but I just need to let them know what exactly I want. So.... Please help me out guys, what are the main components that I need? :p Budget is probably 1k, 1.5k max.

I did a bit of googling and understand that I need the following?

-Processor
-RAM or Memory
-Graphics card
-Hard Drive
-Wireless card

Also, for those talking about clients etc... I am the client. We use a lot of agencies to do work for us, but sometimes it can be frustrating as we pay them a lot of money yet they don't deliver the work on time. The tiniest of amends will cost us a few hundred quid and with me being a perfectionist even things like misalignment of some text will annoy me :o
 
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