Firstly, hello and thank you to anyone who takes the time to read this, I greatly appreciate any advice given. 

 

I am a 40yo UK based graphic designer of 14+ years experience, currently working as an in house designer in a software company. For too long to mention I have been feeling very stagnant and frustrated with working life, it is clear to me that I need to change direction...

 

My issue

Basically I have grown a little tired of the subjective visual nature of graphic design. I also feel the worth of a graphic designer these days is diminishing as 'designing' is getting more accessible and the line between experienced professional and opinionated amateur is getting smaller.

With myself being a 'traditional' graphic designer (think design for print, layout design, branding etc) I feel this role is slowly becoming irrelevant and designers these days are required to have a jack-of-all-trades skillset, particularly in digital. Even though I do have digital experience, I currently feel a bit left behind the times.

 

My hope

To find a job role or career path that is a little more objective than subjective and that will be relevant for a few years.

 

My options

 

Website design - I find the mix of logical user experience and creative design for websites interesting and I guess this 'form follows function' approach is a little less open to subjectivity. I have previously enjoyed designing Wordpress websites as it has allowed me to focus on the design rather than the coding. I question whether my lack of interest to learn coding languages will become an obstacle, plus I wonder whether this 'singular' profession is also diminishing due to accessible wysiwyg builders and the UI/UX industry moving towards app/interface design.

 

UI/UX design - Similar to the above, I find the logical and creative design for interfaces interesting. I have worked on some UI/UX design professionally and occasionally tinker with some low-level Android UI design. My only problem here is that I will need to re-educate or learn the industry programmes as the bare minimum. If I need to put money down on a course I would need to be sure this path is worthwhile.

 

A different career entirely! - I don’t really know what I would do! The thought of leaving the creative industry doesn’t sound terrible. I guess a ‘careers advisor’ of some sort would be the first port of call.

 

If you have got down to here - thanks! I would be interested to hear if you have been in a similar situation and how you arrived at your outcome. Any general insight or advice from people already in these professions would be helpful too.

 

:) 

Sounds like you're a bit burnt out, that happens to all of us at some point.

I think you're right, traditional "print" graphic design has been waning since the dawn of the internet. Gutenberg changed things radically half a millenia ago, now digital has caused another radical shift.

Your options for web design (aka front end design) and UI/UX are really the same thing - a web "design" is a User Interface. Certainly as a graphics designer you'll have an eye for colour, proportions, typography etc. so that's a big plus. Couple that with learning about accessibility, usability, how HTML, CSS and Javascript work and you've got a start.

There will be a market for [good] digital designers for the foreseeable future I'm sure. As early internet pioneers and adopters approach retirement (there are a lot of them!) someone has to fill those gaps.

Edited March 4, 20215 yr by BlueDreamer

i'm a graphic designer but i've always been involved in the coding side as well as the print side. I made/coded my first site way back in 1998 and have gradually shifted more towards the digital side. Having said that i think there will always be a call for branding and a visual design language, of course the medium is different but the many of the key principles are the same. 

Moving into web design isn't necessarily giving up on print design, just expanding into new areas  I would suggest getting some idea of coding and how websites work at least on a basic level just because it helps to understand the medium you'll be working in and to liaise with devs (developers) but it's not really necessary to code to any great degree.

You can still be creative in digital

11 hours ago, BlueDreamer said:

There will be a market for [good] digital designers for the foreseeable future I'm sure. As early internet pioneers and adopters approach retirement (there are a lot of them!) someone has to fill those gaps.

Right on the button, good digital designers who know css, html and js in their raw form are becoming hard to find. If nobody can remember the basics of the languages then things like WordPress would die. You're seeing it more and more in specialist job ads.

Consider researching potential career paths, learning industry programmes and exploring courses to help you make an educated decision. Reach out to mentors or professionals in these fields to gain more information and insight. Take into account your individual skillsets and interests when choosing a different career path.