Not really a militant eco person, but I've always paid attention to my ink coverage. Partly for my clients, partly because I do think our job has to evolve a bit on this stuff. TAC is one of those things nobody really looks at, and it's sitting right there in the file.

So I kind of had fun with it and made my own color palette where nothing goes above 100% TAC. Then I integrated it into Illustrator, first as a script, then I rebuilt it as a proper CEP panel so it lives natively in Ai, right in my workflow. Honestly just really proud of how it turned out.

I just wanted to share the project, i'm just proud of it ahahah.

What do you all do for eco design? Whether it's ink, stock, layout habits, anything. Always interested in how other people approach it.

I wanted to buy a single weight of a 5 weight family (New Order) and was presented with 2 options: a reoccuring annual fee of $384 or a perpetual license of $1,728. This doesn't feel like the right direction for the future of font licensing. Thoughts?

I made these over 20 years ago for fun during downtime at my corporate graphic designer job. They were meant to be wallpapers. Sometimes it’s fun to look back at old work. What do you think of these? Do they suck?

Please be nice though. I haven’t designed anything in 2 years. I know my typography isn’t perfect. I also procrastinated so hard that I ended up doing all of this in one day. I was nervous after not having designed in a long time. This is also my first real world client work.

It’s a poster for the dog and cat shelter that I volunteer at. The coordinator gave me permission to design the poster for their annual appreciation event for the volunteers and adopters. The purpose is to appreciate the people for helping the animals and celebrate the wins of the shelter.

There will be a petting zoo that has ducks, so I illustrated a duck as well.

22 x 28 in.

If you’re super entry level… ok maybe I get it. But if I have 10+ years experience with well known brands and a well thought through portfolio with lots of case studies… it feels insulting TBH and is a bit of a red flag that the company is looking for some free ideas. Right? Especially when it’s obviously for a new project yet to be released. What do you guys think? I just got assigned a project so I can “showcase my creative storyboarding abilities” even though I shared an entire extra book of work related to social media videos I’ve made and I’m pretty close to just saying yeah no thanks. I’d rather spend my unpaid time on pitch decks for potential freelance clients

wanted to try the frutiger aero vibes, then i saw this lil guy so i trapped him in a bubble😅also the japanese text is copied from google because i don't know japanese

where can i improve?

How do you make time for all of it? Do you feel tired? Do you miss having time to do nothing or travel/read/spend time with family/friends?

Just wrapped up at a position at a smaller company I didn't really support. They barely paid me enough to survive where I live. While my work was important to the company, it didn't really take me that long to complete. Despite knocking my goals out of the park I wasn't given a competitive annual raise.

I work fast. Combine that with my eventual burnout and complete lack of passion and I was probably working an average of 3 hours out of the 40 hour work week. I spent the rest of my time working on personal projects, applying to other jobs, watching youtube, playing chess, etc. I even got to Master rank in Geoguessr. The crazy part is that everyone thought I was busy. Don't get me wrong, the work was pretty specialized and I was doing great at it. I had multiple colleagues tell me I was the best design talent the company had ever hired.

I'm moving on to bigger and better things where I'm assuming I will most likely be more busy. This experience CAN'T be normal right? What is it like where you work?

Getting so sick and tired of seeing the same colours and outlined icon layout for every home business in my city.

Did a quick search and realized it's not just local but mostly the female industries (clothing, baking, beauty).

Hi everyone! I'm the creative director for a new music conference in Philadelphia and would love some honest design feedback before we finalize this.

A little context:

This is the front page of a flyer for FAMCON, a one-day conference for music creators.

The visual identity is intentionally inspired by creative infrastructure—circuit boards, transit maps, networks, operating systems, and information design—rather than traditional music imagery like microphones or instruments.

The goal is to communicate that creators are part of a connected music ecosystem, with Philadelphia serving as the foundation of that system.

The warm sunrise color palette is intentional and carries over from our Save the Date and the rest of the brand system.

I'm not looking for feedback on the event itself or the copy as much as the design execution.

Specifically, I'd love thoughts on:

Does the layout feel balanced and easy to scan?

Does the hierarchy lead your eye naturally?

Does anything feel amateur or "off" from a graphic design perspective?

Does the motherboard/network concept come across clearly without feeling too busy?

If you saw this without context, would it feel like a professionally designed conference flyer?

I'm especially interested in feedback from designers who work in branding, editorial, event, or poster design.

Thanks in advance—don't hold back. I'd rather hear the critiques now than after it's printed.

From these 2 logos of the same brand, which one do you think is more superior?

This is a crochet brand with a girly and cozy vibe,the color resembles the girly vibe and the logo itself represents the yarn ball and hook. Let me know how this is.

I recently graduated from college with a degree in Audiovisual Communication Design. It’s a fairly broad field that includes some graphic design, but the problem is that my college provided a very weak education, so I didn’t really gain much practical knowledge.

Now I want to shift my focus toward graphic design.

However, when I sat down to work on my first practice project, I realized that my skills are closer to those of someone who has never seriously studied design before. I have very little understanding of composition, color theory, or visual harmony. Once I realized this, I started studying theory by going through free resources online and taking notes.

Even so, I still really struggle to develop ideas from scratch. My concepts feel primitive, my compositions end up either cramped or random, and my color choices seem arbitrary or overly muted. When I look at my own work, I can’t explain why I made the decisions I did, so I keep abandoning projects and going back to studying theory.

My learning process feels chaotic, completely unstructured, and ultimately unproductive.

I know I’m doing something wrong, but I can’t identify what the actual problem is or how to work on it. So I’d really like to ask for some advice. In your opinion, what should a beginner in graphic design focus on?
Maybe I’m overlooking something important, or perhaps there are specific exercises that could help a beginner develop a better understanding of the fundamentals.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I’d really appreciate any advice or opinions you have

Edit: Thank you all so much for your responses. I’ve read every single one of your comments, suggestions, and personal stories, and they’ve genuinely helped me understand where I’ve been making mistakes, what I’ve been overlooking, and what I should focus on, explore, and practice going forward. I really appreciate the time you took to help me. Wishing you all a wonderful day! 🙏

Since my first post seemed to be a hit I decided to share some more old work. I designed this back in…I think 1998? I graduated art school in 1996 and this was my first job at an ad specialties company. It was a series of advertisements and flyers for Nations Rent, a heavy machinery rental company that was part of National Rent a Car. It was my first real job. I remember thinking how cool it was that my work was going to be put out into the wild and seen by so many people. Does it stand the test of time? I think so. What do you think?

I just graduated with a degree in finance. I have always been passionate about graphic design and digital arts, have done about 4 internships in it as well. The only reason I did not pursue this in my bachelors was because of financial constraints and wanted a more ‘solid’ degree if you get what I mean.

I now finally have the freedom to pursue design freely due to change in circumstances, but do not know how to go ahead. I don’t really want a masters right now, I want to sharpen my skills more and get hired then start off on my own after some more work ex.

What certifications can I get online? Is the Adobe certification worth it in my case? Or any other certification that you can recommend which I can put on my CV to make it look better?

I know working on my portfolio is important at the same time. Advice is appreciated, thanks!

I wouldn’t call these perfect or 1:1 of my references. They’re not even vectored. Problem I’m having is that while I know a few things, I’m not trained. So by a miracle I understand what a drop shadow is. Don’t have a clue what outward/inward bevel or stroke boarder is. I also can’t get my borders to sharpen on CSP so any angular fonts get rounded out as they’re thickened.

Copying what I see can only get me so far and I’d like to actually understand what I’m recreating if anyone would be able to critique/offer advice for breakdown. Really interested in learning more

In honor of The Odyssey this week, I thought I'd design some concept posters for a Nolan/Shakespeare adaptation. The design for his posters are almost as iconic as his films, with an a really cool harmony of composition across his repertoire. Let me know what you all think!

I create vector illustrations in Adobe illustrator which my client sends to their factory as a PDF. The factory prints the design on colored plastic and silicone.

Because they’re printing on colored plastic, the design is often coming out muddy, dark, or discolored. The factory does a white under print before printing color on top.

Is there a good way to predict how the color will change and how to counter that? Or is it better to do trial and error with multiple rounds of physical proofs? Not sure their timeline would allow for that.

Generally, what is my role vs the factory’s role in getting this to print true? I give them a file in cmyk with all colors in print range.

Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone, I was hoping for some opinions on these two logos- the company is a Commercial Structural Restoration Contractor that mainly works on larger buildings in NY and NJ. The first logo with the orange icon is meant to represent a building and have kind of a Swiss feel to the lettering, logo two is supposed to be more muted and almost give a coastal vibe, (I dont love the E, but not really sure what to do with it), even in NY all of their work is on the cost of either a bay, ocean, river etc because of they type of work they do the buildings are always near water. It is such a toss up on which direction to go from here and I was hoping for some experienced input if anyone is willing. Thank you in advance. Any tips would also be welcome

I found this in a book at the library while doing some visual research (sadly I didn’t note the name of the book in my flurry of scanning) and I’m really curious about the designs on the right page. Since it would seem they were made in the 70s or earlier, I’m wondering if anyone has a guess as to how they might have been created prior to digital/computer-based design tools? There’s obviously some intended misregistration of colors/layering going on, but it looks like they first took a graphic and refracted or distorted it somehow? I would love to experiment with analogue methods to get a similar graphic result, or even just figure out new ways to play around with imagery outside of a computer screen. I’m also just interested to learn a little more about interesting/experimental image-making processes that pre-date the digital. Would love to soak up your knowledge if you have any to share, or books on the subject to recommend.

All this being said, if you don’t know about analogue processes but have suggestions for digital/software-based methods that might result in graphics like this, I’m still all ears!

What graphic design jobs have you had that are now obsolete?

In 2004 I had a job as a graphic designer for a wedding invitation company.

I was still a graphic design student so I was stoked to be to handle my own clients, taking them from start to finish. I had to meet with the clients, get an idea of what they wanted, show them samples, card stock and envelopes, come up with designs, print and pack.

I only lasted a few months as I hated the commute. I don't think the company lasted for long as the industry and demand changed. The bulk of wedding work moving to general all purpose printers who print for a wide range of clients, not just weddings. The biggest business failure is that wedding invitation clients are not repeat customers. Even if you did a great job, clients are not coming back next month for a new wedding invitation.