Tristen Gonzalez
Prof. Trofimova
COMD 3503
Wednesday 6-8:30
Reflection on the money business
Money is everything. Well to most people it is, for others not so much. In the world of the creative field salaries and times can vary based on positions and on the type of designer you are. From advertising to web and from working solo to an agency, the differences in pay can vary quite a bit. In class today were given a very good insight into the positions that make the most money and how to make sure you get the most money out of your time and effort.
If you want to make the most money in the creative field the field to go to is advertising. The reason for this is that advertising will always play a part in the world and ad agencies are often big money making corporations that can afford to pay their employees a lot of money for good concepts/ideas. However, working for an ad agency is a high risk high reward job that I often compare to playing for a professional sports team in New York City. Playing for a NYC sports team can be the best feeling because when you’re doing good everyone loves you and will be praised highly along with having so much support from fans, but the moment you do bad they will eat you alive and criticize you harshly. This ties into the advertising field because you will be praised highly for consistently coming up with creative concepts/ideas, but when you are lacking quality ideas the agency will tear your bad ideas apart and will not be afraid to find someone else that can do your job better.
Like all other fields, the creative fields have rankings based on positions. The positions consistent of entry level designers, graphic designer, freelancer, and art director, with entry level making the least and art director making the most money. On average, a graphic designers salary is $25 an hour which will equal about 50k yearly and an art director salary would average around $82k-115k. This is a big gap in payroll that makes me rethink about wanting to stick to only a graphic designer position. An art director position is something I never really saw myself doing because I usually don’t like being the leader in group situations and prefer to be someone’s second hand instead. But as of lately I feel like being an art director is something I should one day strive for not only because of the high pay grade but because being a leader and a good mentor will actually help you as a better creative designer and help you to break out of your comfort zone.
One thing in today’s class that really interested me was the discussion on freelancing and how doo freelancers make money. This topic specifically interested me because me and my best friend have been talking about opening up our own design firm someday and it was very insightful information to learn regarding that. For freelancing I have known you need contracts to be signed for whatever client you have but I never knew about proposals and the use of them. Proposals are necessary for any freelance job you take. They determine how much work you will put in for the rates you will receive, they will let the client know what they will be getting on a weekly basis, and what it will cost to do revisions. So in a sense you are outlining what you are charging for.
In conclusion, learning about the business side of design is very beneficial. Every design creative should know what they’re worth is and how to get the most out of it. Whether it is working for an agency or working solo learning about payment rates can help you in the long run in what type of designer you want to be.
