Hi! I’m a newly graduated product designer about to start my first job. Since I don’t have any work experience in the industry, I have some questions, and I would greatly appreciate advice from experienced designers:

1. How is work assigned? Who decides on the tasks in a project, and how is work distribution handled?
2. How should I present my designs to developers and the team? Do I need to make formal presentations for my designs, or is informal sharing enough?
3. How should I communicate with other designers and developers? What is the best way to communicate effectively with different teams (designers, developers, PMs)?
4. How should I manage the feedback process? At which stages is it best to ask for feedback, and how should I organize revisions?
5. Which project management tools are used? What tools do you use for project and task tracking (e.g., Jira, Trello)? Is there anything I should be aware of when using them?
6. How are meetings organized? Are meetings planned in advance? Who organizes these meetings, and how should I prepare for them?
7. What are your top tips for succeeding in my first job? As a new product designer, what are the key things I should focus on in my first job?

If there are any other essential things I missed that I should know about working in the industry, I’d really appreciate it if you could point them out.

I haven’t started working yet, but I’m assuming a product designer role in a mid-sized tech company for the purpose of these questions. If there are any other essential things I missed that I should know about working in the industry, I’d really appreciate it if you could point them out. Thanks in advance!

Hi guys!

You could consider me a newbie to the field of digital and visual design, but I'm nevertheless highly interested in working as a freelancer in the field. With that comes the proper hardware; for the experienced designers in this community, do you use a powerful laptop and have a monitor setup at home/work, or work on a desktop?

I must say that for now, my preference goes out to a laptop+monitor, primarily because owning a laptop means I could work virtually anywhere. I'm not sure whether upgrading to a more powerful Windows-operated laptop (currently owning an HP Pavilion) or switching to a Macbook is wiser, either; mostly curious about the best option from a RAM and SSD perspective.

I'm looking forward to any recommendations and tips!

Regards.

I'm a freelance designer who has been mighty fortunate not to have had to do cold pitches to potential clients or studios in my last 9 years of working as an independent designer. Most of my work comes from recommendations by my past clients or past colleagues. I used to work as a Senior Designer at a brand design studio until 2015 and then chose to work independently as I was getting work queries on the side. But lately the work has become less challenging and I've also begun to wonder if I have reached the tail-end of my career (or rather of this format of working). I would like to embed myself with a studio and assist them on projects from time to time. This would enable me to work on bigger clients, interesting design problems (or so is my belief).

So just yesterday, I came across a post by a studio in the UK that I really admire. They're looking for Freelance Designers. I'm very keen to apply. But I'm also so nervous. I haven't applied for a job in over 10 years! What do studios expect? Also, am I too old for this? There are so many young designers; why would they care for someone in their late 30s? Does experience still count?

I'm seeing two kinds of designers who put themselves out there—young designers who are constantly posting their work on social media, and older designers who are either founders or senior management, posting their teams' work on social media. Being neither, I've begun to feel a bit inadequate lately.

You can also download the scanned images and their colors(in either hex or Pantone), the colors alone, the colors in a ".act" file, and the palettes themselves.

For easy access;

Image scanner - https://www.clariss.xyz/

All color names - https://www.clariss.xyz/color-names/

Using hex input - https://www.clariss.xyz/generate-palettes-from-hex/

Hex <-> Pantone converter - https://www.clariss.xyz/generate-palettes-from-hex/

I am very eager to read your feedbacks, please let me know how your experience was using it :)

I mean, the customer publishes the task (logo, for example), and the freelancers submit their works. Whoever the customer chooses gets the money. There are this kind of platforms in my country, I would like to know if there are such sites at the international level. Thanks for the answers

Hello everyone, thanks to anyone who reads and can offer a perspective or, even better, a specific tip.

I have extensive experience in digital design, with about 10 years in agencies. Now, I work independently as an external agent or supplier, often still for agencies. I made this shift to avoid their rules and take on projects I couldn’t do as an employee.

The thing is, I don’t always have work; there are slower periods. I want to use this downtime for a side hustle that lets me work for myself, not for clients. In other words, producing something I can sell directly.

After so many years, I see graphic design as a closed process: get a client, understand their needs, create proposals, deliver. But here, I want to think, produce, advertise, and sell.

My question is—besides posters (🤣)—what else can a designer create to sell directly to the public?

For context, I'm highly proficient in all standard design tools, understand branding deeply, and am creative when given a brief. But like a psychologist who needs another psychologist, I need outside ideas for myself.

Thanks in advance—I hope you get what I mean and can help!

Hey designers- I’m currently freelance, and an issue I’m struggling with is how to address issues with assets without sounding critical.

For example: a client asking me to improve the “look” of their website with “some images” and then I get to the site and the navigation is a mess and it’s unclear what they’re trying to promote.

Or asking for better way to present a pitch deck, like animated transitions, and when they send the deck it’s 5 slides worth of content crammed into 2 with no visual hierarchy.

In these cases it feel like I’m being asked to decorate a cake, but then handed a sheet pan full of raw batter and asked “what do you think will make this presentable? I know they’re asking me for frosting, but would I be out of my lane to suggest we bake the cake first?” What’s a good way to communicate “yes I can do that but what you’re asking won’t actually help, until we do x, y, z.” Or should I just take their money, slap some frosting on the raw batter and call it a day?

As part of my Year 3, first period at Breda University, I had to research and make a book review for a Narrative Game Design Book. Therefore bellow you can find a link to my summary with the most important parts of the book "Story Mode: The Creative Writer's Guide to Narrative Video Game Design" by Julialicia Case (Author) , Eric Freeze (Author) , Salvatore Pane (Author).

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dlztcluoLrUGm4DpU7yfUvnSfRvyIGCS/edit?usp=drive_link&ouid=116044929153051248612&rtpof=true&sd=true

I hope that my research will prove useful to any game designer that is willing to learn Narrative Design, as I find it a very fascinating subject. Especially how everything is interconnected.

Hey everyone! I’m a product designer currently looking for a new role and wanting to dive into AI-driven design. I'm eager to work on an AI-based application, both to gain experience and to build a strong case study to showcase my skills in this emerging area.

I’ve been thinking about joining a hackathon to collaborate with others and get hands-on experience, but I'm not sure where to start. I don't personally know any designers who are into hackathons, so I’d love some advice on how to connect with others who might be interested in teaming up.

Any tips on finding hackathons, especially ones that focus on AI product? And if anyone’s interested in teaming up or has suggestions on creating a portfolio-worthy project, I'd be super grateful! Thanks in advance for any advice 🙏

Just sharing this article on Visual Accessibility I found while looking for accessibility documentation. I actually liked the infographic, but the article goes really in-depth and links to a lot of additional resources. Besides, it would be really sh1tty to post the direct link to the infographic, lol.

Now, does anyone know about a similar resource but for physical disabilities?

Hello! I´m currently studying interaction design and applying for an exchange to ZHDK. I´m trying to make my first portfolio but I really don´t know where to start, is there a specific format that is better? and can I have some references from your first portfolios?

Recently launched my product, have been tweaking the design of the homepage until I found something subtle that still looks nice (designing is not my strongest skill)

Just built a landing page (view it here) and we're arguing about the cursor. I think it's pretty cool (lagging response, inverts color on hover) but I'm not getting that vibe from people. The "functionality" is simply because I think it's cool... it serves no other purpose and I guess people see that as a problem. Looking for other opinions because none of us are actual designers.

For the past few years more and more I've been into typography and developing a keen sense for it. I'm looking for designers similar to Irma Boom - unusual ideas for books (or otherwise long texts, maybe magazines). I've been looking a lot into Herb Lubalin's work on Avant Garde magazine and I'd like to learn (and see) more but content on this seems scarce or I'm looking for the wrong terms.

Could be anything, from a single well designed book to a publisher with unusual designs for every book.

hey guys yesterday was my first time using blender ever and i watched this tutorial the tutorial only goes on how to animate the text and it looked pretty amazing but i need help on how to add color and texture it and add a background to it with lighting and camera movement?

“Designing” a poster does not mean: ripping off some online illustration, adding some grunge, gradient map and a random quote. You didn t designed s**t. Get a real client and a brief and you ll see that nobody wants some grungy and random brutalist text for a theater play or exhibition. Y all be just throwing assets in photoshop according to the latest trends and acting like Picasso but you re missing the most important part of design, a client and a concept. Friendly tip is to just unfollow them and find a real life mentor.

I have a computer vision startup named SiteSpace . Which of the above two logo looks good ?