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<blockquote data-quote="Marius Delphus" data-source="post: 426596" data-attributes="member: 447">Right now, I find the market for creative professionals is kind of thin. That may have something to do with my location or my education history (no design degree, but a law degree). In Chicago, with a design degree, things may well be entirely different. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> I'm a &quot;corporate hack&quot; desktop publisher, and my work is mostly PowerPoint slides and marketing collaterals for a technology services firm here in North Alabama. I'm still working toward that &quot;ideal job&quot;... it wasn't easy even when I was living near D.C., where I'm sure there were lots more opportunities (that I just didn't turn up!).I've made as far as I have (and I have a *long* way to go) by having a good portfolio (save copies of your work!) and interviewing well (I can't stress enough the importance of being &quot;fully on&quot; when you are interviewing). Make sure you pay attention in your &quot;high end&quot; classes: multimedia training CDs (Flash, Director, etc.) and incorporating video (Premiere, AfterEffects, etc.) are in high demand.Design for fun... produce sample work in your spare time that has a &quot;wow&quot; factor. Design from scratch... if you want to go the &quot;illustration&quot; route you need to be able to start with a blank page, rough out a design, and finish it, all by yourself.Pick a style you're happy with and develop it... my personal style tends toward the rectilinear, with clean, crisp, and easy-to-read thrown in. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Have a small library of tricks you can resort to when you're &quot;stuck&quot;... I'm sick to death of cartoon clipart and I've developed an &quot;icon look&quot; for presentations. I'm also sick of Times New Roman, so I use other fonts when I can (but here in &quot;cube village&quot; where documents get shared around and edited mercilessly, that's not very often).Well, just a short rant and certainly not a representative sample, but hey, you asked. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin&nbsp; &nbsp; :D"&nbsp; data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

[QUOTE="Marius Delphus, post: 426596, member: 447"] Right now, I find the market for creative professionals is kind of thin. That may have something to do with my location or my education history (no design degree, but a law degree). In Chicago, with a design degree, things may well be entirely different. :) I'm a "corporate hack" desktop publisher, and my work is mostly PowerPoint slides and marketing collaterals for a technology services firm here in North Alabama. I'm still working toward that "ideal job"... it wasn't easy even when I was living near D.C., where I'm sure there were lots more opportunities (that I just didn't turn up!). I've made as far as I have (and I have a *long* way to go) by having a good portfolio (save copies of your work!) and interviewing well (I can't stress enough the importance of being "fully on" when you are interviewing). Make sure you pay attention in your "high end" classes: multimedia training CDs (Flash, Director, etc.) and incorporating video (Premiere, AfterEffects, etc.) are in high demand. Design for fun... produce sample work in your spare time that has a "wow" factor. Design from scratch... if you want to go the "illustration" route you need to be able to start with a blank page, rough out a design, and finish it, all by yourself. Pick a style you're happy with and develop it... my personal style tends toward the rectilinear, with clean, crisp, and easy-to-read thrown in. :) Have a small library of tricks you can resort to when you're "stuck"... I'm sick to death of cartoon clipart and I've developed an "icon look" for presentations. I'm also sick of Times New Roman, so I use other fonts when I can (but here in "cube village" where documents get shared around and edited mercilessly, that's not very often). Well, just a short rant and certainly not a representative sample, but hey, you asked. :D [/QUOTE]

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