Good luck with your future endeavors! Don’t be afraid to pad that portfolio! ;)

Is it THAT hard to take my “once a book designer, always a book designer” comments as being lighthearted? It’s hard for me to believe that anyone who has worked in book design for any length of time did not notice that A LOT of the people working in that field tend to stick around for the long haul.

I should add that I don’t see staying in one field of design as being a negative or limiting in any way. That, really, was the point of this whole post — that designers can and should develop themselves further outside of their client-based jobs. Is the bulk of the post lost to former book cover designers just because of the crack I made about longevity? That’s unfortunate.

But then again, design as a career is not my top priority in life (that award goes to my family), and I’m not much of a dreamer. I’m quite the realist. Again, I don’t see these facts as being negatives. That’s just the way it is for a lot of us, and I don’t think it’s so desperately uninspirational to think that one can work within the confines of a traditional work/home/life situation to explore other aspects of one’s creativity. It doesn’t always require a career change to accomplish that.

Hey, if books are for you, awesome. But, if they aren’t know that you can write a book, design a Kate Spade bag, or even move to a far away place and work in an ad firm to create advertising for the nation to consume.

Perhaps someone reading this who works for a smaller, more specialized publisher (Hello? Nicole?) could chime in here…

And yes, of course these sentiments have been around forever (I think that’s how sentiments generally work, and what makes bringing them up again draw people closer together), but it can be extremely hard to accomplish the kind of things that you’re talking about. When people are dealing with their mountains of other responsibilities (mortgages, children, marriages, commuting, bills, health, and so forth) on TOP of their moneymaking “day job”, following your heart and developing yourself creatively in different directions often becomes less and less of a priority. It’s a testament to your character that you’ve found it so easy to achieve that balance of client/self creative satisfaction and productivity, but I’m afraid that’s not the case for everyone.

It is unfortunate to be pigeon-holed into one segment of graphic design, but its not impossible to change that. I agree with Chip about finding meaning in your work and channeling that through other forms of art/design/music/fashion/culture/etc. It is a sentiment that has been around forever. How do you expect to grow creatively without trying something new or being challenged or exploring new ways to problem solve. It is not hard to ask yourself,”why am I a designer, what am I trying to say?” Or “what is most important to me, in my work, in my life?” And the answers could spawn good reasons to start making stuff. Leave the mess of what to label it for later.

I have a question for you, Anna. I work for a publisher in Nashville primarily doing interior book design. I’ve only managed to do a few ‘crash’ covers b/c they send almost everything out-of-house to design firms. I never knew if that was typical or not, so I’m glad to hear you work in-house. Do you find that more publishers have in-house teams or use freelancers? I don’t feel comfortable with the idea of going freelance yet, but I question whether I’ll need to move to find right job.

For what it’s worth, I do know designers who are working in the industry that did not go to design school. Outside of a corporate setting, I don’t know how much a degree is really worth in terms of hireability — certainly not as much as real world experience and a kickass portfolio. Speaking of which, you can most definitely put together a portfolio of design work that’s not “real”! Good design and good concepts aren’t any less valid when they’re done for personal reasons or without pay.

Don’t let your past job or lack of a degree get in the way of working as a designer! Put together a great portfolio (online, if you like), and shop it around to see what happens. There’s always the option of working freelance, too — nobody is going to be checking for a degree if you’re not going to be a hired employee. :)

I was an ad designer for a newspaper for 10 years, which I know is perceived as kind of the bottom rung, grunt work level of graphic design, but I really enjoyed it most of the time, and felt lucky since I was able to get in and learn the software on the job without a college degree.

Last April my paper made the decision to lay off our entire art department and outsource the work to India. I’m sure you have heard about how newspapers are essentially dying, which is a truth that smacked me up side the head for sure! Anyway I made the decision to start my own business instead of trying to find another job. And while my business isn’t directly related to design, I do get to use some of my skills since I am selling online.

Maybe if I would have felt there were more opportunities in design for me I would have tried to stick with it, but like I said I’m “just a newspaper designer” with no degree, which doesn’t appeal to most agencies or publishers! You are lucky to be doing book design, I always thought that would be really fun!