Creativity vs. wages and benefits

Nearly all of my design career has been working as an in-house designer. I was a single mom for quite some time, so I depended on a regular paycheck and benefits provided by in-house jobs. Not that I haven’t dreamed of being my own boss!

However, I was not born with the entrepreneurial gene. Neither of my parents were entrepreneurial, nor was I particularly exposed to anyone who was, and the business of design wasn’t taught in schools I attended. I was also frightfully shy and for the longest time had no clue nor any talent at marketing myself. To me, it felt as if I were bragging, which was SO uncomfortable to me.

I also know myself well enough to recognize that I need to be around other people; I need to know where I’m going to be each day, and I need stimulation. Otherwise, it is very easy for me to crawl into a shell and hibernate. If I isolate myself, it only compounds the problem. Thus, due to financial and security reasons, plus knowing my own personality, I determined that in-house jobs are better suited for me.

In-house jobs, I have learned over the years, offer their own pros and cons. It seems to often come down to a matter of creativity vs. wages and benefits. Jobs with financial institutions and large corporations have the backbone and infrastructure to support higher wages and better benefits. However, the more corporate the setting often means that the work you do is limited in scope of creativity and in breadth of expertise. You find yourself doing the same thing over and over and over… which can really start to stifle one and cause one to stagnate unless you take on freelance jobs or your own creative projects just for fun to feed those creative juices and to exercise new skills. There is also the chance that you work with a large number of people who do not understand nor appreciate the intricacies of good design. If it’s a very large corporation, chances are good that they have a significant and highly professional graphic department.

Or, if it’s a smaller corporation that has the bare-bone minimal graphic department, the designers tend to work more directly with non-design staff. This can prove to be very challenging, especially when any design that isn’t centered and as large as possible (type from edge to edge), simply sends the non-designer into a massive anxiety attack because the world is not symmetrical, centered and big. Some people find anything that deviates from their perceived universe to be downright wrong, even evil (grin).

Once upon a time, I worked for a financial institution as one of their in-house graphic designers. The pay was excellent, we had great benefits, and we had short work weeks. But the work itself was pretty dull… lots of graphs, charts and a preponderance of text and forms… all with the same clichéd themes. For a short time, we had a marketing director who wore nothing but gold… lots of gold jewelry, gold shoes and purse, gold clothes; even gold hosiery. She had a difficult time understanding why it was not the best idea to have gold architectural columns on every page. Stuff like that can make you crazy.

Next, I was hired with a creative design firm that dealt with architectural elements. It was like a dream come true… however, I had to take a significant pay cut (with the promise of a raise within a few months). That was painful, but I was so excited about being around creatives who understood and demanded good design. Indeed, this is a firm that is absolutely design-driven. I was in heaven. I had a wider range of projects, and they were projects I would be proud to show and proud to be a part of. There was still the issue of all the work having the same corporate standards and look, but at least it was a very respectable standard. With a design firm that also involves manufacturing production, cash flow presented challenges. And, because they are so design driven, I, the sole graphic designer, was designing the graphics for every minute detail. I had people and projects coming at me from all sides.

I worked much longer hours, was paid less, and found a much higher rate of micro-management throughout the company. The personalities were fun and flamboyant, but also unpredictable and volatile. And, the lower wages created a greater stress in my personal life. When you’re struggling to make ends meet and working your tail off, it deflates your morale and makes you feel miserable, no matter how good the design might be, if you’re worrying about every penny.

After being immersed in the corporate work environment for 15 years, it starts to wear thin; I find myself wanting more variety, more freedom, more creativity. Along the way, I have learned more about the business side of being creative, but will I ever feel confident enough to take off on my own? I like to think that someday I will be confident and savvy enough. Someday. In the meantime, I keep grinding away in the corporate world. It’s been good to me and I have made a lot of friends and gained a lot of experience.

Alina Hagen | Visual Communication Designer
Alina Design | Creative Latitude | BoDo Author | Alina’s In-sights

Should I work for a design firm, in-house, or freelance? What are the differences between the three?

This depends on your personal preferences and needs. Some people want the security of a regular paycheck and benefits possibly at the expense of less interesting work. Others thrive on the independence of running your own business. Follows is a brief description of the three types of working environments:

In-house: This will probably pay more than a design firm and have better benefits as far as health insurance, holiday and sick time, and retirement plans. The work, however, is apt to be very repetitious and narrow in scope as you will be doing the same type of projects over and over, always adhering to the corporate graphic standards originally set up for the firm. You will more or less have regular hours and will have to be located in an office environment 40-60 hours a week.

Design Firm: Working for a design firm or ad agency is highly competitive, long hours, high stress, and tight deadlines. However, there is more creativity and variety involved. It varies, but the pay could be lower than in-house, though some people are able to make very good money at ad agencies if they are good. The benefits will probably be there, but may not be as strong as working in-house.

Freelance: It’s all up to you. It’s highly advisable that before you do freelance, you get several years experience working for a design firm or in-house. There is so much you need to know. Working in a corporate setting will familiarize you with doing design in the “real” world, get you up to speed and experience, and give you some idea of what your strengths and weaknesses on. Once you freelance, you will be adding the jobs of marketing and accounting to your lists of hats to wear. There will be slow times and frantic times. It won’t be steady. You will need to be marketing yourself all the time; not just during slow periods. And, you will need to set up your own health insurance and retirement plans.

Alina Hagen | Visual Communication Designer
Alina Design | Creative Latitude | BoDo Author | Alina’s In-sights

(Where Should I Work? first appeared on Creative Latitude’s Holy Grail )