A Day In The Life Of A Graphic Designer

Learn about the day in the life of a graphic designer.

Each and every morning all over the world, we awake from our beds and flock to offices and classrooms. No matter what road we take, whether it be the heroic path of a police officer or firefighter or the more subdued route of a teacher or writer, we all have the same commonality of waking up each day to go to work. But even when we all dread (or maybe love) our days at work, we all experience different days in different jobs. A day in the life for anyone will be filled with ups and downs, different challenges and conflicts to sort out, and most importantly, a variety of accomplishments to cherish. 

A typical day for a graphic designer can be pretty challenging to describe. It’s no easy chore being a graphic designer, from dealing with clients and customers to the actual design process. Every day we take in a graphic designer’s work without even knowing it. From some of our favorite logos to the designs on our favorite graphic t-shirts, all of these images came from the mind (and hand) of some designer sitting in an office cubicle somewhere. And to make matters worse, most of these designers often go unnoticed or underappreciated. Today, we change that. Today we shine a light on all the graphic designers of the world. 

Client Meetings 

Like most careers, there is a good amount of client management that comes with graphic design. While most of the creativity comes from the graphic designer themself, onboarding with clients is crucial for understanding a project’s vision. Most days, graphic designers will hold meetings with clients to talk in-depth about the client’s expectations, wants, and needs. This will help guide the designer in creating a mock-up of the design to see if it is heading in the right direction. Most times, graphic designers will design a mock-up on their own time to break some sort of ground for the whole process. 

Managing Projects 

It’s not unusual for a graphic designer to be working on multiple projects at once. Management and planning projects are a substantial part of a graphic designer’s day. This process allows the designer to complete all of their projects on time and on budget. Without planning and managing their projects, graphic designers can fall behind in their design process, thus resulting in rushed and half-baked designs for their clients. It is also not unheard of for graphic designers to follow up with their clients in order to delay due dates and coordinate new strategies. 

The Actual Design Process 

Now comes the fun. It should come as no surprise that a good portion of a graphic designer’s day is the design process. Today, most graphic designers use a variety of software such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and even Creative Cloud. These pieces of software help designers work in a digital field to improve the overall look and design of their images. Like any other job, graphic design takes ample time and patience, often resulting in long hours and hard work. It is here in the design process that this hard work shows through and pays off.