What would you do?

[J Fisher LogoMotives]

Follow your passion.

Years ago in a discussion with my dad he mentioned he really hated his job. I asked him why he didn't change the situation and his response was "Because it's only ten years until I retire." TEN YEARS! I vowed then to never allow myself to be in a similar situation.

I wake up every morning loving what I do for a living - or the combination of things I do. If that were not the case, I'd want to make the changes to be doing something that fed my passion, heart and soul.

- J.

[Rohan]

One thing that struck me is saying you'd try and get a better deal with your current employer if you got a firm offer. I wouldn't do that because even if you stayed with your current employer, they know that you will consider leaving if anyone offers you a job, and so they may look to replace you while you still work there, and then you are out two jobs.

As for what to do, while you love your job, will you still love the fact that you are in the same position in 5 years? If you take the new position you can still do creative design work, maybe not as much, maybe only on the side but you can still do it. For me, knowing that I'd be stuck at a certain level would sort of bother me, as I'd want to continually grow, and go higher up in the an organization, or at least be a director of my own stuff.

[sugar3]

I sympathize with your situation. I'm in a similar predicament. I have a job that allows me to do great work, but soon after I started they restructured my department and eliminated positions above me, which means there's no way I can get a promotion. I've already had a discussion with my department head about what that means for me and his response was noncommital. As much as I hate the thought of looking for another job, I've given myself a time limit and at the end of the limit I will see how things are in the department. If the situation shows no potential for change I will begin a job search. The way I see it, even if you get an art director or creative director level position that doesn't allow you to do much design, you can still freelance in your spare time. That and you're probably going to be making a lot more money.

[smlswftbrds]

Thanks for the input everyone. I do love the WORK that I do but the environment can be quite toxic and very political. I guess what I have to decide is whether I can live with NOT being a graphic designer and having a creative position where I determine what the work place is like and having the power to really make a difference. Psychologically it's hard to fathom the words, "I used to be a graphic designer."

bigDotComCo.Designer, I'm not really complaining about my job. I've just unexpectedly been presented with another opportunity that might prove to be a better step and am trying to view it from all angles. I'm not on an active job hunt but I do see things going sour where I work. I've seen it before, morale starts to sink and before you know it, everyone is unhappy and there is a constant flow of people in and out.

And the offer of more money helps too. [:D] Again, thanks! Hearing all of your opinions does help form a more complete picture!

[bigDotComCo.Designer]

I don't know.  I tend to be a bit cut-throat, and not really put up with "toxic environments".  If there was a better offer given to me on the table, I would go into my supervisor's office, have a chat, explain WHY its a better offer, and see if they are able to entertain the idea of countering that offer. 
 
If not, I'm gonzo.

[Marco]

1. Considering her design work is really good, If I were her I would just do it because my end objective would be to look for another job that recognizes good work. In my experience, it's not worth putting up with issues like these especially if it has been going on for some time. You've got a CD who can't stand up for his team and their ideas, and a PM who puts her foot everywhere. The CD should ultimately manage design and would know what is better and not be a pawn. Your co-worker will end up miserable if she stays and deals with it unless the supervisor and PM is replaced with someone better.

2. It's hard to defend a design if the person has no potential or is not talented. Sometimes they are being directed because their work simply does not make the cut, and sometimes it's typical that graphic designers get offended when they are criticized by non-designers because most designers forget about communicating ideas, they always think of art. Most of the time, we are not designing for designers, we are designing for a business, client, consumer. As an example, a lot of young designers tend to prefer using smaller font sizes, it looks clean and cool but it does not read well for an older audience. The solution is as simple as the idea that a font is primarily a tool and not an art element.

Another thing too, when designing, especially for a business where one may often need to be able to defend their work, they need to have foresight and think of the purpose of every design/art element they include in their work: why use that font, why put the picture here instead of there, why use two columns instead of three, why the color red, why the thin line across the page, why the negative space, why perfect binding, etc. You need to be a step ahead of the clients. That way when a non-creative would request for unreasonable changes, the designer will have a good reason why it might not be the best solution. Also, designers need to know how to compromise. Most of the time, meeting half way works.

If the design is really good, it gets recognized especially by the client and trust is delegated to the designer. In some cases, speaking from experience, I've seen designers being specifically requested by clients because of the talent - and that talent is not just based on design work but also professional business ethics.

Hope that helps a bit.

[rapture]

These are good suggestions. 

Another thing that puzzles me is the PM does not have the authority to dictate design or any creative or marketing.  It's simply beyond the scope of their job profile.  From my experience in the corporate world this is often times heavily frowned upon...and not only that but it's usually the other way around.  PM's have to fight for their project to get the face time from the designers so they're often groveling at the feet of the designer since it's the designer that can cause more trouble for the PM than the other way around.  Seems like this corporate chain of command is upside down. 

Your CD doesn't seem to know what he's doing either.  The CD is supposed to manage you and be looking out for his team's best interests and defending the designers and has ultimate authority over all creatives coming out of the department.  A PM can make suggestions but it's very very wrong for them to be dictating creatives of any kind, especially in the way she's doing it.

Maybe your CD and PM are dating?  Could be why he's acting like a pansy.  [:D]

[Jennn721]

ORIGINAL: opticstudios

Maybe your CD and PM are dating?  Could be why he's acting like a pansy.  [:D]

Haha, who the hell knows.

Well, in any case, I agree completely with what both of you have said. Being a younger designer, all I can say is I have learned so much on how NOT to manage a team from this cd. Thanks for all your input.

[jamiek]

Get over it. Seriously.

I have two objectives when I'm designing for someone. To provide by the best of my professional ability, and to make the client happy. Arguing over design changes might be a noble way of expressing one's passion, but putting your best work in your own portfolio will give you a better feeling of satisfaction than fighting a losing battle.

In a business environment team work usually not a democracy, so stop falling in love with your work so much.

Now thats some tough love!

Happy Holidays [;)]

[MeganL]

Wow, I am your co-worker...okay well not really but a similar thing happened to me. I was *** to a project; re-design a program's packaging. I came up with 3 designs that all our marketing staff loved. However, the project owner absolutely hated everything I had done. The project owner went over her own manager's head, to his boss, who then put the squeeze on our department director (yeah, there are way too many people involved in this...another problem with our system). Our director told me and my Creative Manager that if this is what the project owner said and didn't want, we had to bend to what she wanted.

Now I presented my designs well, explained the concepts that would support the program's objectives. I communicated with the project owner, using her words and information to relate how the design would benefit her program. In the end, I fought with dignity but there was nothing I could do. Sometimes, we can't win battles, but do remember the war. So sad of an analogy but true unfortunately. Politics in and corp. suck and people use them all the time.

The good thing that came out of this for me was that this project owner made a huge fool of herself during all this. She yelled (really yelling, loud, hitting things, red in face, not kidding here; and all over a folder), went above her boss, used tactics that were not professional in order to get her way. Throughout this ordeal, I stayed calm, explained the creative concepts the best I could and compromised. Now in comparison, I now look more mature and together than she does after this project. I still here people say how everyone knows how she acts and no one wants to work with her. People request to work with me specifically at my company because they know what I am capable of. Sometimes, you must let things go but make sure to elevate yourself in moments like these. You learn from every experience...if your co-worker is a good designer, the important people will see that. And if they don't, keep all good work as portfolio stuff