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I don’t think you’re wrong, generally speaking. But I will say that I split six years between two top agencies working 60+ hours a week and making less than I could’ve at other shops.
I made work but it wasn’t amazing work. I won awards but not the top awards.
Then I had a kid.
Now I’m at a “worse” shop earning twice as much, working half as much, and still making work that is at the same caliber: not bad, not amazing, but good, solid creative.
The difference is that my life is much better and I’m a much happier person.
All this to say… do what feels good. And a lot of the time, money feels good. Especially in an industry with declining creative opportunities and standards.
Yes, but that's because you did decent work before, you got the award. You are exactly what I'm describing.
You can go to a worse shop now and still make good work because you did it before and can back it up. You can think about making money and work less because you don't need to scramble to make portfolio pieces at this stage.
There’s no single right answer. But IF you can afford to invest in the quality of your work early in your career, it will pay out more over the course of your career.
That said, very few places make great work anymore. And recruiters tend to try and entice people with promise of good work to under pay them.
So unless you’re working at a top ten agency on one of their proven creative accounts, the money starts to look like the better option.
yes all of this advice is completely ignoring the fact this career could be over very soon.
And yes, this career, like all others, but especially so, is super hard for people without privilege.
It's hard, we all start with debt and bills to pay, but when you are young, at least it's still fun to live with roomates, you are still healthy enough, there's (usually) no kids that rely on you or aging parents in need of care, no mortgage, etc... Cost of life only increases with age.
There are a bunch of people my age (early 40s) who have been unemployed and without a freelance gig for more than a year now, because 25-year-olds with better books are ok with making 100k.
Try really hard to make a name for yourself early, submit to young blood/young ones awards, young guns, young lions, young everything until you can't anymore.
There's a lot of luck involved but you got to show up to.
I think you are dead wrong CD1.
The last shop I was the CD I worked with was 29 and had a grand prix. The rest of the team ranged from 23-28 and most of them had lions. The CCO was 34. They new all the up and coming and hip artists and photographers, had really good ideas and were really sharp, but it was a mess to work with, very little management skills and unprapared overall.
Meanwhile there's a bunch of 40s years old who could be better employees and managers but with stale work, tv that was ok 15 years ago and don't hold up still at the top of their sites because it's a big brand/campaign.
If you argue that even with a so-so book you can get more value from the expertise and quickness of a seasoned creative than I'd agree with you. The book don't reflect how people work.
I judge young talent awards every year there's a lot of talent. Specially when it comes to craft.
Judging by book alone is very easy to find a young talent with great work to show. Just go on the young guns list that came out yesterday.
Money is far more important than awards.
well obviously. But the difference between the creative that makes 500/day and the ones that make 1500 is the award-winning pieces in their book. I steadily make 1000-1500. I have never spent a month without work.
Thinking that not pursuing awards is helping the industry is very naive. You are not making Omnicon or WPP spend less on submissions because you don't want to do it. You are only making your life harder. And the best time to make awards is when you are young. Because having award-winning ideas is actually not hard at all. The hardest part is convincing people that the idea is a winner. and the more you win the easiest this gets. So the sooner you get, the better.
I don't care about awards for myself, really. When I win, I don't make photoshoots holding a statuette in the middle of NYC as if I were some sort of rockstar. It makesm e happy for a couple of hours than it is gone. And I don't give a damn if I don't win either.
I still try to have award-winning ideas, though because every time I win or get shortlisted I get more attention and recruiters call me and people who have hiring power see the work.
Winning awards is like advertising ourselves. It's ok if you don't want it. fine. but telling young creatives to ignore awards is also bad advice.
My advice is win awards but don't think of it as a measure of your worth.
I couldn’t agree more. When I was mid level, I took a took a job at my dream agency for 20k less than I could’ve gotten at another shop doing boring work. Best decision I ever made. I didn’t win major awards but I was apart of huge campaigns that made my book look so good, I didn’t update it for 5 years and still got consistent work.
So I agree, taking less money earlier in your career can pay off in dividends. I guarantee if I had chased the money back then, I wouldn’t have gotten the same quality of work and money that I did later in my career.
💯 OP. I was too excited about freelance money when I was a junior, and should have tried harder for full time roles bc that’s how you become besties w ECD and produce work (two essential ingredients for a long career).
I also don't know how to get into freelancing that early successfully, because most of my freelance gigs come from the reputation I'd built from working with people full-time and making cool work early on.
As a designer for 25+ yrs..... I will say this.... TAKE the job that pays the most as long as it's not sacrificing your mental or physical health. You can always be happy designing on your own time.freelancing and hobbies.