Graphic Design, Illustration, Laptops

Looking for advice!

I am soon to finish college for graphic design and illustration, plan to get 6 months work experience here in Canada and in November 2008 travel and work overseas.

I am new and naive, and need any and all advice in regards to starting out in this field, and travelling as a graphic designer. Following is a list of questions, but any advice on this subject at all would be appreciated:

1. I hear London is a prosperous place for freelance work in graphic design. Can anybody attest to that, or suggest any other cities worldwide for work?

2. Owning/traveling with a laptop: Is a laptop an absolute neccessity for a graphic designer, or is it possible to aquire
   work using computers in company offices? I would love to have a laptop for work, but i also like to embark on very
   rugged backpacking and i wouldn't know what to do with a laptop in those circumstances.

3. I am a talented illustrator, however i am pushing myself into graphic design as i believe it to be a more prosperous field
   for money and finding work worldwide. Am i correct or misguided in that assumption?

4. Am i being naive in thinking that 6 months work experience would see me as experienced enough to work overseas?

5. Obviously graphic design is a huge industry and i've given no specifics on which field i want to enter. I have many ideas, but would be interested in opinions from those who have traveled with their field of graphic design.

If you reply, you could be greatly helping a rookie with her future goals.
Sophie.

Hi Sophie, I can't help with the work related questions, but laptop wise... I wanted to take one on my travels around Thailand, Talking to other backpackers I found the most reliable rugged laptop was the MacbBook. I brought one along with what i can only describe as a glove for it, tight fitting thin foam case. Stuffed it in the back of my backpack and I had no problems with it during my 6 months of backpacking.

Regards

Edd

thanks edd, that does help. could you tell me, what was the most rugged thing you're backpack endured on the trip? ie, was it a matter of moving it from hostel to hostel, doing hikes, getting thrown on buses by baggage handlers....
i just want to know what the macbook can handle, as that is the laptop i plan on purchasing.
thanks again!

I think that in any industry, six months' experience is not highly regarded.

I'm wondering where you find an employer in Canada who wants to hire a new college graduate for only 6 months.

I'm wondering which it is you wish to do. Go overseas to work and live or go travelling with a backpack. I'm wondering if you are naive enought to think you will find work for a few months at a time to fund travel. That's a common misconception that is seen frequently here on the TT.

I agree with Jetgirly that 6 months experience is not likely to get you any more interviews than no experience. I'd suggest at least 2 years with a reputable company. Then assuming you have a work visa of some sort for a country you go to, you would have a decent chance of finding work in a major city.

I think perhaps your qualifications are not as portable as you seem to think they are.

in reply:

My plan was to move to london on a one year work visa and do freelance work, save money and then move onto rugged backpacking. I have found that travelling with my prior qualifications in childcare and hospitality was very easy, however being new in the field of graphic design i was looking for experienced personel to give me some advice.

Are either of you experienced in this area?

Cheers.

Hey Sophie, It took quite a bit of punishment, along with the day to day trekking and generally being chucked about, I hired a jeep for a bit off 4x4 fun, it endured 3 weeks off bouncing around the back seat while being driven up and down every mountain I could find! Its a cracking laptop, I run adobe creative suite 2 on it without any problems. Hope all goes well and you find what your looking for.

Edd

I think you need to further clarify some things.

You say that you want to do "rough backpacking" after your stint in London. Does this mean you want to be working freelance while you do this?

It sounds like you will be going to London to work 9-5 and then work later freelance without geographical constraints. Is this correct?

You may have had an easy time finding jobs in your prior fields. But there are so many variables that they are like comparing apples and oranges. How much training did you have in these fields? How long did that take? How much experience did you have? What was your visa situation? Where did you go?

I should warn you that you are falling into a familiar pattern we see regularly on the TT. Someone comes here with a job question. They don't like the discouraging replies. So they insist on someone who went through the EXACT same experience to give them a reply. But often an exact match won't be found here. The people answering threads like these are reasonable, helpful people who have plenty of experience working in other countries and are making an educated guess about a given subject. I would have to concur that I find it hard to believe that in any industry, six months would be considered experience.

cheers edd, good to know.

alexander, i've never had a job where i had to travel with tools before. i was planning of one year of straight work, and then some straight out backpacking and i wanted to know how well the laptop would hold out. this is what i was referring to and edd answered that question.

i have met a fair amount of graphic designers who travel and i've asked them for advice aswell. i just posted a question here because i thought i might find more of them.

as far as my other fields go, i've worked throughout australia and canada. both those industries are very easy to travel with, and even work your way up position wise. i am not use to being in such a competative industry, which is why i was specifically asking for advice from graphic designers.

thanks tallman, that advice helps.

Do you have experience in animation design?
Getting freelance work in TV is easy for designers you might need to do a few free jobs to prove your worth but your little experience means nothing over quality design so if you are good enough it shouldn't be a problem.
Create a website cv that is really jazzy and give it out to lots of people and email ahead of time to lots of companies.
Generally freelance designers use their own computers so grab a "crumpler" daypack, the best laptop bag I've come across so far, and hit the road.
My advice is you are going to be disapointed more if you show up looking for work unannounced, do your best to contact the right companies and the right people before you arrive. Don't be tight about making international phone calls if needed, email is one thing but actually talking to the creative director is another.
Best of luck and look after your laptop,

I bought the small screen Mac G4, to fit in daypack, with padding around it. Had to have it repaired in Costa Rica.He rewinstalled every program that came with it. But in Spanish.

I tell college kids here in Spain, to not just train for corporate hell. Use them for experience of how that kind of business really works. And for getting that grub stake for thier own business.

Things can be a lot different, in the real world, than in school of any kind. I got a Bachelor of Sciene, in Advbertising Art.
We went on fieldtrips to big ad agencies, in dallas. People were wearing jeans and t-shirts there. Found out later, it was the only clean clothes they had left. In that bus. you work till the job is done.
Hi pressure, fast burn out.

But opportunities don't come tailor made. They give the newby the crap jobs. That's how the business is learned.

It tkes a month to train with any employer. Another month to train the boss.
;)

But we learn things that pay off on other jobs.