Not only you will be wasting more money on the "investment", a job as an Art Director is almost not guaranteed. There is alot of things to consider in order to be an Art Director.. and I don't just mean having a killer portfolio. Example: Even if you can perform digital black magic with Photoshop and Freehand, if the company you work with already have an Art Director, you will be stuck as a Art Director ASSISTANT as long as it needs be because how many Art Directors can one company have?

I remember an article I read on the local newspaper about this top guy managing the Singapore Zoological Gardens. He shared his story on how he started at a modest position and after years goes by his seniors decided to quit and everytime they quit, he moved one space up the Zoological corporate ladder.. Until one fine day, he manage to find himself in the managing office. See what I mean.. if the top guys didn't budge he would still be scrapping elephant dung instead of planning landscapes for African Giraffes.

I think, if you really insist on sticking with this creative ambition of yours and you wanna take 100% creative control, you can always start your own design business. That way, you can write anything you want on your name card.. you don't have to wait 15 bloody years to be an Art Director, you can be an Art Director NOW.. Heck, check out my namecard..

shoved her body underneath the company's sofa. Not as scary as the Hantu Pontianak and not as erotic as Hantu Tetek, this Hantu Design usually appears at night and likes to give advice on typography.

Someone sent me an email writing about how designers in Singapore have lifestyles and work ethics no diff from prostitutes, that was honestly too much of a pinch of salt to handle, whereas yours brings more realism. I enjoyed reading the 2 posts =)

I've gone through all that u've mentioned, and even though Im a senior designer now who has slightly more say in certain things, I'm not happy. Coz this wasn't the job I paid so much for in school and worked hard to do well in my projects to become~ What u said about the employer's perception of a 'designer' to begin with being thwarped is true. Perhaps u could post up the recruitment ads for designers these days to let 'designer wanabes' see how ridiculous and unreal the criteria is. Employers these days want a robot..a machine that can do everything and work every hour with no complaints, know every design software out there, even though they state 'Graphic Designer Wanted, fresh grads welcome', and expect the poor freshies to already have had 1-2yrs experience. And sometimes even more ridiculously expect us to know all platforms of 3D and web developing software. I believe there are product designers, animators and web developers for that~

Im rather bemused as to why these ads specifically state they need someone creative when we all know that at the end of the day all the bosses take creative direction from only one party, ie: client aka non designer.

Of course there are some design companies here that practise true design ethics with their designers (lucky lor), but we know those really are just a few needles in a haystack. With all these art and design schools popping up here and there, everyone naturally thinks they can be a designer and that the industry is fruitful. Hell even my next door neighbour who uses photoshop to edit his pictures to look like neoprints thinks he's a designer! I don't regret having taken up design in school or being a designer now taking shit pay working shit hours and listening to shit clients, but I sure as hell won't be doing this for the rest of my working life, at least not here~ lol

Looking forward to your next post on the culprits for the demise...

requested for at a given time - usally very very short. This is should say is absurd because some designs need time to be developed.

I am not a designer, but has always been inspired to be one. Not because it feels good (thats what I think) to be called a designer but because i like to play around with designs and to capture what I think is the best poster/advert design for my product. I told my boss that I would love to take up design course, he told me "dont waste time". Of course, I knew why he said that - because Rome isnt built in one day.

I had designers who design booklet for me with deadline of less then a week and charges a good 2 grand for that. I as a marketing person started to get a little jealous, i was thinking to myself: why should i be the one to wait till my freelance designer to knock off at 6pm then i work with him on that???? why? its so unfair. I'd rather be a designer, 3 short nights and he can easily earn more then me. Then again, i told my boss that I think i want to be a designer, my boss said: you can! but do you have the skill set? Totally, I agreed - we waited because the designer never fails to produce a piece of good work.

I think this world is kind of Not-fair. Some unethical employers tend to drill their designers to the max, paying them just enough to buy 1 sesami seed. This is inhumane! However, there are still many fantastic people around who hires freelance designers and pay a reasonable price. I think the catch of being a designer is to start off as an employee and eventually turn to be an employer of your own. This is a precious skillset where no one can take it away from you. Having this skill set brings you to many places like being marketeer, branding professional - if you intend to do something else.

All in all, i salute all designers. You guys are the hero behind every pieces of successfully marketed product - but of course do give some credit to the marketeers as some might be the idea generator.

smiling at you....

DON'T. I'm not saying that you will not be a good designer, heck I think you will be great.

But "playing around with designs" and working on a dateline with endless revisions is a whole different war game. Trust me on this.. Most designers do not like their work done commercially.. they are capable in producing phenomenal work IF given the freedom but in the office everything is dictated thus turning them into Photoshop technicians.

"I had designers who design booklet for me with deadline of less then a week and charges a good 2 grand for that. I as a marketing person started to get a little jealous, i was thinking to myself: why should i be the one to wait till my freelance designer to knock off at 6pm then i work with him on that??" By reading what you wrote, I can sense that this company you are working with treats its freelancers good. I did a booklet before plus illustrations.. and got paid less than 2 grand, and the customer dragged the dateline for weeks. I bet the freelancers you have right now are very thankful for the "lubang" they have now and THEY KNOW that the chances of them getting another gig like this ie; a booklet in less than a week (meaning little revisions / less demanding customer) and getting 2 grand for it is not easy to come by.

"Then again, i told my boss that I think i want to be a designer, my boss said: you can! but do you have the skill set?" Actually this skill set your boss is talking about is easy to attain. I went to school for 3 years and I realised that the time allocated was not utilise in the best manner. The 1st year itself was filled with bullshity art history that you will never use in the office. And they made you make a color wheel using gauche like as if the Pantone chart does not exist. Its a way the Art school wanna suck your money dry and at the same time passion blinds you.

To know what I know right now, design wise, you just need 1 year tops.. if you are those soak-like-a-sponge-types.. 6 months is sufficent. Sometime I do day dream about opening an Art school called "Evil Bunny's No Bullshit Design School". You will learn all those computer design stuff from Day 1 and by the time I'm done with you, you can create your own Flash Cartoons Hentai because the chances of cartoon porn popping up on Happeepill is close to zero:P Then I'll make the students sing "Mary had a Little Lamb" during assembly... I told you it's gonna be awesome.

"This is a precious skillset where no one can take it away from you. Having this skill set brings you to many places like being marketeer, branding professional - if you intend to do something else." I totally agree with this... I have seen so many times my design skills have come in handy. Whenever I have a business idea.. I can easily make a namecard of my own, and a website.. and viola! A new business emerges! Then if another business idea hits me, the cycle repeats... like a bad case of menstrual cramps. But the thing is I don't have to consult and pay designers to do it for me:D