By Ashley ‘Findley’ Diehl, 52LTD PDX
The recession is over!! Right? Uh…well, I guess that kinda depends.
IF you’re highly connected designer, WITH a killer (and I’m talkin’ “holy shit that’s insanely awesome”) book/site, AND you are well versed in something digital (e.g. Mobile Apps, websites, etc.) you are probably feeling a fair upswing.
HOWEVER, for the new grad, the newly relocated, or those otherwise without ALL three aforementioned qualities, you are probably still wildly wielding your machete to maintain a slight view out of the woods.
Well folks, this isn’t a Get-The-Answers-to-Finding-Your-Perfect-Gig-Post. In fact if you see one of those…it’s probably loaded with a bunch of cockamamie information that doesn’t really apply to you 100%. You see, and this is going to be profound so you may consider employing some advance jaw support in case of abrupt droppage: everyone’s situation is different. Whoa… huh.
So, you ask, if you’re not offering the holy grail of Job-Acquiring-Advice, then what the hell is the point?
Answer: The one thing all ye of the struggling design class do have in common is you do plan to eventually leave your filler job at “Cuppa Joe” or “Jiggles” (a specialty Jello mold shop, of course) to return to your design career. So… you need to stay sharp!
One good way to keep your skills honed and your portfolio from starving a slow death from lack of new content is to pick up pro bono work. Easier said than done, I’m aware. But, check with non-profits, small businesses, your brother’s snow cone stand. Also, if that doesn’t work out… you can piddle around, when you’re not making iced skinny caramel macchiatos, with spec ads. (You have to be careful not to misrepresent spec work in your book though!)
To keep costs down when doing work for free, AND to avoid a stuck-record-redundancy in your work due 
to lack of new inspiring tools, check out sites like bittbox.com. Run by a fellow Oklahoma State Cowboy (yes, the other orange and black OSU) and friend of mine, Bittbox offers “freebies” to any designer looking. Things like fonts, backgrounds, brushes, textures, vectors, etc. Pretty wicked cool if you ask me.
So, don’t loose your spunk. Hang in there. Keep hacking away at the foliage standing between you and that design gig. It’ll give eventually. Now, no one knows when… could be 50 more lattes, could be 5,000… but it will. And when it does, you will want to be ready!
Tags: creative jobs, design jobs, freelance work, new york jobs, portland jobs