It informs readers about freelancers, small offices, larger ad agencies and corporate in-house in the contemporary work place. The writing is conversational and humorous, and he generously exhibits his talent for making fun of himself – an important threshold for tasteful intelligence in my book. After 19 years as a Graphic Designer and Photographer for a management consultancy, I recently grabbed voluntary redundancy. Interestingly, there are a few paragraphs where Shaughnessy is really soul-romantic at the beginning and they sounded so wrong to me that I even thought of dropping the book.

How to be a graphic designer offers clear, concise guidance for these questions, along with focused, no-nonsense strategies for setting up, running, and promoting a studio, finding work, and collaborating with clients. It was difficult to distinguish whether the problem lay in design, or designing for THAT particular company. I read this book several years after completing my BFA in Graphic Design, I wish I would have read it my last year of school.The book is split up into sections based on different areas of being a graphic designer… finding a job, working for yourself, or someone else, freelance work, setting up a studio, which are all useful regardless of whether you think it’s relevant to you or not. It has a lot of information relating to portfolios, presenting yourself, interviews, landing your first job. And - quite inspiring this - he gives us the green light to rely on our INTUITIONS, without apology. While this book does cover mostly freelance work where you engage with each step of the design process, Adrian brings us back again and again on how we can work with clients and ourselves to keep our ideas in our designs (for the most part). I should note that while this book is geared towards graphic designers, the advice in it applies to probably 90% of design disciplines.

It offers straight-talking advice on how to establish your design career and suggestions – that you wont have been taught at college – for running a successful business. The book contains all-new imagery, and the previous interviews have been replaced with new ones, each focusing on a specific issue of importance to graphic designers. These are all unbelievably valuable, but not what I was expecting from the title, which led me to believe it would be an explication of the socially conscious uses for design. There are a few interviews throughout the book with various different practicioners which are invaluable for adding another perspective and more advice on different subjects and issues raised in the book. Any graphic design students, interns, employees, art directors, businessmen or creative artists can look for this book.It was on the reading list, and I had heard good things, so I picked it up and read bits and pieces here and there. Graphic designers constantly complain that there is no career manual to guide them through the profession. I found that I am not alone in the big bad world of Graphic Design, and that some of the fears and insecurities I have are shared by designers all over the world.

There are also loads of tips and advice from many different designers on different ways to approach briefs, finding work, self initiated work and dealing with clients, and I know I am going to keep coming back to this book as a reference tool time and time again. Published to instant acclaim in 2005, our best selling How to Be a Graphic Designer without Losing Your Soul has become a trusted resource for graphic designers around the world, combining practical advice with philosophical guidance to help young professionals embark on their careers.Author Adrian shared what we are already aware of (maybe because I read the second edition), but reading the same thought from another creative man and from another country brings connection in terms of hustle, fear and learning. This book offers clear, concise guidance along with focused, no-nonsense strategies for setting up, running, and promoting a studio; finding work; and collaborating with clients for young professionals. I am not a big reader in fact i pretty much hate reading, however i am a graphic designer an do like books. How to Be a Graphic Designer offers clear, concise guidance along with focused, no-nonsense strategies for setting up, running, and promoting a studio; finding work; and collaborating with clients. It also discusses the benefits/downsides of getting a job in a studio, in-house, as a freelancer, or setting up your own studio.

Although I'm ancient and have been in the graphic design field for a while now this was still very interesting and I still picked up a few pointers here and there.Can't say much more about it due to the fact that I haven't read it, however, listening to graphic designers perspective it is a good deal! Also included are interviews with leading designers: Jonathan Barnbrook, Sara De Bondt, Stephen Doyle, Ben Drury, Paul Sahre, Dmitri Siegel, Sophie Thomas and Magnus Voll Mathiassen.