A New Start For My Design Career

As the design field continues to develop and change exponentially, the job market does as well. I realize that I haven't been evolving at the same pace to keep up with these trends. Sure, I attended Adobe MAX in 2023 to learn about their new AI design tools and implemented new workflows at my previous workplace. Even so, that wasn’t enough to prepare me for the massive layoffs in 2024.

However, I needed that change to push myself to do more and approach things differently from what I'm used to. So here I am, starting a new blog series to share my thoughts and snippets of my professional journey. I’m also doing this to become a more effective storyteller, one step at a time.

So what's next?

As much as I enjoy my restful days, I miss creating designs that are meaningful to people—even if it’s just one person. I’ve been job searching for my next opportunity since June, and within a month, I was fortunate to receive a few calls about potential work opportunities.

However, I have not yet received an offer that meets my needs. It’s not that my needs are extensive, but my current situation may be hindering me from securing the right opportunities. Supporting a family of four in a suburban area makes it challenging to convince recruiters that I am their best candidate. While I’m willing to commute long distances and take a pay cut if necessary, I remind myself that my skills deserve a decent work-life balance.

How am I building myself up to be the best candidate?

Despite my situation, I continue applying for jobs and enhancing my skill set through freelance opportunities and personal projects. Here are some examples of how I’ve been pushing myself to do more:

A new look for my portfolio

I realized that my portfolio was in desperate need of an upgrade since I haven’t applied for internships or jobs since early 2022. Most of my best work is from 2022, so I decided to focus fully on creating a new portfolio from scratch. I initially used Adobe Portfolio as the host but decided to give Framer a try. I’ve seen people mention Framer’s amazing features on various social media platforms, so here I am!

Some of the changes I made include:

• An improved and consistent design system + a new sleek clean look.

• Including KPI, project goals, results, and summarized design thoughts.

• New project pages to highlight my skills for certain mediums.

• Summarized skill section.

• CTA section for collaboration/client opportunities.

• Movable custom graphics. Down below are the ones I made for the illustrations page. I'm going to challenge myself to make new graphics with different styles, so expect my blog posts to highlight them.

Acquired some freelance work on the side

• 🏫(still doing) Non-profit volunteering
  I've been doing some volunteer Wordpress web design work for a non-profit that supports children and teens with intellectual disabilities in both the US and Guatemala. Having attended a special education school myself as a kid, I was inspired to contribute to this organization for a meaningful cause, without expecting any compensation.
  
  

• 🎨 Tabling at 2 big conventions starting next week
  I create and sell personal artwork at events and conventions during my free time. Due to my 9-to-5 job over the past two years, I haven’t been able to produce anything new. However, I’m grateful to the organizers for giving me the opportunity to sell my art pieces. I’m currently focusing on selling out my existing inventory before ordering anything new.
  
  

• ✏️ Designed a presentation template for a small agency
  Through my network, a friend who is a co-founder of a small agency reached out to me. His agency manages content creators, so it was important for their brand materials to look professional to convey their goals and mission. This simple template took me a few days to complete, and the client was very pleased with the final product, requiring only a little feedback.
  
  

• 💻 Upcoming client web design project
  One of my former coworkers reached out to me with a web design request after seeing my latest portfolio site. I greatly appreciate her for getting in touch, as this will be my first web design client project. I’m hoping to expand my web design skills and knowledge of Framer through this opportunity.
  
  

This is quite a lot at the moment and so I'm going to focus on finishing my current side hustles before I accept any new ones.

Hopeful for the future

While I’m still unemployed, I’ve been working on many new projects that push me to learn new trends and tools. I’ve also been pushing myself to post more content about my design work progress on social media. I would greatly appreciate it if you could follow and support my content there! It will be a slow start, but I’m confident I’ll get the hang of it soon.

• Linkedin

• Instagram

• Twitter

Thank you for reading my first post!