“It is a privilege to be able to say no to projects and clients”

Creative Career Conundrums is a weekly advice column from If You Could Jobs. Each week their selected panel of professionals from the creative industry answers your burning career questions to help you navigate the creative journey.

This week’s question:

Throughout my education in graphic design I have always gravitated towards designers like Mevis & Van Deursen, Jan van Toorn and Experimental Jetset who all tend to work primarily with cultural organisations. I see this kind of work as an ethical choice which I always thought I would be able to make, choosing to work with clients who aren’t commercially driven.

Now that I have finished my degree course I am struggling to find work like this. The job market is completely filled with studios that specialise in brand identity and digital UX, both fields that I don’t find interesting and often find ethically questionable. Will I just have to suck it up and work on brand identities with the hope of eventually finding myself in a position where have the financial security and industry recognition to begin to be selective with my clients? Or are there paths towards working on cultural projects that don’t require this compromise?

How can designers avoid branding/UX in a market that is dominated by those areas?

Katie Cadwell, co-founder of branding studio Lucky Dip and The NDA Podcast:

Thank you for your question. It’s great to hear new talent being critical of the industry – it is by no means perfect.

While there are agencies that solely focus on ethical projects, there is also a huge demand to work in those studios. I think there are some middle ground options that could fit the bill while you’re waiting for the perfect opportunity.

There are lots of agencies trying to find a way to do good, while running a business. Using a 70/30 approach. They have a certain percentage of projects that pay the bills and keep the lights on, offset by a few that are good for the world. One bankrolls the other. It’s not perfect, and some people are quick to criticise this model, but it is a way to earn a living while still doing work you care about.

There is likely to be a financial compromise to working in arts and culture. Not that it’s right, but it sounds as though you’re prepared to sacrifice that for your morals. Looking for a part-time role, and then dedicating the rest of your time to pro-bono projects could be another option. It will help you build a portfolio ready for studios you admire. The projects you put out into the world, tends to be the work you get back.

Failing that, there’s no shame in doing work that pays your bills if you need to. It is a privilege to be able to say no to projects and clients, something that in this current climate, not everyone has. We recently covered this topic in The NDA Podcast, in an episode called ‘Good, bad & ugly clients’. It was a great conversation about how much choice you have over where you invest your creative thinking.

It’s incredibly important to know where you stand and what your boundaries are. If none of these suggestions sound right for you, and you’re in a position to do so, then don’t feel you need to sacrifice your morals. We need young people entering the industry to set the new standards moving forward. Best of luck.

In answering your creative career conundrums we realise that some issues need expert support, so we’ve collated a list of additional resources that can support you across things that might arise at work.

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