A Day in the Life of James Bush, Graphic Designer
A day in the life of a Graphic Designer
One of the great things about being a graphic designer is that there is always something different to be working on, whether that’s an internal branded piece, content for social media, or collateral for a customer project.
I’ve put together this little day in the life diary to show what a typical day as a graphic designer is like!
9am-11am: Having smashed the kettle on to consume my morning caffeine (usually in the form of tea, but sometimes coffee) I get started. I’ll usually check my emails and Teams notifications first thing, replying to any questions or queries. Next, I look at my list and the tasks ahead of me, and, after weighing up lead times, get started on the most urgent first.
11am-12pm: Usually by this point my brain has melted from focussing on one task, so I’ll switch it up and refresh by making another cuppa and starting on something else. In graphic design, it’s easy to overlook small errors if you dwell on one project for too long, so this is often needed!
12pm-1pm: Having spent some time on a different project, I’ll switch back to what I started on, usually I’ll give it a ‘proof’ with fresh eyes to make sure everything is correctly aligned and presented. Then I carry on designing and editing, making sure that I proof as I go.
2pm-3pm: After lunch, it’s time to hit the next project. I tend to switch it up and work on something different in the afternoon, once again to give my eyes and brain a break from what I’ve been working on throughout the day. I often like to switch to a different style of project if possible, so if I was doing a layout design I like to do something that involves motion design, or if I was doing icon design I’ll switch to social media posts.
3pm-5pm: At this point I’ll return to the most urgent project, and chip away at it until the end of the day, alongside checking and replying to emails and Teams chat messages.
With large projects, the lead times are usually multiple weeks, meaning I can have a lot of jobs on the go at any one time. It makes switching between projects possible; not only helping with proofing but also keeping me motivated. As a creative, we tend to like to work in different areas and with different visual styles so this is a blessing!
One of the best parts about being a designer at Hable is that I get to work with customers too. I’m working on jobs with multiple brand identities, so it’s rarely the same colours, typefaces or visuals! It’s great to help our customers bring their visions to life.
