By trade, I am a graphic designer (amongst other things). This is not a career path that I follow too arduously but do work the craft when opportunities arise. It is just an extremely competitive field and one that does not seem to have a lot of money in it. I, for one, couldn't see myself being able to buy groceries or cover the rent with the income.
For the most part, it is something that comes in to play as a complement to another product or service that is being delivered. This does not mean that there are not a huge amount of hours associated with the design process. This is time spent away from family or even other methods of earning a living.
Still, it is fun and does enable the earning of other income. However, there has long been an issue in the industry about the devaluation of the graphic design skill set.
As a publisher of a magazine, you have to 'give design work away for free' but what do you do when your customers assume that just because they paid some minimal amount for an ad (that does not cover the cost of the design) they somehow bought the art work, as well?
Of course this is a delicate situation because they are still a customer and you don't want to ruin the relationship.
What to do?
