I stumbled across a blog that had posted this link to statistics from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health which shows the rate of depression in adults employed full-time. Unfortunately, the design industry is number 5 on the list.
I guess that makes sense though -- there are constantly deadlines, last minute edits at the request of your client, indecisive clients, etc.
I noticed that a lot of the comments on this blog I found were from folks that had been designers that had transferred over into production. They still designed on the side, but were able to be a bit more selective in what jobs they took, so that they could really put their creativity into their work.
Briefly after I graduated, I took a temp job in Alexandria, VA at the American Physical Therapy Association as Assistant Production Manager of their two publications. I really loved the work I did there, but the 2 hour commute was a bit more than I could handle! That is definitely one career path I wouldn't mind getting back into. Maybe someday I'll do that again and do freelance design on the side.
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Hi Kristina,
I totally believe the depression statistics. Designing is killer. I would never be able to do this every day for the rest of my life. Regarding your note on production, I have worked in production for a few years now, and I love it. I do wish for creative projects once in a while, so I concur that the production job / freelance design sideline is a good idea.
I totally give props to anyone who has the stamina to design full time day in and day out.
But, then again, there are also design jobs where you can work from a template for part of the time, so you do not always have to be super-over-the-top creative every waking moment.
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