A Day in the Life of a Graphic Designer in an Agency

I am writing about how I spend my day as a graphic designer at an agency. But, to talk about that I first need to talk about my morning tea because whatever I design at work, the inspiration comes by as early in the morning, much before work.

While reading the newspaper with my morning tea, I face a critical challenge. My attention almost always is split into two; one is on the headlines of the front page and the other is on the advertisement right below that. Both are important but the designer inside me takes over as news takes a backseat and I completely focus on the advertisement. I notice the colour combinations of the creative, then the fonts, typography, placement of the objects, images, effects used on it, and so on.

After the newspaper reading session, I quickly get ready to head out to work. On my way to work I see a lot of creatives on billboards, posters in trains, banners at stations, bus stops etc. While absorbing these little inspirations I don’t even realize how times passes. And, once I am at my agency, I seem to get lost in the amazing world of design.

The first 15 minutes go in checking mails and aligning work, and the next 10 minutes are spent in the social world of Facebook. The rounds of likes, shares, and comments have become such a critical aspect of our daily routine, that without it one feels a bit incomplete. An important page on Facebook that I never miss is Tonic’s group page, where tonickers post an array of interesting articles, references for fonts, vector icons etc.

Once the other folks are in office, the real work begins.

We start off with a short meeting with the design team, where we align and schedule the projects for every designer.

Every designer is like a Picasso or a Da Vinci in their own right and his/her creation is like their very own Mona Lisa. After many alterations, reworks, team feedback and client feedback, this Mona Lisa often changes to a completely different person, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.

When we take up a new project, we start referencing and doing research on what is best suited for the brand. While doing this, all the little inspirations that began from the morning tea, come to to life while newspaper creatives, hoardings and articles remain at the back of my mind. Our day continues with short tea breaks, laughter, hearty talks and lots of photoshop.

As the day ends, the project managers approach our bay and we put in that extra bit to get all our projects out by the deadline. An eventful day at work ends as the designers wrap things up by hitting the send button and pushing the last project out.