To think I can career change from physio to graphic designer

[CradleCrapNap]

I have no design experience or art qualifications what so ever. I just have a burning desire to design beautiful invitation for weddings, christenings, etc.

I am a creative person and am very good at sugar craft work but making invitations will be totally new to me. I didn't even make my own wedding invites! I wanted to keep our workload to a minimum although we did make the inserts to the orders of service and the table plan to complement the invites and overall theme.

Does anyone have any advice? Am I crazy to think I can learn how to use publishing and design software when my current business is so different. And how long will it take to train? What is the best route?

Does anyone already do this as a job?

You'll be hard pressed to find a standard short term GD course, they're more geared toward specific design programmes such as the adobe suite or Dreamweaver or firework. Do you have any friends who are designers who could give you a mini tutorial on their programmes?

I don't think that's necessarily the case Una. My course was Visual Communication (new fancy name for GD) and it covered traditional illustration, life drawing, web design, typography, packaging design and LOTS of the Adobe suite. It also covered marketing and self-promotion as well as a bit of accounting. It depends on the course of course, however mine was a good insight into lots of different specialisms.

OP you can subscribe to the Adobe suite of programs for about £30 a month, this is pricey but you don't have an initial layout of upwards of £600. There are TONNES of tutorials out there to let you get a feel for the programs too.

Incidentally my course was 'full time' but only required 3 days IN college - so that may be workable for you, just check the hour requirements of the course you're looking at.

Could you try with an etsy page first? Sort of try it on before making big any moves?

I run a design and print company and have done for 8 years plus. With the likes of the big cheap online printers it is hugely competitive and price aware for the simpler stationery.

Wedding stuff in particular can be a nightmare as a) people expect it to be totally perfect regardless of how little they paid (eg. Will want EXACT colour match of ink/ribbon to bridesmaid dress colours etc which can be impossible to achieve on small print runs) and b) invites often involve fiddly/time consuming folding, creasing, hole punching etc which requires equipment to produce and you often have a high wasteage rate trying to set creases up in the correct place for example.

Wedding items often can't be outsourced to a large print producer as the bride will want it on specialist textured card (not standard white card stock) that larger printers won't touch with a barge pole due to small print runs not being a big earner and them having to order in special stock (meaning you have to order in loads in one go and end up with surplus that won't be very saleable to other clients due to being so specific) and the fact that these specialist stocks can be a total nightmare for jamming up machinery. Not worth the risk and time for a low earning job.

If you stick to simple plain postcard type designs then you would be ok but in my experience they never want something simple like that! Also you don't get repeat business as most clients only get married once!

Sorry if that all sounds really negative but it's probably the lowest profit out of any of the products I offer and I try to avoid it unless for regular customers/friends.

I think you're talking about a hobby on the side tbh.

Try putting a few of your designs up on etsy, and fb and see if anyone bites.

Keep the day job.

I concur with umbongoumbongo.

I worked in the profession for 10 years, and left about 2 years ago as my boss was an utter twat and I couldn't cope with it any longer.

The problem is the amount of people who want to work in the profession and the number of jobs, combined with the number of freelancers who think graphic design is easy but have no idea about the practical side of printing. They can draw pretty pictures, but have very little idea about the basic skills needed to set a job up just to go to the printer without problems. It is EXTREMELY competitive.

I would love to go back and do it at some point in the future, but there aren't many places employing and its extremely competitive. I personally have other skills which make me much more employable in other fields so will probably end up doing that despite loving doing graphic design as a result. Plus the pay isn't amazing to say the least.

You may get a qualification but without experience in the workplace you WILL struggle to find work. The leap from working at your own pace as part of a course to the workplace and its deadlines is huge. We took on a number of graduates with good degrees but they were utterly useless in a business environment designing for someone else. They didn't last long. I know a lot of business stopped investing in training new staff because they don't really need to.

By all means pursue your dream, but please be aware of the pitfalls. If you want to do a qualification, do one which has practical experience and if you are aiming for designing for print, make sure your course includes that rather than is purely about drawing pretty picture.

Good luck.

Good advice from RedToothBrush there

BTW I don't have any design qualifications at all bar A level art. I have a degree which takes on elements of marketing. I think in many respects that was as useful as a design course. I had practical experience from doing things on the side at university instead.

I also agree about there being very little money and a lot of hassle in wedding invites.

Do the maths on how much you think people will be willing to spends, then take out your costs and how much your labour per hour works out. You will be surprised at the lack of margins.

Umbongoumbongo it totally nailed, and has saved me from writing all that.

I think it it totally within anyone's remit who has an eye for aesthetics to be a wedding stationery designer. There's cheap, easy-to-use software out there and the vast majority of off-the-peg readily available options is crap, so you have a market there for the taking if yours look even a little bit more considered.

I'm a professional graphic designer with a degree in graphic design, 12 years experience and my own limited company, my sister has been a self-employed wedding stationery designer for about 8 years. There's a world of difference between what we do - she is very artistic (like you) did not need any formal training to become highly sought after and very busy. Her previous job was a purchasing manager for a massive pharmaceutical company specialising in print procurement. Great! All the ingredients for a successful wedding stationery business! But wait. She makes pin money from it. Yet she's no schumck, and her prices are well-pitched.

As others have said, its the making decent money from it that is nigh-on impossible unless you are extremely good at all aspects of the business and have years and years of time to network to build your name. My sister has almost entirely ceased to trade in weddings for all the reasons Umbongo states but mainly because of the nightmare brides and is now solely focussing on personalised social stationery (greetings cards mainly) which is much more lucrative and less stressful.

The margins just aren't there. People like Abi Warner who are at the tippity top of their game are managing to carve a decent living but look how shit hot her site and her product is. Not to mention she is big-time buddies with all the big cheese wedding bloggers/mags/photographers owners. She has invested some serious dollar and time to get herself to that level, she's been at it years.

I think your options are either pin-money hobby business or ask yourself if you think you can compete with the likes of Abi Warner and really throw a wedge of time and money at getting there.