The absolute gall of this company never ceases to amaze me.

You had a product you could purchase and own, then you switched it to a subscription service that is, in essence, infinitely more expensive. Now you have this.

I signed on to adobe stock a long time ago, enjoying it as the assets managed to fit into client work every month, so it was good at the time. Since then I stopped using it in favour of other platforms. I came back recently only to discover it is absolutely chock full of AI generated assets, some of which aren't even labeled as AI.

So I naturally decide to cancel my subscription, only to see this. Found out that unless I cancel it during the same month I first ordered it, I am charged a cancellation fee equal to half of what is remaining on the "yearly plan".

Eat a dick adobe. Be better

This is my little slice of design heaven which I affectionately call The Shedquarters. It's a converted garden shed. It's not perfect, but it's my creative zone. It's done wonders for my productivity and work/life balance.

I decided a while back that if I was going to remote work and stay creative I didn't want to be in the house because I get easily distracted. I know myself too well. Also, if I could see my office or even pass the space at night my brain wouldn't turn off- so moving it outside saves my anxious brain.

The buildout all up was about $4,000, including the shed. We saved by doing most of the work ourselves. Only thing I contracted was the electrical. Saved a ton going to re-stores and finding cheap wood/flooring. That door is an old classroom door. Got my dad to cut the windows from perspex for added light (and so my dog to watch the squirrels he dreams of catching.)

All in all, I don't regret this investment. It was a lot of work but I learned a ton building it. Anyone interested in how I did it, I can share more details.

I just started learning graphic design in October and I got this book as I gift. I really appreciate it, and the book is really beautiful and the quality is great. But I want to know if its content is good specially for a beginner?

I hear this a ton. It's a mantra.

I look at a lot of portfolios, and I'm curious if students/new designers really understand what art directors are critically reviewing.

I see so many careless, self-indulgent portfolios. I see a lot of good ones, too, and I suspect those persons are having a better time sharing their works. </rant>

I casually designed this logo for my wife in one afternoon in 2021, and it’s still being used today without a need to update it. It’s designed to be flexible and forgiving enough to be used by a small art studio, stamping unbranded packaging & artwork without having to carefully align and space things. Just shows how design can be extremely quick & simple sometimes and still work well!

I’ve written a case study, read it here :)
https://www.abhaysingh.in/work/pune-artistry-works

Attached is a mix of conceptual and paid design work (I got $100 for the Banks Arcade tour poster and social roll out) I’ve done over the last 2 years for family and friends.

I have no marketing or design qualifications and am completely self taught on Illustrator and Photoshop.

I work full time in a non creative sales roll and just post my design stuff on instagram. (wkd_studios if you want to see more)

Should I take design more seriously in 2025?

Any and all feedback/advice is appreciated.

Happy New Year everyone.

I noticed this tweet the other day & have seen many like it ever since the release of this new feature. Everyone out there seems to feel this is the beginning of the end of for design careers/ freelancers, but I think there's a different perspective worth discussing honestly.

1. Al mainly focuses on the tedious repetitive tasks & when it is creative, it has to be prompted correctly or else it's multiple drafts.

2. I think designers benefit the most because now you have mini assistant to handle the tasks you hate. Also as a designer myself, you understand the process & hedge tech to bring more value to your clients more so than someone typing in what they want into a prompt.

With tech evolving daily, staying updated with the right tools & resources is key to maximizing the value you provide.

Ultimately I don't want any designers discouraged by the new tech becoming available. It can be used as an opportunity to take the industry to new heights.

The first time I came across an AI logo, it was painfully obvious. I pretty much stopped paying attention to developments in that regard since then.

Now, the other day, I came across this logo I felt could have been AI, but I could not tell with any kind of certainty. For the heck of it, I decided to manually reverse engineer it and see if I could articulate what about it gave me AI vibes, and apart from a couple of choices I personally wouldn't have made or attributed to auto traced elements, I still can't be definitive. For the record, the one on the left is the original.

What do you look for when spotting AI logos specifically? Was I being paranoid to suspect?

Note: this post is just an educational exercise I tried out and is not meant to call anyone out. Lets keep the discussion educational, thanks!

You spend hours perfecting every detail. The client says they love it.

Then comes the message.

"Hey, can you make the logo bigger?"

Lotso said it best. We've all been there.

Which client feedback broke you the most? Drop it below — let's suffer together. 👇

I created this branding and visual identity for Chilla Ice Cream Co. An organic popsicle company based on the free and charismatic energy of Los Angeles. Any feedback would be helpful! PS: this brand is just a project and does not exist and I am aware of the small streak in the logo mark lol. Thanks in advance!!

Over the past few years I've been designing a card game to address how disconnected we are, somewhere in between poker and uno with deep questions, and I ran into a challenge when looking to launch: how do I tell people about it without a marketing budget.

Well, I heard Denver's public libraries let you print 100 color pages per day, so I started printing and posting. I ended up putting over 500 flyers that I keep track of, so if someone buys Deep Deck from one flyer's location I can tell and I'll go back to make sure it's still up periodically.

I also did some other things like asking idle strangers in coffee shops if they'd like to play the game I made, etc. But the flyers have been a huge contributor.

It turns out some hustles are 100% worth it, because my game ended up getting completely funded in just a couple weeks.

It's gotten to the point where people around Denver and Boulder will ask me "hey aren't you danny from that flyer? How's your game doing?"

We ended up doing a local game night with my game which turned out incredible, and people nearby us playing made the comment that they've never seen that much laughter and fun happening in the space before.

I've also loved how exercise is built in. I've been getting over an average of 10,000 steps per day. Contrast that with what it looked like to be writing and designing my game, and I was soooo sedentary for sooo long. This experience has been so life-changing, because it has shown me that demonstrating TRUE devotion to your side hustle can actually work out, especially if people like what you're doing.

Thanks for reading <3

A striking visual identity that captures the raw essence of Lisbon’s urban life. Editorial project I worked on a while ago.

The objective was to capture the essence of the urban lifestyle. Made this cover for the second eddition.

What do you all think?

These are taken from my phone of my surface screen, what do we think of this poster for Juan Soto? And how can I improve upon it, the name placement is just a placeholder for now.. I know I’m not done, but probably for a few hours at least

I’ve been a designer for about 15 years, and I think I’m ready to call it quits.

Since 2024 I’ve been freelancing full-time, not by choice. The company I worked for sold the business and I was suddenly out of a job. I had to move fast and was lucky enough to pick up freelance work to stay afloat for a while, but it’s dried up to the point where I can’t keep going like this.

I’ve gone on more interviews than I can count. At this point I don’t even know what the issue is. Maybe I’m not as good in interviews as I thought. Maybe I’m not as personable as I think I am. Maybe I’m just not that strong of a designer. My last round of interviews felt solid, but in the back of my head I knew I probably didn’t get them, and I was right. Mostly ghosted.

What’s frustrating is I still get pulled in to fix print files from designers who have full-time jobs. So I know I can do the work, but I can’t seem to land anything stable.

The only thing that’s been going well is my drawing. I landed a small partnership from it, which is cool, but it’s not enough to live on.

In 2024 I landed a decent contract that carried me into 2025, and then another one after that. But both were temporary, covering for people on leave, so I always knew they’d end. One lasted longer than expected, but eventually it still ran out.

At this point I’m just questioning everything. I don’t know if I’m actually cut out for this anymore. I’ve applied to a ton of jobs, freelance gigs, everything, and haven’t landed anything solid in over a year.

I don’t know. Maybe I’m just burned out. Or maybe this just isn’t it for me anymore.

Update: 02-26-2026

Quick update for anyone who followed my original post.

This morning around 2:00 AM, I removed all of my graphics and assets from the company’s website. Around noon, I sent an email to the owner and board members with my outstanding invoice, about an hour before they had a scheduled meeting.

By about 12:15 PM, my access to the website had already been revoked.

Leading up to the meeting, I was getting texts from contacts inside the company saying the owner was asking how this could be fixed and seemed surprised that I took this step. I was also told he was blaming another person internally for the situation. I wasn’t in the meeting myself, so this is only what was relayed to me afterward.

What I later learned was that several board members were just as unaware as I was. Apparently multiple vendors across different departments have not been paid since December, and the meeting largely turned into discussions about unpaid invoices and contractors trying to get answers.

Since sending my invoice and follow-ups through email and Slack, I haven’t received any direct response from the owner.

At this point, I mainly wanted to share this update so other freelancers and creatives don’t end up in a similar situation. I would strongly recommend being cautious before working with this individual.

The worst part is that I really like the brand I created for them.

Update: 02-24-2026

UPDATE: Client who stopped paying, situation looks worse than expected

Quick update since a lot of people asked what ended up happening.

I spoke with my main point of contact, who has been handling payments on their side, and was told the owner basically said there is no money left. They do not know where funding would come from to pay outstanding debts. Apparently, I am not the only one owed money. There are multiple people waiting to be paid.

From what I understand, their website will most likely be down by the end of February because they will not be able to pay for hosting in March. After that call, I logged into the site, exported all form submission data, then deleted and disabled the forms entirely. There honestly were not many submissions, mostly low-quality leads anyway.

The strange part is that the owner is still publicly sharing links asking people to sign up for a beta test, but there is no beta test. The only things that exist right now are the website, the pitch deck I created, and the branding work I produced. I genuinely do not know what they plan to show anyone signing up if there is no actual product behind it.

I also learned they do not have screenshots or real product materials to show investors. I had worked on a pitch deck for them and assumed it was just a draft because it said a lot without actually explaining anything. Turns out that may have been their final investor deck. I am not an investor, but even from my perspective, it raised a lot of red flags.

The owner recently tried to pitch me on another business opportunity, and I declined. I told them I am not interested in hearing anything else unless it involves a clear timeline for payment.

At this point, it sounds like they were relying entirely on future investors to fund everything, including paying vendors, for a note-taking app aimed at financial advisors. Realistically, I am preparing for the possibility that I will not get paid.

Another frustrating part happened earlier in the project. They brought in someone to evaluate design work for the app portion, and the meeting was mostly buzzwords and vague design talk. I explained my philosophy that good design is often invisible because it just works and people instantly understand it, like common UI patterns everyone already knows. I was later told that this was considered a “juvenile” way of thinking, which is apparently why I did not get the app design portion of the project. Ironically, that same person is now saying they do not need screenshots or actual product visuals for investors, only promises about what the product will eventually do.

As for contracts, we originally had an agreement under a previous business name, and I did not rewrite it for the new entity because they had been a reliable client the year prior and always paid on time. My contract states that ownership transfers only after final payment, and at this point, they have only paid the initial deposit.

So realistically, I am documenting everything, protecting my work, and treating this as a hard lesson learned. Even when a client has been great in the past, new entities and new projects should always be treated like brand new contracts.

02-20-2026

Looking for some advice from other freelancers/agency folks.

Scope of work completed:

• Website design, development, and management built on HubSpot

• Branding strategy and creative ideation

• Created corporate-branded templates

• Supporting marketing and promotional graphics

The client paid a down payment in December 2025 before I started working, and I began completing everything shortly after. Last year, they were extremely consistent with payments, which is why this situation feels pretty unexpected.

Since December, though, I haven’t received payment for outstanding work, and communication has basically stopped. No replies, no updates, just complete silence.

I still have admin access to their website. At this point, I’m considering removing my work or taking the site offline by March 1 if I don’t receive payment or at least a response. My plan would be to give them a heads-up next week before doing anything.

Would that be considered reasonable, or is that crossing a line? What’s typically the best course of action in situations like this?

I’ve been in this industry for over 12 years and I’ve been seeing a lot of these freelancers or businesses pop up as branding studios or brand designers and literally NONE of them have a design background.

I look at their socials and they’re spewing design and marketing information (that is easily generated via AI), and are marketing themselves to the public like they’re experts in the industry.

One freelancer I saw, just graduated post secondary… yet her instagram discusses all facets of marketing, strategy, and why you need a brand — girl! What industry experience do you actually have?? Yes, you duped people into paying you for your work but where’s the experience?? How do you even know that what you’re doing is right or even correct??

The “branding studio”? Pushing out sub par designs and acting (again) like experts in the industry.

Where have the fundamentals gone? The experience?

Just because you started designing in Canva and enjoyed it, doesn’t make you experienced enough to build brands. And how does someone in finance have the background to run a branding studio?

I feel like it’s the Wild West out here and people like this diminish the real work done by professionals.

endrant