The Honest Designer Diaries

Designer in your Pocket | Juls Christie-Clark

The Honest Designer Diaries is a podcast about what it actually feels like to work in design. Hosted by Juls Christie-Clark (Designer in your Pocket) a brand designer and design educator based in Glasgow with over 30 years in the industry, each episode is a chat with a designer about a real experience or situation from their career. Sometimes it might be difficult, sometimes career-changing, sometimes funny, and sometimes it’s the kind of thing you only talk about properly once you’ve found another designer who gets it. Guests will include designers at all different stages of their careers, from new designers just coming into the industry, to designers who are 10+ years in, to the lifers who have been doing this for decades. We’ll talk about agency life, in-house roles, freelance work, clients, confidence, pricing, rejection, comparison, personal branding, building a design career online, building one completely offline, and all the bits of the industry that don’t always get shared very openly. Each guest brings one experience or story from their own career, then we chat about what happened, how they handled it, what they might do differently now, and what they’d say to another designer going through something similar. The Honest Designer Diaries is for graphic designers, brand designers, freelancers, students, creative business owners, and anyone trying to find their place in the design industry without pretending they’ve got it all figured out.

Episodes

  1. 1 day ago

    The Friday freelance experiment that turned into an exit plan with Teresa Ferreira | EP 003

    In this episode of The Honest Designer Diaries, I’m chatting with Teresa Ferreira, founder of Ferrrgood Studio, about leaving her role as Head of Design at the Financial Times and building something of her own. Teresa had what many designers would probably see as the big, impressive, “you’ve made it” kind of job. But after seven years at the FT, and a pandemic-induced bit of rethinking, she started to realise she was craving more creative fulfilment. So she condensed her full-time role into four days and used her Fridays to test freelance life. Eight months later, burnout hit, and the Friday freelance experiment became the start of a much bigger exit plan. If you’ve ever sat in a role that looks brilliant from the outside but doesn’t feel right anymore, this one might hit a wee nerve. Juls x Chapters 00:58 Meet Teresa Ferreira 02:34 Leaving corporate design 07:50 Needing more creative fulfilment 08:32 Freelancing on Fridays 10:00 PowerPoint trauma and being asked to “pretty things up” 21:20 Burnout and knowing something had to change 27:09 Showing up online and getting visible 30:09 Bad clients and confidence knocks 31:18 Deciding to leave 35:30 Imposter syndrome 39:50 Why creative community matters 41:25 Where to find Teresa Find Teresa online: Instagram: @‌teresaferrgoodstudio LinkedIn: Teresa Ferreira Website: ferrgoodstudio.com Connect with me on Instagram | TikTok | LinkedIn | YouTube | Substack I’d love to hear what you think of this episode. If you’ve listened and any part of Rachel’s story resonated with you, send me a message on Instagram at @‌designerinyourpocket_juls or @‌thehonestdesignerdiaries. I really hope you enjoy the chat. And because The Honest Designer Diaries is still a brand new podcast, it would really help if you could follow, subscribe or leave a 5* rating and review wherever you’re listening. If you’re watching on YouTube, liking the video and leaving a comment helps more designers find these conversations too. And if you know another designer, creative pal, student, graduate or freelancer who might enjoy this chat, please send it their way. The Creative RoomI have a private community called The Creative Room, where creatives can chat about the real day-to-day stuff that comes with working in the industry or running your own creative business.

    43 min
  2. 1 day ago

    Going freelance before you feel ready with Rachel Cartledge | EP 002

    In this episode of The Honest Designer Diaries, I’m chatting to Rachel Cartlidge, a freelance graphic designer and illustrator based in Edinburgh. Rachel left university thinking she had her next step sorted. She had a junior designer role lined up, had signed for a flat, and was away travelling before she was due to start. Then, two weeks before her start date, the role fell through. So we chat about what happened when she came home and had to start figuring things out quickly. Rachel talks about reaching out to agencies, studios, small businesses and creative directors, trying to find freelance work while still applying for junior roles, and slowly building confidence as she went. This is such a good chat for new designers, recent graduates, freelancers, design students, and anyone trying to work out where they fit in the design industry, especially when the route they thought they were meant to follow doesn’t quite go to plan. Chapters: 00:00 Welcome to The Honest Designer Diaries 01:45 Meet Rachel Cartlidge 05:32 When the junior designer role fell through 10:00 Finding those first freelance projects 11:57 Building a personal brand as a new designer 16:08 Passion projects, film-inspired branding and finding your style 23:21 The reality behind the opportunities people see online 27:57 Rejection, comparison and putting yourself out there 32:05 Advice for new designers and graduates 34:54 Where to find Rachel online Find Rachel online: Instagram: @‌rachcartdesign LinkedIn: Rachel Cartlidge Connect with me on Instagram | TikTok | LinkedIn | YouTube | Substack I’d love to hear what you think of this episode. If you’ve listened and any part of Rachel’s story resonated with you, send me a message on Instagram at @designerinyourpocket_juls or @thehonestdesignerdiaries. I really hope you enjoy the chat. And because The Honest Designer Diaries is still a brand new podcast, it would really help if you could follow, subscribe or leave a 5* rating and review wherever you’re listening. If you’re watching on YouTube, liking the video and leaving a comment helps more designers find these conversations too. And if you know another designer, creative pal, student, graduate or freelancer who might enjoy this chat, please send it their way.

    31 min

About

The Honest Designer Diaries is a podcast about what it actually feels like to work in design. Hosted by Juls Christie-Clark (Designer in your Pocket) a brand designer and design educator based in Glasgow with over 30 years in the industry, each episode is a chat with a designer about a real experience or situation from their career. Sometimes it might be difficult, sometimes career-changing, sometimes funny, and sometimes it’s the kind of thing you only talk about properly once you’ve found another designer who gets it. Guests will include designers at all different stages of their careers, from new designers just coming into the industry, to designers who are 10+ years in, to the lifers who have been doing this for decades. We’ll talk about agency life, in-house roles, freelance work, clients, confidence, pricing, rejection, comparison, personal branding, building a design career online, building one completely offline, and all the bits of the industry that don’t always get shared very openly. Each guest brings one experience or story from their own career, then we chat about what happened, how they handled it, what they might do differently now, and what they’d say to another designer going through something similar. The Honest Designer Diaries is for graphic designers, brand designers, freelancers, students, creative business owners, and anyone trying to find their place in the design industry without pretending they’ve got it all figured out.