7 Things About My Job

Here are 7 things about my job as a graphic designer for a newspaper:

1. The average age of the employees where I work is 30. Yes, you read that correct! The owners are young (the editor is 5th generation editor and isn't even 30 yet) and ironically everyone who works here is young too. This also means we have a very fun office with lots of lunch time conversation that would be inappropriate anywhere else. 

2. I can't ever take off Monday or Tuesday from work since Tuesday is the day we go to press and Monday is layout day. Monday and Tuesdays are also long days since I get in at 7am and leave around 5 to make sure everything is set to go to press. 

3. The newspaper business is not going anywhere! National publications may be failing but local papers are thriving. Another plus of working in a young office for young owners is that they want to do more and grow more. So we now have a mobile app that is state wide and we do more magazines every year and take on new projects all the time. We are trending up and not going anywhere but up!

4. I love my job. I get to do what I love everyday and for the most part be pretty creative. Yes, I have to deal with some crabby clients who want to use Comic Sans for a font and a million bursts but overall it's pretty awesome. 

5. I have some of the most understanding bosses ever. If you need to take a sick day, they will force you to take it because they sincerely want you to get better and don't want the rest of the office sick. They want everyone to use up their vacations day because too much work isn't good for anyone. If you work a 60 hour week one week then take some mornings off or go home early when there is not much to do. They are the most reasonable people I know and because of this I definitely work harder for them. 

6. I am the head designer for a yearly 100 page magazine we publish and work 50-60 hour weeks for about 3-4 weeks when it is due and work until about midnight the day it goes to the printer. It's exhausting but at the end of the day that magazine is mine and its such an amazing accomplishment. 

7. My job is stressful. I work deadline to deadline and can't miss one. I can't say that I need more time to finish a project - it has to be done one time or the printer will refuse to print the project as we have screwed up his schedule and he can't fit us in anywhere.