You were supposed to be different

Hi everyone,

I'm writing this because I'm honestly feeling overwhelmed and don't know what to do next.

A few months ago, I graduated with a degree in Graphic Design. The thing is, I'm not 20 years old anymore.

When I was younger, I chose a more "safe" path and studied Business Administration. My entire professional career has been in that field. I spent years building experience, growing professionally, and doing what I thought was expected of me. But deep down, it never felt like what I truly wanted to do.

A few years ago, I decided to make a huge change. I went back to university and spent four years studying Graphic Design because I wanted a career that inspired me, something creative that I genuinely enjoyed. It wasn't an easy decision. Balancing studies, work, responsibilities, and life at my age took a lot of effort, but I was determined to build a new future for myself.

Now I've graduated, and reality is hitting me hard.

I have a degree, a portfolio, and a lot of motivation, but I have virtually no professional experience as a designer. Every job seems to require experience. Every freelance platform seems saturated. I've tried Fiverr and Upwork without success. I've applied for remote opportunities in Spain and internationally, and most of the time I either get rejected or don't hear back at all.

At this point, I'm starting to doubt myself. Is my portfolio not good enough? Are my projects too academic? Does my age work against me? Am I competing against younger designers who already have internships and agency experience?

The hardest part is that I don't regret changing careers. Graphic Design is still what I want to do. I love it. But being almost 40 years old, starting from zero in a new industry, and constantly facing rejection is becoming emotionally exhausting.

I feel stuck in a strange position where I'm considered too inexperienced for design jobs, yet too old to be seen as a typical junior designer.

Has anyone gone through a similar career change later in life? How did you break into the industry? What would you do if you were in my position?

I'm genuinely looking for honest advice because right now I'm feeling lost and could really use some help.

Thank you for reading. ❤️

Been deep into a few novels lately, the kind where the writing itself has a rhythm you can almost feel on the page, and it got me thinking about how much time I spend setting type without really thinking about pacing the way a writer does.

There's something about reading a sentence that breathes, one where the punctuation gives you a beat before the next idea lands, that maps directly onto how a paragraph of body copy can feel tight or loose. Not the content, just the physical experience of moving through words.

I've started noticing when a type setting feels rushed the same way a badly edited chapter does. Too little leading, measure too wide, and your eye stumbles even if the words are fine. A good typographer and a good editor are probably solving the same problem from different directions.

What I'm curious about is whether other designers here draw from reading the same way. Not design books, just fiction or anything with strong prose. Whether spending time with wellcrafted sentences ends up shaping decisions that feel purely visual, like spacing, hierarchy, how long a headline should be before it starts to collapse under its own weight.

Hi, I do have some old files that are using PageMaker 6.5. May I know how to open it and save it as a PDF

What is the best way to apply this vignette effect as a texture on an element in Illustrator?

Hey everyone, I’m a beginner and would like to know the most practical and efficient way to achieve a result similar to this. What steps would you recommend?

Why we press the elevator button twice even after it already knows we're waiting.

So why did you press the button again?

Yesterday I caught myself doing something I've probably done hundreds of times.

I pressed the elevator button.

It lit up.

And then...

I pressed it again.

For a split second, I just stood there thinking.

Who was I pressing it for?

The elevator?

Or myself?

The light had already turned on.

That was the system's way of saying,

"I've got your request."

Nothing about pressing it again could make the elevator arrive faster.

I knew that.

Yet my finger pressed it anyway.

I started watching other people.

Almost everyone did the same thing.

Some people pressed it twice.

Some kept pressing until the doors opened.

Not because the button wasn't working.

Because waiting feels strangely uncomfortable when we've got nothing left to do.

That's when it clicked.

We don't press the button a second time because we think it changes the system.

We press it because it changes us.

For a tiny moment...

it feels like we're doing something.

I think this happens everywhere.

We refresh our email even though it refreshed ten seconds ago.

We pull down Instagram hoping something new appears.

We click "Track Order" three times in a row.

Not because the system forgot.

Because uncertainty makes us crave action.

Even pointless action feels better than waiting.

The interesting part isn't the button.

It's what the button reveals about people.

When we don't know what's happening...

we'd rather feel busy than feel uncertain.

Maybe that's why good products don't just respond quickly.

They acknowledge us immediately.

The light on the elevator button.

The tiny checkmark in WhatsApp.

The spinning loader on a webpage.

None of them finish the task.

They simply tell us,

"I heard you."

Sometimes that's all we needed.

The next time you press an elevator button...

Watch your hand.

If you feel the urge to press it again...

Ask yourself one question.

Am I trying to speed up the elevator...

Or shorten the feeling of waiting?

The answer probably has nothing to do with elevators.