Gaps in design education and what professionals wish they had learned

Design Educators, listen up! Learning is a continuous, lifelong process that extends well beyond the four walls of the classroom. We asked RGD Members who are freelancers to share their insights on what they wish they had been taught as it relates to working as a freelance designer.

Amelia Nash RGD, Brand & Marketing Manager at School of Visual Arts — Masters in Branding

In design school, we studied how people interact with brands, colours and typography—but we never studied ourselves. Freelancing isn't just a career path; it's a psychological challenge and no one prepared us for the mental resilience it requires. I wish we had been taught how to manage the emotional volatility of freelancing. The cycle of feast and famine, the unpredictability of client work and the pressure of self-promotion can be mentally exhausting. There were no discussions about impostor syndrome, burnout or the loneliness of working in isolation.

No one told us that saying "yes" to the wrong client can feel worse than having no client at all. We were trained to take every opportunity, but not how to identify red flags—clients who don't respect boundaries, projects that drain creativity or rates that undervalue our expertise. We weren't taught the power of walking away. And then there's the biggest oversight: the identity crisis that freelancing can create. In school, we defined ourselves by our portfolios. But as freelancers, we wear a dozen hats—designer, strategist, accountant and marketer. The shift from "creative" to "business owner" is an identity shake-up that no one warns you about. Who are we when we're not actively designing? How do we measure success when there's no clear ladder to climb?

If design education incorporated psychological preparedness alongside technical and business skills, we'd graduate not just as designers but as sustainable, self-aware professionals. In the end, freelancing isn't just about design; it's about knowing yourself well enough to thrive.

Mairin Deery RGD, Creative Lead, Fractional Senior Creative and Graphic Designer

While design programs teach technical skills and creative thinking well, my education missed a crucial aspect of a designer's career: effectively managing clients, deadlines and scope creep.

The first few years as a freelancer are particularly challenging. You're caught balancing winning and retaining clients, earning a decent wage and establishing healthy boundaries around project revisions and timelines. Without a proper understanding of the impact of these compromises, it's easy to fall into bad habits that can haunt your entire career just because you're worried that not enough work is coming in the door. Fast forward 15 years and burnout is a real threat when you make accommodations because it's an old habit.

I wish there had been a dedicated course on the business side of design, focusing on:

• Smart Contracting: How to protect both the designer and the client, clearly outlining project scope, revision limits and deadline expectations.
• Scope Creep: Techniques for identifying and addressing it, however small, before it spirals out of control.
• Client Communication: Strategies for effectively articulating changes, delays and additional costs to clients without damaging relationships.
• Project Tracking: Methods for documenting project progress, changes and client feedback to ensure transparency and accountability.

New grads need better prep for the practical realities of the industry, beyond compromising visual style to suit client preference. The basics of client management would empower them to establish healthy professional boundaries early on, ensuring a more sustainable and fulfilling career in design, minus the inevitable burnout!

John deWolf RGD, Principal at Narrative Environments Studio

To predict the future, you must understand the past. For freelance designers, knowing how much time is spent on project work, administration and clean-up is essential. When bidding on a project, you must estimate how long it will take to do the work. After completion, compare your estimate with the actual time to determine if you made a profit or a loss. Reviewing time spent on similar work is an excellent way to come up with an estimate for future work. When a project is complete, compare your estimate with the actual. Only then will you know if you earned money or if it was a loss.

It's also critical to understand how much time in a year you must dedicate to project work (billable hours). Time spent writing proposals, cleaning up files, promoting, software updates and other tasks—all non-billable hours—is critical to understanding how many hours a year are available for project work.

Your hourly rate depends wholly on the time available for billable work and overhead costs—salary, rent, software, supplies, etc. Again, knowing where your time goes is critical to understanding your billable rate and a project's contribution to profit or loss.

I wish I had known this in school. I only learned of its importance a couple of years after graduation when a mentor taught me the importance of time tracking. Some 30+ years later, I track my time daily and have excellent records to refer to. Believe it or not, my mentor got me into the habit of using a decimal clock and tracking it every 6 minutes. It proved invaluable in helping me understand how long a task would take.