AIGA | Aquent Survey of Design Salaries – reviewed.

I gathered my mail tonight and saw that my annual AIGA | Aquent Survey of Design Salaries 2009 arrived. I rolled my eyes and thought to myself, “Great,  just what Las Vegas creatives need: a reminder of how much money everyone left with a job in our profession is making.” From my involvement in a various creative organizations here in Sin City, I can tell you that we have a pretty bitter bunch here “in times like these,” since the design, print and advertising industries have been dragged through the mud over the last year and most are still wallowing in it, collecting unemployment checks, bidding against craigslist, or packing their boxes and moving back to wherever they came from in hopes for a new start. (I read today that the Venetian & Palazzo laid off 200 more employees – in the last 3 days).

You might be able to tell, but since I first saw one, back in 1998-ish, I haven’t been a big fan of this Design Survey.* But check this out:  I’m going to recommend that every creative who reads this gets their hands on this publication.  The first 15 pages of this document are freakin’ priceless. Kudos to each of the ten senior creatives who share their advice on what the heck creatives should be doing right now. Some are very Dad-like: “Adjust your expenses,” “Be stingy with your money,” and “Be broadly talented”  – but some are absolutely brilliant! There’s something relevant to everyone in each essay. To my dismay, more than one  said “hunker down” – which has replaced “times like these” as my new most hated catch phrase. It’s so G.W. Bush.

* Look, AIGA and Aquent, it’s nothing personal, it’s just that the cities I have resided in over the last decade are not fairly represented in the survey – Cheyenne, Denver and Las Vegas. These were or are currently lumped into vague “Mountain and Pacific” categories. This survey, our organizations and publications all do their best to impersonate the antiquated Electoral College. Huh, you say? That is, they ignore and discredit creatives from small cities and rural areas. Anyone can tell you that salaries in Las Vegas don’t resemble the same positions in L.A., San Francisco or Seattle. Never has, never will. I will urge my local AIGA chapter to push for better representation for the 2010 survey. Let me know if you need names & numbers.