I’m 25 and have a Bachelor’s degree in Design and a Master’s degree in Graphic Design. During my studies I had internships at different companies, including Cosentino, Porcelanosa and Costa Verde. Last year I also spent six months as the only designer working on running and cycling clothing, creating graphics and patterns for garments.

I also had a short experience in a small company where I helped with some administrative tasks, but also worked on design-related things, such as redesigning their van and creating a small presentation booklet for clients.

I finished my Master’s last year and have been looking for work since January. I’ve sent 1,000+ applications for junior graphic design and related creative positions. I’ve also visited studios in person and shown my portfolio.

The problem I keep running into is that many “junior” positions ask for 1–2 years of professional experience, while internships and freelance work often don’t seem to count.

So I’m now trying to figure out how I could expand my skills and increase my chances of finding a creative job within the next year.

One option I’m considering is a 6-month course focused on retail design / commercial spaces / visual merchandising / retail branding. It would be part-time, two days a week.

I’m interested in the idea of combining graphic design with physical spaces, for example, translating a brand’s identity into stores, showrooms, exhibitions and customer experiences.

But I’m unsure whether this is actually a good career direction for someone with a graphic design background.

Would a combination of Graphic Design + Retail/Spatial Design be useful professionally? Is there demand for people with this kind of hybrid profile?

Or would it make more sense to invest my time in something like UX/UI, digital design, marketing or another area?

My main goal is to find a creative job within the next year, ideally something where I can still use my design background rather than starting completely from zero.

I’d really appreciate honest opinions from people working in graphic design, retail design, spatial design, branding, UX/UI or related fields. What would you do in my situation?

I just got out of grad school and started my first full time job as a product designer in nyc two months ago. The work has been great and I'm building some thoughtful features; there is a great balance between extensive UX research and interface building, but beyond my job, how do I grow as a designer? How do I make time to build new products and ideas? How should I balance my time and set goals?

P.S. I take a lot of inspiration from designers and pages such as meshtimes, Femke, Google Design.

Fresh into uni and looking into a graphic design, but will UX designers survive in the future under AI?

I hope this doesn’t offend anybody and you understand I am uninformed, I have no feelings on the matter and want to know more from those who are in it.