My wife and I are both graphic designers and thinking of moving to CA. We dont like big cities so LA is out of the question but are considering pretty much anything south of that and near the coast. We are kind of leaning towards San Diego becasue I have read good things about thier design community but I noticed that the quicksilver headquarters is in huntington beach which might be cool to work for (and Burton is not to far either I dont think). Do you guys have any advise on good areas to relocate to? Also are there any large companies that have headquarters over there in the music or surf/boarding type culture that you can think of off the top of your head? Thanks for the help. Seems like you guys have a pretty good rx-7 community over there.

 

What type of graphic design do you guys do? Print, packaging, enviornmental, motion graphics, web ? If ur looking for surf/skate/music, sound like ur looking for print/packaging graphic jobs. There are tones, but pretty scattered everywhere. Yes, design firms are mostly in LA, Venice beach, Santa monica area, but since u want to stay away from the city... then yes, san Diego will be great, but also Irvine, Walnut, Chino Hills , and Ontario are worth looking into. Irvine is a bit pricy, but very nice area and close to Huntington beach.

Those cities i listed besides beach cities are all corporate oriented ones. Lots of companies have office and warehouse(s) located at one of those areas. Sry i can't give u list of companies off the top of my head, but u may be able to find their address on their website to find their location on which interest you the most.

There are graphic design jobs everywhere, but best and most well known design firms are still California (north and south) and New York. Since california is a lot bigger, there are more design studios than anyone knows. Plus hollywood is the entertainment capital of the world, that should give u more faith in finding graphic design opportunities in S. Cali. As long as you have a strong portfolio and good working attitude, you should have no problem finding the type of graphic design job you want.

Good luck on ur find. you two will love it here.

 

Theres tons of graphic design jobs out here. Take a look at craigslist and you'll see plenty of design jobs ranging from entry level to senior designers. You wont have a problem getting a job with a good portfolio out there. Most of the better jobs are in the Los Angeles area. I dont know how it is in San Diego since I dont have any experience out there but Los Angeles definitely has lots of job openings.

 

LA is saturated with graphic designers just like the IT industry.

 

Wacko, your known to be a phake designer on the streets of LA.

 

Goofy is also Chaka...the great LA tagger

 

Wacko is also known to be Seven-Eleven the biggest slurper in California.

 

I tagged goofy's *** and he asked for more

 

i slapped Wacko's *** he wanted more.

 

This sure has gotten off topic . I have a good portfolio and I'm not really worried about if I could get a job Im just wondering the best places to live in relation to where i would want to work (which i guess I need to figure out as well). I guess it will just be whoever gets the first job picks the location. Also do I need to have a job and paystubs for an apartment rental application? We are planning on taking like a month off work so Im wondering if we will have a problem renting a place.

The other thing I need to figure out is if I should sell the 7, ship it, or just let it sit in my dads garage (its paid off but it would be nice to use that money towards something else). Just need to think this one over I guess.

 

CA is the place where trends begin!!~~~
That is why I came here all the way from Seattle~~~
Cheers~~

 

If you are even remotely art savvy, you'll move to LOS ANGELES. incase you haven't noticed, LA is the NUMBER 2 art capital of the united states. I'm an aspiring designer myself, and seriously if you move to san diego and fail as a designer, you deserve it. You deserve it for not knowing better. Do yourself a favor, and live somewhere ACCESESIBLE to los angeles. because if it's not happening in New York or LA, then it's not happening. DEUCE!

 

Career wise I know I would do better in LA or NY but I wouldn't have the life I am looking for. We just refuse to live in a big city like that. There is no doubt in my mind that I will continue to be successful whether it's with another design firm or just freelancing.

 

Then it sounds like you've got your heart set on living away from LA. I was a graphic designer in the Chicago area (I would say the third best place for graphic designers besides NY and LA; one could make the argument for a better quality of life in Chicago than either city).

Anyway, I planned to switch fields, and saved up enough money to move to SD without having to have a job for 3-5 months. Even without an accounting degree (my new field--currently in school for a master's), I was still confident in my abilities to land an accounting job, albeit entry level. 1.5 days of scouring through jobs posted on the web and within a week, I was getting interviews. Days later I landed a job. Point is, if you're confident in yourself, and it sounds like you are, you should be fine. You might have to make some concessions (pay cut), but at least it puts your foot in the door and you can establish yourself in the local industry.

And of course having extra money set aside helps.

 

Looks like you've got your mind made up. Best of luck to you! There's TONS of competition!!

 

walnut/whittier/brea/diamond bar are all cities within a 30-45 minute commute either south to irvine/tustin/anaheim/huntington beach/ or a 30-45 minute commute west to la/pasadena/.

 

Sorry man, it looks like you'll have to work in LA if you want to make big bucks doing graphic design, besides Chicago and New York.

Anyways, the thing you should be thinking about is how much money you plan on making out here. That will most likely determine where you are going to live.

 

+1 on that New York and LA r the place to be everywhere else is just training or intership positions with little to no passages to making it big.

 

i think he wants input on specific cities in souther california.... other than downtown city of Los Angeles.... not regions or counties

 

i would think of oceanside, my shop is about 1 block from the beach and in summertime we got all the bikini top babes in here , check out the stickit store out www.stickitstore.com laterz and good luck.

 

...OAKLEY...


...San Diego is alright...Irvine's where the main place to hit...


...as for the adventures of Wacky&Goofy... YOU F*CK'n GUYS R hella funnniiiiieeeee-LOL

 

I agree with Rx7Link...depending on what you do will depend on where your looking. If you do print like say for advertistments and such, Satchi & Satchi is in Torrance, Leo Burnett in Los Angeles and TWA/Chiat Day is in Culver City, just to name a few. For motion graphics/post-production, Motion Theory is in Venice and Brand New School is in Santa Monica. Hope this helps a bit...good luck

 

Its "who you know" not "what you know" will get your right foot in.

 

Wacko is absolutely correct.
Wacko knows how to chizzle to the wizzle but had no sizzle.

 

We are thinking Irvine might be the place to go. Seems like there are a lot of corporate headquarters and other stuff over there to maybe work in-house design. Places like Satchi & Satchi might be good too but I kind of want a less stressful job for a while. North of that... where is the threshold from beachy to urban? Where does the smog start getting bad?