"At the beginning of my self-employment, I had no one to help me with the creation of a proposal, the design of a flyer, a website or other questions that came up in my work," Teresa Sposato recalls. Years later, together with Stefanie Mayrwöger, she founded the Grafikdesign Community, a digital community space for graphic designers in German-speaking countries. Free of charge and without obligation.

The offer is being accepted. Currently, 230 people from the industry regularly drop in on the hangouts and live sessions via Zoom. Some of them are silent observers, others get actively involved in the discussions. The benefits they take away are the input from the experts on the one hand and the focused exchange with the industry on the other. "The feedback is very positive," the initiators are pleased to say, which is probably also due to the practical topics: The basics of design, design challenges, self-employment, law, organisation and further training.

Share and exchange
Above all, knowledge transfer is close to Sposato's and Mayrwöger's hearts. For years they have been teaching aspiring graphic designers at the University of Applied Sciences in St. Pölten, Upper Austria and Burgenland. Experience, knowledge and proven teaching methods now benefit a wider audience. In the blog, where the two designers write about creative techniques, design issues or cooperation with customers. Since summer 2021, they have also been offering downloads, courses, coaching and training that can be bought in the shop. "In this way, we can personally pick up graphic designers who, from experience, work at different levels. We survey their respective status and accompany them with individually tailored training."

www.grafikdesign.community