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Play of the Week newsletter by Chris
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Newsletter issue: #160
Read time: 1m 14s
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My inbox is flooded with messages like this:
“Chris, I’ve been job hunting for 8 months. I’m qualified, my portfolio is solid, but I keep getting ghosted. What am I doing wrong?”
Nothing.
You’re doing nothing wrong.
The system is broken.
And everyone’s pretending it’s fine.
Let me tell you what nobody wants to admit:
The design industry you fell in love with in 2015? It’s dead.
Not wounded. Not “going through a rough patch.”
Dead.
Here’s what killed it:
- AI is doing your job (badly, but cheaply)
- Layoffs aren’t stopping (check the headlines daily)
- Junior roles vanished (companies want seniors for junior budgets)
- Visa restrictions are locking out talent (goodbye, international dreams)
- Freelance = permanent hustle mode (no benefits, constant self-marketing)
Stop pretending 2018 rules still apply.
The old playbook is useless:
New reality:
- Build portfolio → Get ghosted → Pivot → Freelance → Survive → Repeat
The designers who thrive now? They’re not following traditional paths.
They’re building their own lanes.
Starting side projects. Creating content. Building audiences. Becoming indispensable through skills, not titles.
Is it fair? Hell no.
Is it the reality? Absolutely.
I’m not here to sugarcoat this. I’m here to help you navigate it.
Because once you stop fighting the current system and start building your own, everything changes.
The broken system becomes your unfair advantage.
While everyone else is chasing the same vanishing jobs, you’re creating opportunities that didn’t exist before.
That’s how I went from unemployed to $360k+ online business.
Not by playing the old game better.
By creating a new game entirely.
Want the full picture? This article breaks down 10 bleak-but-true trends shaping design careers in 2025 plus how to stay employable when everything’s on fire.
