Despite being written by a North American guild and geared towards graphic professionals operating in that market, the handbook by the Graphic Artists Guild is a superb tool for professionals worldwide who feel their formal education lacked in the business department - which let's face it, it's most of us.

As someone who took her degrees already a while ago, who watched remote work become a reality (we still have a long way to go though), who worked in different EU countries and continuously sees all sorts of abusive contests, delusioned job ads and phony courses by so-called professionals preying on recent graduates and people who want to change career paths to become designers and illustrators, I am evermore underwhelmed by the efforts done by most guilds, universities and the many regulators (or lack thereof), specially in Southern and Eastern European countries.

However I must admit that the biggest chunk of responsibility falls on the shoulders of professional designers and design graduates, people who continuously accept working for exposure that seldom comes, enroll contests that offer no tangible benefits and perform unpaid recruitment tasks (do you really believe the HR rep asking you to do that was asked to do it him/herself?) and don't ever bother writting a proper contract or other written agreement specifying the authorized usage of their work. 

If you work or want to work in this field, do your part. Work ethically. Charge enough to pay your bills and save for a rainy day. Educate clients and prospective clients. Educate yourself. Offer a helping hand to younger designers. Call out and fight whomever abuses your copyright or intellectual rights... and don't be the assh*le who collaborates with other people on projects and leaves their name out (you know who you are).

We can change what is not quite ok - but that won't happen unless everyone does their part.

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Now about the book again. I have already read most of it and loved it. It taught me a great deal about industry-specific common practices, about how to write proper usage agreements for artwork and how to take the stress out of negotiations with clients. In this regard there are no breaking news: everyone wants (or should want) the best possible deal, everyone should be respected in the process and be reminded that nothing is personal. Deep down we all know this but when the market and life at large push us down we seem to forget it.

The book foreword didn’t lie: most people get the book to jump to the pricing section but they soon realise that pricing lists are far from being the most important info.

Obviously not all information holds true for European markets, so if you work here I advise you not to read too much on the USA tax system - otherwise you will just get confused. The same holds true for all market-specific information.

Does it have any cons?

The size is a con. I would prefer a smaller book but this handbook looks like the Yellow Pages. The interview section is new to this edition and while interesting contributes to the bulk - perhaps this content could be on the GAG blog.

Another suggestion to reduce size would be to separate the info that is prone to change with every edition, such as pricing lists, marketing trends and information on USA taxes and healthcare from industry guidelines proper. Doing this would likely incentivise professionals to update technical knowledge more often - also, a senior professional does not need to read over and over how to negotiate and talk to clients.

Creating a separated guidelines manual for the global market, broken down by the several industries would be even best - this could be a joint effort by international guilds. It could be translated, printed on demand… so many possibilities!

Do I reccomend it?

Absolutely - the last edition (the 16th) came out May 2021 so grab while it’s still fresh.

How to buy the book

If you live outside of the USA and want a copy I suggest you buy it online from your regional Amazon (I got mine preordered and shipped to Portugal from amazon.es) in order to save on shipping fees and VAT.