What do the graphic design jobs need and how do the designer careers decide which ones are going to succeed or fail? The truth of the matter is that you are looking at something that can be a very hard and personal thing to understand. To figure out for yourself when it comes to figuring out whether hard work and inspiration is most important, there are a couple of things that you need to look into.
The first thing that you should understand is that you can be a successful designer without inspiration, but you cannot be a successful one without hard work. There are plenty of designers out there who are very competent about what they do, but in all likelihood, they will not say that everything that they do is inspired by genius. They know what they are good at and they know what qualifies as being good work. This does not mean that they are derivative any more than it means that anyone is derivative, but it does mean that they know what they are good at. You can have a very respectable career this way, but true genius when it comes to design is something that is quite difficult to pursue.
When you are interested in getting started with graphic design or in fact with any career that has some creative aspect to it, you will find that you are dealing with a very specific value system. In many ways, you will discover that you are looking at something that is going to appreciate hard work more than inspiration. Most employers who know what they are doing are going to be much more willing to work with mediocre designers who are interested in getting the job done on time and competently than they are interested in working with real geniuses who never make their deadlines. At the end of the day, they are running a business and they need people who are going to be reliable.
If you are in a place where you like the idea of moving forward in graphic design, you are going to need to think about how you are going to regulate your own schedule. You need to know how thoroughly you can finish something and what your own rates are. Make sure that you stay conservative over how long it takes to do something and remember that you do not want to depend on sudden strokes of genius or inspiration. The more you are going to be able to move forward, the better your work is going to get, and the more effectively you are going to be able to move forward.
Are you interested in design work? It can be quite tough and competitive, but keep in mind that you are looking at something that can be quite rewarding!