9 free Discords to boost your creative career
Since being founded a decade ago, Discord has gone from being primarily a haven for gamers to a space for community-building at large. It’s unsurprising, then, that creatives have also flocked to the platform – not just to make new connections, but also to help each other progress in their careers. Here, we’ve gathered some of the best – and free – creative Discords that can help you do just that. From opportunities boards to advice forums, these servers are great tools to help emerging creatives along their journeys.
Adobe Creative Career
Location: Global
Discipline: All – with a focus on design, illustration, animation, photography, videography
Dedicated to helping young talent launch their creative careers, Adobe’s Discord server is a vibrant virtual community with over 37,000 members. On top of sharing opportunities on a jobs board discussion thread, the Adobe team also hosts events for early-career creatives to level up their skills, sets creative jams and career challenges, as well as shares exclusive commission opportunities from the Adobe Creative Apprenticeship program.
SuperHi
Location: Global
Discipline: Design and creative coding
SuperHi is a platform that helps creatives gain the technical skills to stand out – whether it’s through learning about Web 3 or the basics of HTML, CSS and Javascript. On its Discord, members can share resources, connect with fellow learners, get updates about the latest jobs and trade general career advice. As per SuperHi’s niche, these opportunities and conversations mostly revolve around design, coding and web development.
Junior Job Board
Location: UK and global
Discipline: Advertising
Created by creative and copywriter Ellen Jackson, this Discord community is meant to support creatives who are trying to get into advertising – a notoriously difficult industry to break into here in the UK. As a one-stop shop for all things early careers in the sector, it consolidates links to jobs, placements, training and open calls from across LinkedIn, agency feeds and social media. It has also branched out to include international opportunities.
The Rookies
Location: Global
Discipline: Film, animation, games, visual effects, design
The Rookies is a community dedicated to equipping aspiring artists with the tools, support and connections they need to transform their passions into successful careers. Key to their work is their Discord server, where creatives can showcase their art, join community challenges, attend expert-led webinars and connect with industry pros. On top of that, they have a thread where recruiters and studios post opportunities and scout for talent.
Creative Hub
Location: Global
Discipline: Video editing, graphic design, photography, writing, music, 3D, illustration, animation, programming
Creative Hub is a community of creatives that describes itself as being “like a busy coffee shop”. To find opportunities on the server, you can either promote your creative services or browse job listings posted by employers and studios. Check out the other discussion threads too, as it’s where users can access peer feedback and share resources for their specific disciplines.
Design Buddies
Location: Global
Discipline: Design
Design Buddies describes itself as the “world’s largest design community” meant to help designers level up in their craft. With regular design challenges and project cohorts, they’re committed to helping designers build up their skills – but they emphasise, as their name suggests, doing this with buddies. Their Discord community is where you can go to make those new connections, attend events, as well as find your next opportunity.
Motion Freelance Club
Location: Global
Discipline: Motion design
If you’re a motion designer and a freelancer, you’ll probably want to check out this Discord server. A community just for motion freelancers, it has forums for people to share resources, collaborate with each other, ask for feedback and learn new skills. Community members also post current jobs and gigs in the motion design field, making it a great place to find opportunities too.
Creative Paradise
Location: Global
Discipline: Content creation
Heaven is a place on… Discord? Creative Paradise is a community full of talented content creators and editors. It aims to give people a chance to post a job and look for opportunities, so many of these roles are posted by fellow individual content creators. The threads are monitored by moderators, who flag if there are scammers or sketchy postings on a special “hall of shame” thread.
GamesJobsLive
Location: Global
Discipline: Game development
Whether you’re a game developer, sound designer, 3D artist or digital illustrator, there’s something for everyone who’s even remotely interested in the gaming world here. GamesJobsLive aims to help creatives get the jobs they want in the industry. Apart from sharing helpful resources and providing live portfolio reviews, community members can also access job postings and promote their own work on the server’s different channels.
