Pros
One of the few design jobs in the area where illustration and typography skills are heavily utilized. Workloads can fluctuate, like with any job, but most Team Leaders are great at working with you if something takes longer than expected. Overall, the people are great. They are the type of people that you’ll miss when you leave, and that you may forge long friendships with.
Cons
Work can get repetitive. You’ll get the same type of jobs at the same time of year, every year. Eventually, you will start to feel more like a production designer, rather than a creative. At times you will feel micromanaged. Just recently, all designers were asked to fill out PDF time logs, to account for their actions throughout the day. Clients can be unreasonable and aren’t held accountable for their actions. They have been known to ask for designs that rip-off independent artists. The company hires most designers straight out of school, which seems great, but in reality, it’s just to pay them lower, and seemingly to trick them into thinking Hobby Lobby is a "leader in the industry". They lure young designers in with pictures of beautiful work spaces, and grand speeches about how everything is so creative, but then the atmosphere is rigid, and lacks a collaborative spirit. I’ve been there 7 years, and I’ve rarely seen a designer with previous experience start at Hobby Lobby, and then stay there for more than a year – most of them can easily see straight through the charade. Management lacks transparency, but they either don’t realize it, or refuse to acknowledge it. The scandals that the company gets involved with can take its toll on you. Sometimes you may come to work with protesters on the edge of campus. And since the company doesn’t internally acknowledge anything you hear in the media, it can be hard to know the type of people you are really working for.