Careers in Graphic Design
Careers in graphic design offer more than just the chance to be creative. They offer opportunities to help businesses grow with branding, to aid non-profit organizations in raising funds with catchy fliers and mail campaigns, and to get books read—people DO judge a book by its cover.
Duties of a Graphic Designer
A graphic designer is someone who uses their talent for color and layout to create marketing materials for literally every other type of business around. There are a variety of careers in graphic design available. Designers can work with photographers, music artist, corporate leaders, and magazines. A good graphic artist can manage marketing departments, printing companies or freelance their way to a hefty salary. Look around you and you will see that graphics are a huge part of everything. A child’s toy, a blanket, a tag from a piece of clothing—all of these things had to be designed. They don’t just happen.
While it’s fun to think that artist creation is the main duty of a graphic designer, there are many other elements of design that have to be mastered before the creative process can begin. Graphic designers need to be able to create, edit, manage and streamline their work. They need to be fluent in using a versatile group of software applications like Quark, PhotoShop, and Illustrator to name a few. The ability to calculate details such as the bleed an image will need, a score line, or layout of text and photos are critical elements to a successful designer. Paper stocks, PMS Colors, CMYK, RGB, Duotone processing, full color, digital, color separation and layout are most likely foreign terms right now. But they aren’t to a trained graphic designer.
Designers must have the knowledge to enable a client to work within their budget. The most beautifully designed poster or CD cover won’t do any good if the client can’t afford the designer’s vision for a color print, or the type of paper it was designed for. Having the right education will help you gain an understanding of all of these business and technical factors relating to careers in graphic design.
Education Requirements to Start Careers in Graphic Design
Marketing is a very precise and calculated field, and the design aspect of it is by far the most fun and challenging. Education and training are essential to become a good graphic designer. Businesses need well-trained artist to make sure they are ahead of the game. Getting a degree from a reputable school will tell potential employers that you have taken the time to really know the business behind marketing and design.
An education course in design can help you sort through the meaning of all the different elements needed for a design to have a smooth transition from your mind to production. Most employers require at least an associate’s degree in graphic design from their potential employees. More commonly they will require a bachelor’s degree.
If you are a person that notices when a company changes their logo, or can tell when even the slightest change has been made in the design of a package, you might want to consider graphic arts. A keen eye for detail is an amazing benefit to anyone interested in one of the many careers in graphic design. Design is a great way to help the world see though your eyes. There will always be more demand for new ideas and the stability of a career in marketing is a wonderful incentive to get started.
