One of the benefits of studying graphic design is that it can open up many different career options. Graphic design is an evolving field and learning it can be very rewarding. Here’s a comprehensive guide to some of the dynamic career options that skilled designers can pursue in today’s job market.

Image credit: Unsplash

1. Graphic designer

What can you do with a graphic design degree? The most logical choice of career is to become a graphic designer. This can be a fulfilling career that’s varied and interesting. As a graphic designer, you will create visual designs for a wide variety of clients. The jobs in graphic design you may work on include:

• Corporate communications such as newsletters.
• Corporate identities – designing logos, etc. for brands.
• Posters and other materials for events like exhibitions. 
• Marketing materials such as adverts. 
• Designing magazines or books.

You will receive briefs from clients and come up with designs that meet their requirements. To do so you will need to know the design software, exercise your creativity, and manage your time effectively to meet deadlines. You will present your designs to clients for approval and make any changes they require. They need to sign off on the final proof. 

In the process of doing your work as a graphic designer, you may need to know how to copy text from image. If you want to copy text directly from a screenshot you will see it doesn’t work. This applies to any text embedded in a graphic. You can go from screenshot to text in only a few seconds if you know how to extract text from image. There are apps you can use that analyze the letters in the image and convert them. This means you can transfer text to your Mac and edit it if necessary.

2. User experience (UE) designer

One of the career paths for graphic designers is to become a user experience designer. This is a good choice of career if you’re a designer with web technology and design skills. You will work on products or services to make them more user-friendly. This requires thinking about how a user behaves. You will come up with solutions to all the pain points users could encounter. You will need to conduct research, test, create wireframes, and work as part of a team. You are likely to be in demand in the tech sphere where you may work on mobile apps or software. 

3. User interface (UI) designer

Today one of the graphic design major jobs is to become a user interface designer. As a UI designer, you may work on projects like landing pages, app designs, WordPress websites, and game interfaces. You will work on the visual elements and interactive elements such as buttons, menus, forms, and images. It will be your responsibility to help users go step by step in a logical way when navigating. 

You will need to make sure what you do is consistent across the whole project. There are decisions you will have to make about design elements, such as choosing user tools and deciding where to put content in an analytics dashboard. 

4. Product designer

As a product developer, you will be involved in creating products. As products vary widely your tasks will depend on the product you need to design. In general, you will need to do research and present illustrations to your employers. Graphic design work is needed when creating products. The job may also require coding, project management, or problem-solving skills. Your skills could be in demand at startups or large product-based corporations. 

Image credit: Unsplash

5. Art director

What do graphic designers do if they want to progress in their careers and feel they have hit a ceiling? You may decide to pursue the position of art director. As an art director, you would be responsible for a company’s visual style in media. This could include newsletters, product packaging, videos, etc. You would be in charge of teams to develop layouts and final deliverables. Your skills would be in demand by many different companies, from public relations firms to companies in the entertainment industry. 

Freelance art directors are sought after in the retail and e-commerce industry today. Working as an art director means you will have a great deal of responsibility as you will oversee all materials that build the visual brand. 

6. Packaging designer

Graphic design careers aren’t restricted to doing general graphic design. You may decide to specialize in an area like designing packaging. The way brands package their products can give them a competitive edge. If you’re a designer who can come up with new and creative packaging ideas you can have a lucrative career. There are many companies from confectionary companies to beauty companies who need good packaging designers. 

Meeting with clients, designing on the computer, and making mock-ups are all part of the job. To be a packaging designer requires a good grasp of branding. You will have to put your skills with color and typography to good use to entice buyers. You will also need to be aware of all the information that must appear on the packaging. 

7. Book cover designer

One of the alternative careers for graphic designers is that of book cover designer. You may decide to work as a freelancer and create cover designs for e-books. There is a great demand for creating book covers that will stand out from the competition on marketplaces like Amazon KDP and attract potential readers. Printed book covers are also still in demand. You may decide to work as the in-house cover designer at a book publishing company and create the artwork for the books they publish. 

Conclusion

Graphic design is so versatile it can present you with a great many career possibilities. You can take the foundation you receive when studying graphic design and apply it to just about any creative project in any industry. Your educational background and the design principles you learn will serve you well in many different professions.