Career Profiles Graphic Designer
Being agraphic designerentails having the role of creating a piece of design which can be used for almost anything. While a graphic designer is an artist, s/he is part of many industries such as arts and entertainment (A and E), advertising, public relations, and any other art-related field of discipline. You can be an active designer, a consultant, or a teacher. There are many graphic designers that work as teachers and college professors. Being a graphic designer can provide you with employment, depending on what part of the world you live in. If you live in a town or city that does not really need graphic art, then it will be highly difficult to make a decent living as a graphic designer. As a graphic designer, your main job is to present all the information about the product, business, or organization that is memorable. One example would be the creation of a memorable logo such as the arch for McDonald's, the V for Verizon, or the symbol for Chevrolet.
In most cases, you will need to have a college degree to get hired as a graphic designer. You can go to a four-year college or a special three-year college; the latter is usually a college that mainly focuses on your desired vocation. You can get an associate's degree, a bachelor's degree of art, a bachelor's degree of fine art, a master's degree of fine art, or a philosophical doctorate (PhD) in the field. In most cases, you mainly need at least an associate's or a bachelor's degree.
You will need to be proficient in the many different software programs used for graphic designing. To be on the safe side, you should start out with the Adobe Creative Suite because it has programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator. During your time in school, you will need to come up with a portfolio for your work. Employers will want to see your work during the interview.
As a graphic designer, the sky is the limit as to what you can do. With many businesses and organizations taking to the Internet, they require the use of websites. Websites require the use of graphics that get their products/messages out yet at the same time be attractive to the viewers. This is where you, the graphic artist, comes in. In this respect, you should also get experience in website design and computer programming.
Graphic designers are usually employed on a freelance basis, a contractual basis, or steady employed basis. As a freelancer, you can be self-employed with your own business. An example is found in the reality TV series called “Blowout”, in which a company called Zorbit is contracted to design the box and containers for the “Jonathan” hair product. On a smaller scale, a graphic designer or a graphic design business can get paid to create the logo for a local business such as a pool hall, a martial arts dojo, or a restaurant.
If an organization such as Save the Children or the NAACP has an event, they will have programs and pamphlets to pass out. They require attractive graphics; thus, a graphic designer will be needed as a result.
In this profession, you are using a lot of graphics. You will need to be creative and practical at the same time. It is suggested that you should also take a few classes in interpersonal communications, social psychology, and marketing. Learn as much as you can, even though whatever you learn has no direct connection to graphic design.
