Careers and Education in Graphic Design

The ArtSchools.com Guide to Graphic Design Schools, Degrees, Financial Aid and More...

Think you like a challenge? Try this one. You're given the art director's concept sketches and the copywriter's input for text for the campaign's headlines and body. Next comes the photographer's ideas about what looks right for the campaign. And don't forget...the client's opinion overrides all of these ideas. Your job is to pull together all of these elements and marry them in a way that should inspire the client's audience to react to the message in a positive manner. It can be a daunting task, however, the rewards of this type of work are great. Working with a group of creative professionals, getting the to chance to express your ideas, and especially seeing your finished work makes you realize how much fun you had with the planning, creation, and execution of the project.

• Introduction - Graphic design is a demanding and competitive field and today's designers need to have a good grip on more than just art. Traditional hand skills such as drawing, painting, and doing paste-ups, plus basic artistic concepts such as composition, color balance, and typography are still critical to understand, however with advances in technology, more and more design is done from scratch on computers. Because of these changes, graphic designers need to have an excellent working knowledge of various design and photo manipulation software packages in addition to understanding some basic business principles to succeed in this field. This article provides an overview of graphic design careers and how to begin your education as a graphic designer.

• Graphic Design Schools - The world of graphic design is dominated by software - and understanding how to use this technology is extremely important. When it comes to selecting a school or program, be sure to pick one where you will learn about art and design concepts and fundamentals in addition to getting strong training in graphic design software. Check out this article to help you assess what you need to look for in a good graphic design school or program.
  
  
• Graphic Design Degrees - You may have been artistically inclined your whole life. Getting a job as a graphic designer based purely on your talent is possible, however more times than not, graphic design degree holders are chosen over individuals with no formal training. Degrees in graphic design can come from a variety of educational sources and can be obtained over different amounts of time, depending on how specialized you want your education to be. This article will guide you through information to help you select the type of graphic design degree program that is right for you.
  
  
• Financial Aid - Educational and training costs associated with becoming a graphic designer can get pretty high, depending on the type of school or program you choose and the length of time needed for completion. Discussed in this article are typical ways to find funding sources for your education as a graphic designer, in addition to some that are unique to the industry of graphic design.
  
  
• Careers - As varied as the colors in a palette wheel are the opportunities for graphic designers because jobs can be found in nearly every industry imaginable. The article will introduce you to a variety of the businesses that employ graphic designers and talks about some of the more common positions that are filled by graphics experts.

​Originally posted on ArtSchools.com