Graphic

Designer

Career Spotlight: Graphic Designer

Behind every eye-catching advertisement, every engaging website, and every memorable brand identity lies the creative expertise of graphic designers.

What is Graphic Design?

Graphic design combines art and technology, through a variety of design elements and techniques to create distinctive visuals for clients and companies. It's a form of communication that uses colors, shapes, images, and words to create visual content.

Graphic Design can be seen all around us today including in things such as billboards, album covers, magazine covers, and mostly anything that involves a visual intake.

The Job

Graphic designers work with both text and images. They often select the type, font, size, color, and line length of headlines, headings, and text. Graphic designers also decide how images and text will go together in print or on a webpage, including how much space each will have. When using text in layouts, graphic designers collaborate with writers, who choose the words and decide whether the words will be put in.

Salary/Requirements

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, overall
employment projections for a Graphic Designer show faster than average
growth over the next ten years, meaning these jobs will be in
high demand. Currently the average salary for a Graphic Designer

is around $58,000 per year. Their top tasks include:

Meeting with clients or art directors to determine the scope of a project,

using digital illustration, photo editing software, and layout software to create designs, and finally they create visual elements such as logos, original images, and illustrations to help deliver a message.

Graphic designers typically need a bachelor's degree in graphic design or a related fine arts field. Graphic designers need to keep up to date with software, such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Canva, and other computer technologies in order to remain competitive. Many programs provide students with the opportunity to build a portfolio, a collection of completed works that demonstrates an artist’s styles and abilities. For many artists, including graphic designers, developing a portfolio is essential because employers rely on portfolios in making hiring decisions.

Graphic Designers are creative problem solvers and are always looking for wa communicate digitally. If you have an eye for design and passion for creativity, the role of a graphic designer might be right for you!

To learn more about careers available within the media industry check out Westside Media Project at www.westsideproject.org.