What types of career opportunities are available
to Web and Graphic Design Professionals?
There are many career opportunities for skilled and
talented design professionals. Take a look at the Career
Descriptions page for a more definitive list and
description. For this study, we looked at three rather
broad professional categories:
• |
Art
Directors: Formulate design concepts and presentation
approaches in art work, layout design, and copy
writing for visual communications media, such
as magazines, books, newspapers, and packaging |
• |
Graphic
Designers: Design or create graphics to meet
a client's specific commercial or promotional
needs, such as packaging, displays, or logos
|
• |
Multi-Media
Artists and Animators: Create special effects,
animation, or other visual images using film,
video, computers, or other electronic tools and
media for use in products or creations, such as
computer games, movies, music videos, and commercials. |
Who Gets the Jobs?
We found that design professionals with bachelor's
and master's level designers account for about as 56%
of open positions open to newly trained workers. Those
degrees may not necessarily be in design but employers
do seem to appreciate a sound educational background
coupled with solid design skills and creative ability.
However, there's plenty of room for those with educational
levels below the bachelor's level À in fact, a sizable
percentage of newly positions are awarded to designers
with as little as a high school education! This reinforces
all the more strongly how important your professional
portfolio can be in competing for positions!
See "Building
a Strong Portfolio" for some real helpful tips
on optimizing your design portfolio.
Art Directors and Multimedia Artists and Animators.
(Education Levels Ages 25 to 44)
Graphic Designers.
(Education Levels Ages 25 to 44)
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics
Show Me the Money!
What are typical salaries based on experience and location?
The HighestÄ.
Highest average median salaries for design related
occupations are in New York City and San Francisco .
The median salaries for the largest US based design
markets are as such:
• San Francisco
$61, 901
• New York City
$61,377
• Los Angeles $59,226
• Chicago $57,180
• Denver $55,082
• Atlanta $52,721
Jobs with the highest average median salary differential
reflect the significance of geography on compensation.
For example, the highest and lowest median salary for
a Web Designer with 3+ years experience varied by over
17% with Atlanta offering the lowest median salary ($69,
252) and San Francisco offering the highest median salary
($81,311).
And the LowestÄ
The lowest average median salaries for the US based
design markets paid for positions that typically did
not require any level of college education and less
than 2 years of work experience in a related field.
Here's a sampling of average median salaries for this
type of position:
• Painter/Illustrator
$35,934
• Industrial Designer
$47,491
• Videographer $50,385
Now, let's look at web designers and see how they fare
when looking at both their years of experience and their
geographic location.
Web Designers Annual Salaries
(2 years experience)
Web Designers Annual Salaries
(3 years experience)
Annual Salary Estimate for Web
Designers (Experienced)
Source: Salary.com and Eduventures
analysis
What factors can affect my ability to
obtain a great design job?
Being comfortable and productive in a business environment
is a key component of how you are perceived by a prospective
employer. DesignMentor provides the necessary skills to
work with companies by providing real life creative assignments.
Each lesson in a DesignMentor course replicates actual design job
tasks, giving you not only valuable work experience,
but also leading to the creation of strong, professional
work for your portfolio.
And what if my entrepreneurial spirit is calling
me?
Working as a freelance designer or digital artist can
be an exciting and rewarding career path. As with any
entrepreneurial initiative, it requires a high level
of commitment since, as an independent worker, one is
required to fill all of the roles typically represented
by a company (HR, administration, marketing & advertising).
What kind of income can I expect as a freelance
designer?
Income
from freelance work varies considerably as project costs
are dependent on different factors, including:
• |
Hourly labor rate or fixed project
cost |
• |
Duration, size, and scope of work
|
• |
Intended use of work produced (e.g., logos,
websites, labels) |
• |
Typical projects can range from a few hundred
dollars to $10,000 or more, depending on pricing
variables and specific details of project |
• |
Customers of freelance work can vary significantly,
from large corporations outsourcing aspects of
projects to small businesses and individuals contracting
for entire sales and marketing materials |
|
