What is Graphic Design? Career Paths, Salaries, and Essential Skills
Graphic design is a creative process used to establish an emotional connection with an audience. Discover more about this field and the various career opportunities it offers.
Graphic design is a way to share messages visually with an audience. Working in this field means combining artistic creativity with technical skills to create eye-catching visuals for companies or brands. There are many areas to specialize in, and you can see your work in print, on screens, and even in real-life spaces. If you are interested in graphic design, explore its various opportunities and see how it fits your skills and passions.
What is Graphic Design?
Graphic design uses different design elements to create visual tools that help companies connect with their audiences. These tools can be small, like a company logo or app icon, or large, like a website or print advertisement.
A graphic designer aims to influence how people feel about a brand through various artistic elements and formats, including print and digital art.
What Are Common Design Elements?
Graphic design focuses on creating an emotional connection with an audience. To achieve this, designers need to understand some key design elements. Here are four important ones:
Hierarchy: If a design is too busy, it can be hard for people to notice the most important parts. Understanding hierarchy helps designers highlight key messages. For example, they might use a larger font to make the main message stand out.
Balance: In graphic design, you may hear the term "weight." Different elements in a design can have different weights to show their importance and make the design more interesting. Balance creates harmony, whether through appealing symmetry or unique asymmetry.
Negative Space: A good design often has empty areas. If every part of the design is filled, it can overwhelm the audience. Negative space refers to the blank areas in a design that help emphasize the important elements.
Color: Colors can evoke different feelings. By using color theory, designers can enhance their messages and create more impactful designs.
What Does a Career in Graphic Design Look Like?
A career in graphic design involves using art and technology to share ideas through different design elements. As a graphic designer, you will create layouts and designs for advertisements, brochures, posters, and magazines. When starting a project, you usually begin with rough sketches, either by hand or using computer software.
Many designers create a process book for clients, showing the steps of a design project from start to finish. This book can include a mood board, allowing clients to choose colors, patterns, textures, and fonts. Process books help graphic designers explain their methods and techniques, which they then use in the final design.
As a graphic designer, your tasks may include:
Meeting with clients to discuss projects and share ideas.
Using software like Photoshop and Illustrator to create designs.
Revising designs based on client feedback.
Testing the final product to make sure it meets design standards.
What Do Designers Typically Work On?
As a graphic designer, you may focus on one type of design or handle a variety of projects. Some common projects you might work on include:
Advertising: Creating visuals for ads that promote products or services.
Marketing: Designing materials that help businesses connect with their audience.
Branding: Developing a brand's visual identity, including colors and styles.
Logos: Designing unique logos that represent a company or organization.
Packaging: Creating attractive and functional packaging for products.
Learn more: What Is Content Marketing?
What Are the Different Types of Graphic Design?
There are several common types of graphic design, including:
Visual Identity Graphic Design: This involves creating the visual elements of a brand, such as logos, color schemes, fonts, and images that help people recognize the brand.
Marketing and Advertising Graphic Design: Designers create materials like posters, brochures, social media graphics, and website banners to grab attention, share a message, and encourage action.
User Interface (UI) Graphic Design: This focuses on designing the interface of websites and apps, ensuring they are easy to use, navigate, and visually appealing.
Publication Graphic Design: Designers create layouts for magazines, newspapers, books, and other publications, shaping the overall look and feel of each page.
Packaging Graphic Design: This type involves designing product packaging to make it attractive and informative while also protecting the product inside.
Motion Graphics Design: Designers create animated graphics and videos for various purposes, including explainer videos, marketing content, and social media posts.
Environmental Graphic Design: This involves designing graphics for physical spaces, such as signs, murals, and wayfinding systems, to create visually appealing and functional environments.
Reasons to Become a Graphic Designer
If you want to work in a creative field, graphic design offers many opportunities to use your artistic skills. You can work as a remote employee, in an office, or as a freelancer. As a graphic designer, you can express your talent and passion for creativity.
You will work on different projects to meet various client needs. Collaborating with clients from different industries keeps you inspired and helps you expand your creative ideas. If you prefer independence, you can choose to be self-employed and work as a freelancer. This gives you the freedom to decide when and where you work.
In a graphic design career, you can also specialize in areas that interest you most. Whether you enjoy typography, illustration, or web design, there are many opportunities to pursue your creative goals.
6 Career Paths Related to Graphic Design
Graphic designers often work with still images, but there are many related careers that require similar skills, like using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Here are a few examples of related roles:
All salary data is sourced from Glassdoor as of June 2024.
1. Animator
Average Annual Base US Salary (Glassdoor): $69,686
While graphic designers create static images, animators use movement to bring characters or objects to life. They use special effects and animations to create visual stories. In this role, you might work in 2-D or 3-D design, character animation, or image editing. Animators create frames and storyboards to plan how content will move.
2. Art Director
Average Annual Base US Salary (Glassdoor): $88,652
As an art director, you will focus on the visual style and images in areas like newspapers, magazines, product packaging, and film production. Like graphic designers, art directors create designs but also guide others in developing artwork and layouts.
3. Design Educator
Average Annual Base US Salary (Glassdoor): $86,583
Design educators are important in secondary and higher education programs. In this role, you will teach graphic design concepts and techniques. Your responsibilities will include giving lectures, developing course materials, advising students, and more.
4. User Experience (UX) Designer
Average Annual Base US Salary (Glassdoor): $79,483
UX designers focus on making products and services easy to use and accessible for everyone. In this role, you will work on digital designs for websites and apps. You’ll use both static and animated images to create a smooth and enjoyable user experience.
Learn more: What Does a UX Designer Do?
5. Production Artist
Average Annual Base US Salary (Glassdoor): $63,406
A production artist is a type of conceptual designer. In this role, you will make sure that designs work for their intended formats, like Instagram posts or billboards. This position usually involves less brainstorming and focuses more on executing design ideas.
6. Book Designer
Average Annual Base US Salary (Glassdoor): $73,737
A book designer is responsible for creating the overall look of a book. In this role, you will design covers, select fonts, arrange layouts, and create exterior designs. You may also choose the paper type and other features to enhance the book’s visual appeal.
Graphic Designer Salary and Job Outlook
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median annual salary for graphic designers is $58,910 as of May 2023. The BLS projects that the graphic design field will grow by 3 percent from 2022 to 2032, resulting in an average of 22,800 job openings each year.
Do I Need a Degree to Be a Graphic Designer?
While a graphic design degree is not always required, many employers prefer candidates to have at least a bachelor's degree and a strong portfolio. According to Zippia, 68 percent of graphic designers hold a bachelor’s degree, while 23 percent have an associate degree.
Other Educational Options Include:
Associate of Arts in Graphic Design:
If you choose to pursue an associate degree in graphic design, you can expect to complete it in two years. During this time, you will learn to use software like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. You can also create class projects to build a portfolio showcasing your creative work.
Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design
Earning a Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design usually takes four years. You will begin your studies with general education courses and art classes, such as art history. The career-focused courses in this program will help you build a strong portfolio.
Master of Fine Arts in Graphic Design
Many colleges and universities offer a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Graphic Design. Some programs also provide a visual communication degree that focuses on graphic design, UX design, and motion design. To apply for a master’s program, you will need a bachelor’s degree in a related field.
Certifications for Graphic Designers
Certifications can enhance your resume and show your commitment to learning new skills. There are various certification programs available for graphic design, particularly from well-known companies like Adobe and Autodesk.
Adobe Certified Professional
You can earn Adobe Certified Professional certifications by passing exams in various Adobe products, including:
Adobe Photoshop (for visual design)
Adobe Illustrator (for graphic design and illustration)
Adobe InDesign (for print and digital media publication)
Adobe Premiere (for digital video)
Adobe After Effects (for visual effects and motion graphics)
Adobe Animate (for multiplatform animation)
Adobe Dreamweaver (for web authoring)
Adobe Express (for content creation and marketing)
Autodesk 3ds Max Certification
This certification shows your proficiency in using Autodesk 3ds Max, a professional 3D computer graphics program commonly used in animation, gaming, and imaging. Earning this certification demonstrates your skills in creating 3D models, animations, and visual effects.
