Episode 4: Education and Career Paths for Designers - Part 2

In this episode the Team continues the discussion about career paths in Graphic Design, what makes each career path unique, and provides advice that may help you decide if a specific discipline is right for you!

Buckets of Design Jobs: There are ways to drill down even further, but this is a high-level view of the different directions you can take your career!

• Branding/Identity
  • More than just logo design. Create a system, entire look, feel, and tone of a brand. Can include developing color palettes, typography choices, image direction, tone of voice in written elements, etc. All things to communicate the brand’s personality to the consumers across all touchpoints (packaging, ads, web, in-store, etc)
• UX/UI/Web (User Experience, User Interface) 
  • Development of apps and websites. UI (user interface) design is the creation of elements that a user will interact with when using a website or service, ensuring the interface has elements that are easy to understand and access. UX (user experience) design is the process of designing a user's journey throughout their time spent with a product or service and focusing on making sure each user finds value from their interactions with a brand, product, or service. Both elements are crucial to a product and work closely together, but the roles themselves are quite different, referring to very different aspects of the product development process and the design discipline.
• Marketing/Advertising
  • Promotional strategy for the brand or product with intense focus on how consumers make purchase decisions. Often some amount of research or study of behavioral psychology comes into play to understand consumer behavior. Push the brand across touchpoints such as print and digital ads, emails, social media, influencers, motion, etc. 
• Environmental/Exhibition
  • Application of graphic design in a physical space to help guide users through a space or towards an intended goal. Usually part of a larger team of architects or industrial designers that work together to create large scale systems. Work can be produced on signage, walls, floors, outdoor spaces, spacial layouts, even smart cities. Work can be produced as print-based touchpoints or interactive displays that can engage users. 
• Packaging
  • Main role is to design the packaging of a product to attract the eye of the target consumer and push for a purchase decision over that of any competitors on shelf. Can also include in-store environmental design or POP designs. Designers can specialize in a specific industry, need to have a strong knowledge of printing solutions/capabilities, production costs and styles, package structures, and be able to work with provided research/data on consumer trends and store requirements. 
• Print/Publication/Editorial
  • Use the principles of good design to guide readers through long-form print pieces such as books, magazines, newspapers, etc. Designers can also focus on smaller content pieces like brochures, signage, etc. This design now also delves into the digital world as many publications also have a digital presence. Ability to create and work with templates and InDesign is huge. 
• Animation/Motion
  • Specialize in the creation of motion-based graphics and often work as part of a larger team focused on one brand. Work can be shown on tv, games, social media, corporate videos, etc and can include things like tv show bumpers, movie title sequences, brand animations, motion graphics for brands or products, etc. 
• Illustration
  • Design and creation of illustrations for brands that can be purely digital work or a mix of hand-media/analogue tools an

Host, Producer, & Editor - Mark Cela
Host, Director, & Script Writer - Kristen Pericleous
Host, Social Media Manager, Social Media Content Creator, & Editor - Dan Lawson