A graphic designer job is to create graphics that are attractive, easy to understand, and maintains brand identity. Graphic design is the art of combining images, symbols, and typography into digital illustrations.
Graphic designers’ artwork communicates a message or tells a story. They may use color, images, text, or motion graphics to convey their message. A graphic designer creates logos for products and companies. They also design layouts of pages in magazines or newspapers.
Graphic Designer Jobs
A graphic designer works closely with other professionals. Such as product designers, advertising agencies, marketing firms, and other graphic designers on larger projects.
A graphic designer’s salary on average is about $60,000 per year.
Let’s explore some graphic design fields.
Graphic Designer
The Graphic Designer creates compelling marketing materials, including but not limited to: logos, brochures, articles, and advertisements. This includes designing and executing marketing campaigns.
Responsibilities:
- Developing creative concepts and design layouts for print and digital marketing materials.
- Designing logos for new companies or products, brochures, pamphlets, and other print material.
- Work with the marketing team to develop successful campaigns.
- Create and execute advertisements on social media platforms such as Facebook or Instagram.
- Ensure that all marketing materials are up to date with current branding guidelines.
- Collaborate with the marketing team in developing a cohesive message across all channels.
- Engage in graphic design work as needed to support other departments such as Sales or Customer Support.
Front-end Web Designer
The Front-End Web Designer handles developing and managing the design of a web application. They create wireframes, mockups, and prototypes to communicate ideas and gather feedback.
Usually, the front-end web designer work on a project from beginning to end. They are there from the initial idea through design, development, launch, testing, and maintenance. To produce consistently high-quality work.
Responsibilities:
- Create wireframes, mockups, and prototypes to communicate ideas and gather feedback
- Design layouts that are responsive across multiple devices.
- Ensure that the final product is pixel-perfect and meets all usability requirements.
- Work closely with development teams to ensure a smooth transition from concept to reality.
- Deliver high-quality user interface designs.
- Build reusable UI components.
- Maintain style guides for branding.
- Communicate effectively with team members about design decisions made.
Creative Director
The creative director provides the leadership necessary to achieve business objectives. They show success in managing teams of designers or copywriters. Also, ensure the proper execution of the creative vision of a brand. Creative directors have a successful track record of managing and delivering graphic design projects on time and within budget.
Responsibilities:
- Handle the management of creative teams, including other graphic designers and copywriters.
- Develop a creative vision that aligns with business goals.
- Hiring and firing designers and copywriters.
- Manage graphic design budgets and projects.
- Oversee the work of designers and copywriters to ensure quality control.
- Provide feedback to designers and copywriters.
Photo Editor
A photo editor is someone who helps make photos look better. They can add text or other things to the photo, or they can change the colors or the way it looks. The Photo Editor handles editing and delivering editorial photo content. Photo editors can find jobs in photojournalism and on content strategist teams.
Maintain strong working knowledge of digital cameras, and lenses. As well as strong working knowledge of the fundamentals of photography. Such as lighting, composition, and visual language.
Responsibilities:
- Work closely with reporters to capture compelling images and video.
- Edit photos to the company’s style and standards.
- Deliver final products on time.
- Maintain strong working knowledge of photography, photographic equipment, and techniques.
- Have an excellent understanding of photo editing tools like Photoshop.
Product Designer
The Product Designer handles both product design and user experience. This includes designing and prototyping products. Understanding user needs. Defining the product vision and strategy. As well as working closely with engineering to deliver winning products.
Responsibilities:
- Define the strategies and roadmap for a product prototype.
- Deliver product requirement documentation with prioritized features and corresponding justification.
- Work with external third parties to assess partnerships and licensing opportunities
- Be an expert regarding the competition.
- Develop the core positioning and messaging for the product.
- Demonstrate success in designing excellent products.
Multimedia Artist/Designer
The Multimedia Artist/Designer handles the designing and developing of graphics, animation, and video content. This includes creating and managing the artwork pipeline and designing compelling user interfaces. It also includes prototyping new visual concepts and integrating them into the product.
Responsibilities:
- Create reusable graphical assets for marketing materials, UI design, and other multimedia products.
- Create art for animated sequences.
- Work with Product Managers to build new features or design improvements to existing features.
- Create wireframes for interactive prototypes of new features.
- Collaborate with other designers on cross-functional teams to integrate graphics into a cohesive product experience.
- Produce high-quality 2D animations that are both aesthetically appealing and functional.
- Maintain a consistent brand image across all multimedia products.
- Help define the creative direction for new products.
Flash Designer
The Flash Designer designs interfaces and animations for a website or application. This includes graphic design, animation, and user experience design.
Responsibilities:
- Design animations, graphics, and interfaces with Adobe Flash.
- Develop the look and feel of a website or application regarding color, layout, typography, and legibility.
- Meet deadlines and work on multiple projects at the same time.
- Create prototypes of designs in a working interactive environment.
- Keep up with the latest design trends and technologies.
- Maintain files and assets under CMS guidelines.
- Work closely with other designers, developers, project managers, and product managers to coordinate work on complex projects.
- Communicate status updates to team members to meet deadlines.
Animation/Animator
The Animator creates high-quality, technically accurate animation of 2D and 3D assets. They understand the software used in the animation production pipeline and show proficiency in it.
Responsibilities:
- Create animations for characters and other elements in a variety of scenarios.
- Work closely with designers and lead animators to create animations that match their intentions.
- Provide feedback to designers on character/environment design or gameplay balance to make them more fun or challenging.
- Demonstrated success in creating high-quality, technically accurate animation
Brand Identity Designer
The Brand Identity Designer handles the design of logos, branding elements, and typography. They are also responsible for developing guidelines and standards for the creation of brand assets. Brand Identity Designers must also maintain a consistent design aesthetic across all platforms. Also, collaborate with other departments to ensure that they meet design objectives.
Responsibilities:
- Developing guidelines and standards for the creation of brand assets.
- Designing logos, branding elements, and typography.
- Creating original artwork and design solutions.
- Collaborating with marketing to develop branding campaigns that align with business goals.
- Maintaining a cohesive visual identity throughout all company materials.
- Working on projects independently or with a team as appropriate.
Photo Editing/Photoshop Artist
The Photo Editing/Photoshop Artist retouches and edits photos. They should be able to work quickly and with high accuracy. This includes developing a lasting and compelling brand voice. Managing the company’s photo projects and overseeing their production.
Responsibilities:
- Edit photos for the company’s blog, as well as personal projects that the company may need.
- Retouch photos to create the desired effect.
- Edit and crop photos to match a specific requirement or desired size.
- Create collages from multiple images, selecting appropriate images and arranging them in a particular layout or design.
- Rotate or flip images to match specific requirements.
- Add text to an image or create other design elements using software like Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, or CorelDraw.
Layout Artist
The Layout Artist handles the design and layout of all print, web, and social media assets. They will work closely with creative and marketing teams to produce a variety of materials for various clients.
Responsibilities
- Designing print materials such as brochures, pamphlets, postcards, business cards
- Designing web materials such as logos, banners, infographics
- Designing Social Media content such as graphics or gifs
- Meeting deadlines and project goals while maintaining quality
- Assisting with creative briefs
- Working closely with Creative and Marketing teams to produce high-quality visuals to the client’s specifications.
Closing: How To Get A Graphic Design Job Without A Degree?
Without a graphic design degree, show off your skills, expertise, and experience. Compile a graphic design portfolio. A portfolio is a collection of your best work. So when someone wants to see your work, they can look in your portfolio and see all the things you’ve done. You can also use your portfolios to show potential employers what they can do. A graphic design portfolio is a fantastic way to show off your skills.
You can find graphic design jobs on freelance websites. A freelance graphic designer designs artwork for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Customers post freelance graphic design jobs looking for illustrators, photo editors, and animators.