Graphics Designer
A Graphics Designer is responsible for creating visual concepts that communicate ideas, inform, or captivate audiences. They use various design tools and software to produce designs for a range of mediums such as websites, social media, print materials, packaging, and more. They collaborate with teams to understand project goals, develop design concepts, and ensure consistency with brand guidelines. The designer's work includes crafting layouts, selecting typography, manipulating images, and sometimes creating custom illustrations. They play a crucial role in shaping the visual identity of a brand or project, making information visually appealing and engaging for viewers.
Creative Director
Creative directors determine the creative vision of a project. They make sure the overall aesthetic and cohesive look stays on track by leading their team through the steps to create something, whether that is a tangible product like a video game, film, magazine or something more abstract like an advertising campaign or brand identity.
The job involves managing skills, leadership and often budgeting and time management abilities as well as creative vision.
When Ruane worked as an associate creative director at a digital ad agency, his work involved concepting with a copywriter partner, pitching and presenting ideas and leading a team of designers and art directors while still taking part in the visual design.
User experience (UX) Designer
UX designers work to make products, processes and services seamless, enjoyable and intuitive for users. They think about how the product feels, how users will use it. They ensure the product flows from one step to the next. UX designers might run user tests, refining any bumps or confusions in the process. This career involves tons of out-of-the-box thinking, creative intuition and a natural appreciation for smooth design. This design discipline is often found in web design, where organizations are placing an increased emphasis on ensuring their website designs are both visually appealing and simple to use.
While user experience design has been around for much longer, Ruane notes that the role of UX designer really started to grow in popularity around ten years ago. When that happened, many of his fellow graphic design classmates transitioned into UX careers. This is an excellent role for technology-savvy designers as it often requires a blend of design and web technology skills
User interface (UI) designer
UI design is often considered a subset of UX design and has similar overall goals. User interface designers focus on how the product is laid out. They design each screen and each page, ensuring that the layout visually works with the overall path a UX designer has charted.
UI designers design each screen or page a user interacts with, ensuring that the UI visually communicates the path a UX designer charts. They might decide where content should go on an analytics dashboard or what tools make the most sense for the user navigating a page. They also pay close attention to style coherence and ensure the product remains consistent.
Production artist
Production artists take over the hands-on steps of production—whether that’s in graphics, film, art or other formats. They upload and ensure the accuracy of design files throughout the last stages of development. The job is equal parts design and computer applications skill.
Production artists might suggest improvements to the work they are finishing as well as making final touches like scaling, cropping, retouching and repositioning.
Product Developer
Product developers ideate, lead and manage the creation of products. They can work on so many different things that their job duties will vary widely, but general tasks include performing industry research, creating illustrations, presenting the product to employers or stakeholders and contributing to the development process.
Art Director
Art directors take charge of the visual style and content in magazines, newspapers, product packaging and movie and television productions. They create design and direct other artists to develop each contributing piece. They work closely with their employers or clients to cast an artistic vision that meets objectives, the available budget and desired impact.
Marketing Specialist
Marketing specialists collect and analyze data on target customers, initiate marketing campaigns, measure effectiveness of marketing attempts and create strategies to promote their company and its goods or services.
As you’ve probably noticed, many of these graphic design careers fall under the larger umbrella of marketing. Cunningham says more graphic designers should consider job titles in the marketing category with the unique expertise they offer.
Multimedia Artist
Multimedia artists and animators design complex graphics and animation using computer animation or modeling programs. They think about story development, visual impact and platforms to create media content that will meet their employer’s objectives. More brands and organizations are looking to increase their online video presence—and that’s been a boon for graphic designers with animation and motion graphics skills.
Freelancer
While it’s not a unique design job in its own right, but most of the job titles mentioned above can be performed as a freelancer. Designers who have some experience on their resume, a stunning portfolio of work or expertise in niche areas of design, marketing and graphics could build a career finding freelance projects.
