Top 8 Job Roles for Graphic Designers

What reminds you of a tick-mark logo? Or a ball in blue and red in colour? Don’t we all remember the brands associated with the logos? From something as small as a logo to something as big as the set in Bahubali movie, are all designed by a Graphic Designer. Without designs, patterns, and colors, our lives would have been mundane and boring.

Graphic design as a practice and profession has been there since ancient times in the world. Very first examples of graphic designing can be found in manuscripts from ancient China, Egypt, and Greece. As civilizations progressed with printing technologies, book publishing, graphic designing also flourished along.

Industrial Revolution and advancements in technology brought with them newer methods of communication. The development of Graphic Designing is one of them. Graphic designing can be seen everywhere around us – on labels, posters, billboards or the opening credits for the films. People who pursue Graphic Designing courses can get into design service firms, advertising agencies, into the entertainment industry, or they may start their own freelance businesses.

Let us look at the top 8 job roles Graphic Designers can get into:

1. Multimedia Designer – A Multimedia Designer makes sketches, plans, or drawings. He/she uses art, sound and other designing skills to create animated images, audio and videos. Multimedia Designers are ones who create and design different properties on the set, direct set assistants on the design interpretation and guide others on technical aspects like sound and light, as per their designs. Multimedia Designers can get into many career fields like television or film production, set designing, animation among others.

2. Web Designer – Web Designers are responsible for the development of a website. Which includes the creation of pages, layout, and visual graphics for the web pages. They develop the structure and navigation through the website. Along with creativity and understanding of various graphic designing software, Web Designers must also keep themselves updated with the latest computer and internet technology.

3. Creative and Art Director – Creative or Art Directors usually head the creative team of an organization. This creative team may include graphic designers, copywriters, photographers, and other assisting staff. They are responsible for producing artwork that is used or displayed through various means like television, magazine, films, and other digital platforms. Creative Designers can get into a wide range of fields, right from newspapers, to television, film industry and other public relations firms. Pursuing advanced courses in Creative and Art Direction would keep the aspiring Graphic Designers at an advantage.

4. Brand Identity Designer – Brand Identity Designers play a crucial role in building a brand identity for a company. They may create it with visual imaging through the use of logos, typography, tagline, color combinations and other design elements. Along with technical knowledge and skills of Graphic Designing, a Brand Identity Designer would also need the skill of creativity and innovation.

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5. Layout Artist – Knowingly or unknowingly we tend to follow a certain pattern or a flow while reading a piece of text. The way we direct our eyes to pictures, the way we navigate through the paragraphs and pages are all designed by a Layout Artist. They design the structure and layout of images and text on a page. Layout Artists make sure that the pictures and text, the color palate are all arranged in an aesthetically pleasing manner, without straining the reader. Layout Artists are placed in advertising agencies, magazines, newspapers, and other
public relations firms.

6. Logo Designer – Brand Identity for any organisation or a firm begins with a logo. Logo Designers will use distinct colors, different shapes, and images and design them to create a logo. Logo Designers are the most in-demand Graphic Designers. Every company, product, or service would need a logo for customers to remember the brand. Hence, the job opportunities for Logo Designers are spread across many fields and firms.

7. Flash Designer – Flash Designers are the ones who create and customize several effects including text, navigation animation, video and audio. Flash Designing is a complimentary course for web designing. A course in Flash Designing would broaden the scope of knowledge and the use of tools for web designing and improve job prospects for the candidate.

8. Photo Editing or Photoshop Artist – Photoshop or Photo Editing is an integral part of a Graphic Designer’s job. Every professional photographer edits their picture to match it to their desired outcome. Through Photoshop, one can customize images, create a composition of several layers, design graphics, manage color at the pixel level and more. Photoshop Artists are in demand across many fields. They can get into any of the above-mentioned roles as well.

To be a successful Graphic Designer, one should be well-versed with technical skills as well as creativity and innovation. Along with basic courses in Graphic Designing, they are many advanced and specific courses related to each field. Media and Entertainment Skills Council (MESC) has prescribed certain Qualification Packs (QP) as per National Occupation Standards. A year ago, MESC has launched courses for Graphic Designer and Assistant Graphic Designer. Pursuing courses as per the MESC standards would make the aspiring youth employable among their competitors. Determining skills, developing competency standards ensures better opportunities for the youth and improves their employability.