Digital design has taken us from ’90s images that took five minutes to load to the smartphone era with its proliferation of memes and vids. Since the internet revolutionized the way we communicate, digital design careers have boomed as companies look to capitalize on creative media as a way to reach their customers.
Those with interest in art careers have endless opportunities to pursue in the field of digital design. If you’ve been trying to come up with a career as a creative but haven’t settled on a firm choice, digital design may present an answer for you.
In this guide, we’ll cover the digital design fields and the various careers available, including roles, salaries, career prospects, and more.
Digital Design Career Fields Discussed in this Guide
What is Digital Design?
Digital design refers to the process of creating visual content and experiences using digital tools and software. This field encompasses a wide range of disciplines, each with its own unique set of skills and methodologies. To better understand the different types of digital design, it is essential to explore some of the common disciplines within this field.
Graphic design focuses on creating visually engaging and informative content for print and digital media. This includes designing logos, marketing materials, and advertisements. Web design, on the other hand, concentrates on the aesthetic and functional aspects of websites, ensuring that they are user-friendly and visually appealing. User experience (UX) design involves understanding the needs and preferences of users to create products, services, and interfaces that offer a seamless and enjoyable experience. User interface (UI) design is closely related to UX design, as it deals with the visual elements and interactions that facilitate user engagement with digital products.
Motion graphics design involves creating animated visuals to convey information and tell stories, often used in video production, advertising, and social media content. Lastly, 3D modeling and animation involve creating and manipulating three-dimensional objects and scenes for various purposes, such as video games, movies, and virtual reality experiences.
Digital designers play a crucial role in various industries, from advertising and marketing to entertainment and technology. Their skills and expertise contribute to shaping the visual and interactive elements of digital products, ensuring a positive user experience and fostering brand identity.
Skills and Education Required for Careers in Digital Design
To excel in digital design careers, there are several common skills that professionals should possess. Creativity and artistic ability are fundamental, as digital designers need to conceptualize and create visually engaging content. Technical proficiency in design software, such as Adobe Creative Suite and Sketch, is also crucial for efficiently bringing ideas to life.
Beyond artistic and technical skills, digital designers must demonstrate problem-solving and critical thinking capabilities to address challenges and develop innovative solutions. Strong communication and collaboration skills are essential for working effectively with clients and teammates, ensuring that projects meet objectives and expectations. Attention to detail and the ability to meet deadlines are also vital for managing multiple tasks and delivering high-quality work in a timely manner.
Regarding educational background, a degree in digital design or a related field, such as graphic design or multimedia arts, can provide the foundational knowledge and skills needed for a successful career. However, the rapidly evolving nature of the industry emphasizes the importance of continuing education and staying updated with the latest trends and technologies. This can include attending workshops, online courses, and industry conferences to continuously hone one’s skills and stay competitive in the job market.
Digital Design Careers Overview
Digital design is a broad term covering many art careers that involve:
- Photography
- Programming
- Animation
- Graphics
Digital projects often require all of these skills, so a company may assemble a team of digital design experts to cover all bases. Anyone working in these art careers needs to be highly adaptable, as the field evolves at the same pace as technology — which is to say, pretty breakneck.
Indeed, consider that the first iPhone came out in 2007, and 29 new versions of the iPhone have come out since then. Digital designers specializing in programming have had to keep pace with every improvement made along the way.
It’s not just smartphones, either. Web design has constantly been changing as web designers have aimed to make content more accessible and attractive to readers. In 2017, the BBC published a year-by-year time lapse of how its website has changed over the past 20 years. The time lapse and the website transformations have been possible thanks to teams specializing in all the fields listed above.
You could find yourself in charge of photography for a visually stunning game like Red Dead: Redemption II. Or you could be the person who revolutionizes web design in the way that Gawker achieved. You could even end up doing every digital design career ever on the same job and turn into the new Eric Barone.
The point is that whatever digital design careers appeals to you, you’re always going to have more to learn — and more to create. Art careers are about driving trends as well as riding the trends.
Digital Design Fields
Let’s turn to the kind of fields you could find yourself working in if you’re interested in a digital art career.
Web Design
Digital design jobs within web design focus on creating web pages that maximize accessibility and encourage users to spend more time on the site. Carefully designed websites are a pressing need for businesses as sales depend on users lingering long enough to make a purchase. It means that web designers are in constant demand.
Individuals interested in this field need to have an eye for appealing aesthetics and good knowledge of web-based programming languages. If you’re just starting out, check out our simple tips to learning how to code. Catching bugs (the software kind) is also a big part of helping a website reach its full potential, so you’ll need to be a patient type. Still, coding and finding the best way to display information are both inherently creative fields.
Game Design
Game design is one of the best art careers for creative types who love storytelling.
There are many aspects of game design, but one of the main components is helping to develop characters and build a story that will engage players.
There are also the visual elements of a game: designers are often multi-talented creative types who combine storytelling with developing concept art for characters and landscapes.
We often hear that art careers allowing both creative freedom and reasonable compensation are virtually a myth. This isn’t true: by working in newer media and considering digital design jobs, you can find some gratifying art careers. And with games catering to almost everyone today, there’s no shortage of variety.
Graphic Design
This field is far older than most other digital careers. Graphic designers have worked on things like newspaper advertisements and book covers since the 19th Century, and the field is alive and well today. For a fun experiment, count the number of digitally created images you encounter (including adverts) on every website you scroll through in a day. Every one of these images was thanks to a graphic designer — there’s not a shortage of work!
Game Programming
As a game programmer, you’ll be responsible for translating concept art and storyboards into code. You are the architect who helps shape the experience for users.
It doesn’t mean that game programming isn’t creative: quite aside from the creative nature of programming itself, you’ll probably work closely with designers and have input on the game’s features.
While the focus is on digital design, you’ll also spend a lot of time identifying bugs and finding fixes (again — bugs can have a huge impact on a game’s success, so companies will pay well for quality developers). This process goes on long after the game’s release, as user-reported bugs require patches and updates consistently.
Digital Photography
A digital photographer isn’t just someone who owns a camera made after 2000 (or even a smartphone). These art careers involve selecting shots and capturing high-quality footage and images. After capturing those shots, photographers also need to edit them using specialized software. This digital design role has applications in gaming, filmmaking, and pretty much media that requires footage.
A digital photographer may create the ad before a YouTube video, as well as the video itself. Skilled photographers are highly sought-after by companies who want their brands to look as professional as possible.
Computer Animation
Animation was one of the most celebrated art careers of the 20th Century, with the animators of Disney and Warner Bros creating timeless characters and stories using a range of techniques.
Fast-forward to the 21st century, and you’ll see that the field of animation has evolved from entirely ‘drawn’ content to computer animation, which is present in every cartoon and animated film you love today.
Computer animation also has a lot of applications in fields such as advertising.
Careers in Digital Design
Below are some of the most popular digital design jobs and art careers on offer today. Check them out to decide which art careers you’d like to pursue!
Note: salary estimates may vary.
Web Designer
As a web designer, sometimes referred to as a UX/UI Designer, you’ll be responsible for making websites user-friendly, accessible, and attractive. You’ll need strong problem-solving skills to address issues in the site’s code and optimize its performance: slow-loading websites are the bane of healthy site traffic.
Common Project Types in this Field
- Competitor research — What are other companies doing better than your client?
- Budget management — What parts of a website aren’t cost-efficient?
- Market research — Is your website doing what your company needs?
- Website optimization — Is it loading fast enough? Is it well-designed for customer conversion?
Education Requirements for Entry-Level Positions
You’ll typically need a Bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related field. Some web designers have a Master’s degree, although this would generally be a requirement for more senior or technical positions.
Salary & Job Outlook
According to the BLS, the median salary for a web designer in the U.S. is around $77,000 per year.
Demand for this digital design role may increase by 8% from 2019 to 2029. This acceleration is much faster than the national average.
Is It Right for Me?
If you’ve got an eye for attractive layouts and an interest in programming, art careers in this field are likely to suit you very well.
Graphic Designer
A graphic designer creates attractive visual content that helps customers to engage with a product or service. You’ll use your sharp aesthetic eye and computer skills to create informative, appealing visuals and drive conversion.
Common Project Types in this Field
- Advertising & marketing
- Graphics for displaying data
- Creating images to supplement text posts and news reports
Education Requirements for Entry-Level Positions
Most entry-level positions ask for an undergraduate degree in graphic design. A strong portfolio will do you a lot of favors.
Salary & Job Outlook
The BLS reports that the median salary for this position is around $53,000. It also projects that demand for graphic designers is likely to fall 4% by 2029, but this may be due to graphic design becoming subsumed under other digital design jobs, such as web developers (which may see strong growth).
Is It Right for Me?
Art careers in graphics are varied and rewarding, but one thing you’ll need is a love of creating artistic images — for all kinds of things. If you’ve got an eye for detail and take pride in your work, you’ll do well in this role.
Game Designer
Game designers are responsible for developing the storylines and features of games. They have to engage users and avoid bugs, so you’ll need excellent programming skills and a creative mind.
Common Project Types in this Field
You may work on any of the 7 stages of game development:
- Planning
- Pre-production
- Production
- Testing
- Pre-launch
- Launch
- Post-Production
Education Requirements for Entry-Level Positions
An undergraduate degree in computer games design is desirable, although degrees in other digital design fields, such as graphic design or animation, are also acceptable.
Salary & Job Outlook
Glassdoor estimates that the average salary for a video game designer is around $71,000 per year.
Is It Right for Me?
If you’ve ever wanted to make your own game, maybe now’s the time to become a video game designer! Careers in game design are perfect for people who love creative freedom and have meticulous attention to detail.
Visual Designer
Commonly confused with graphics designers, visual designers coordinate visual design across a brand. A static ad for the new Nike sneakers? Graphics. The Nike logo? Visuals.
Common Project Types in this Field
- Brand research — developing an identity
- Lettering & typeface design
- Product development
Education Requirements for Entry-Level Positions
Typically, you’ll need an undergraduate degree in graphic design. Outside of digital design, further study in a digital marketing-related field may also be helpful.
Salary & Job Outlook
Payscale reports that visual designers earn around $65,000 per year.
This career path will likely remain in demand over the coming decade, as brands constantly work on their visual identity.
Is It Right for Me?
If you enjoy collaboration and would love to integrate yourself into a brand’s thought process, you’ll do well as a visual designer. Art careers in this field are worth sticking with for this reason.
Digital Photographer
A digital photographer’s day-to-day depends a lot on whom you’re working for — although you’ll always be taking and editing photographs! Possible positions could be for a film or a marketing company, but you’ll work closely with other professionals to create beautiful imagery.
Common Project Types in this Field
- Filmmaking
- Game development
- Advertising
- Stock portfolios
Education Requirements for Entry-Level Positions
A bachelor’s degree in digital photography is advisable but not always required. It’s more important that you build up a strong portfolio.
Salary & Job Outlook
The average salary is difficult to estimate, as photographers often work on hourly rates. The BLS reports show the median annual salary is around $41,000, with Payscale suggesting around $47,000.
The BLS also predicts photography jobs to fall in demand over the next decade. However, as long as firms need photography, roles will exist.
Is It Right for Me?
If you feel comfortable with a camera in your hands and behind a computer using software editing, art careers in this path may suit you well.
Tips for Pursuing a Career in Digital Design
Embarking on a successful career in digital design requires more than just technical skills and education. The following tips can help aspiring digital designers stand out in the competitive job market:
Building a strong portfolio: A well-curated portfolio showcases your skills and expertise to potential employers and clients. Include a variety of projects that demonstrate your versatility and creativity, as well as any relevant client work or personal projects that highlight your unique style and approach.
Networking within the industry: Building connections with fellow professionals and industry leaders can open doors to new opportunities and provide valuable insights into the field. Attend industry events, join online forums, and participate in local meetups to foster relationships and stay informed about the latest trends and technologies.
Seeking internships and freelance opportunities: Gaining hands-on experience through internships or freelance work can help build your skills, expand your portfolio, and make you more marketable to potential employers. Internships can also provide networking opportunities and a chance to learn from experienced professionals in the field.
Staying updated on industry trends and developments: The digital design industry is constantly evolving, and staying updated on the latest tools, techniques, and trends is crucial for success. Regularly read industry publications, attend workshops, and take online courses to ensure your skills remain relevant and in-demand.
Conclusion: Digital Design Jobs
The best art careers allow you to flourish as a creative person while providing reasonable remuneration. The good news is that there are tons of excellent digital design jobs available that offer both, with many more projected to emerge over the coming years.
Play to your strengths, choose your niche early, and get the grades you need. And remember: building up a portfolio even before your first job is always worthwhile. Don’t just tell in your interview — show what you can do!