Concert Calendar New Releases Artist of the Week Classic Hits Links Listen Now Join the Workforce Promotions JC & the U-Man All Around Town Singles Connection Air Personalities Contact Info Advertise With Us Half Price Deals Great Outdoors Clubs / Venues St. Louis Attractions Career Channel Autoworld Traffic		Design - From airplane chairs to the patterns on fabric! Career Overview What You'll Do Designers work on everything from airplane chairs to the patterns on fabric, and have a hand in virtually every industry, from textiles (clothing design) to publishing (graphic design). Even your groceries are designed: Take a look at the cans and packages on your local supermarket's shelves. From the package shapes to the printing on them, all are products of a designer. Design encompasses a wide range of fields. Interior designers concern themselves with the spaces inside buildings. Fashion designers determine the look and function of our clothes. Graphic designers convey ideas through type and image. The ubiquitous logo for Coca-Cola, for instance, is the work of a graphic designer, while Levi's 501 jeans are the work of a fashion designer. Designers often specialize. For instance, industrial designersóthose who focus on the design of objects and machinesómight specialize in kitchen equipment such as the shape and function of food processors, electric can openers, and blenders. Who Does Well Good designers pay attention to style as well as function. Often, the best designs are those you notice least: a chair, a T-shirt, or a page in a book. Expert designers are creative and have technical mastery over their tools. If you go into design, you'll work collaboratively with engineers, illustrators, administrators, and people in other departments. You'll need to be aware of who will use your design as well as how they will use them. Whether working on a movie poster or a new toy, you'll be translating someone else's idea into something with shape and form. Strong communication skillsóand good listening skillsóare essential. Account management skills can also help. Designers work on projects ranging from the staid to the cutting edge. Sometimes you'll have creative freedom; often you won't. In some cases, such as working on magazine pages, your designs may be considered art. In other cases, such as the Post-it note, you may simply find satisfaction in seeing the product you designed on nearly every person's desk. Job Outlook The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects the number of jobs in design to rise at a rate greater than the average for all jobs between 2000 and 2010. Job growth will be especially strong in areas like graphic design (for example, as the Web grows, so does the need for Web-page designers) and industrial design. Thereís an increasing need for interior designers, as well. And talented designers of video games will find themselves in great demand moving forward; right now, demand for these folks peaks with the release of new versions of gaming platforms, but as gaming moves onto the Web, expect demand to be more steady. But competition for jobs is still fierce, as this is a very popular field; employers will be looking for only the most talented people. Illustrators are suffering in the current market; many of those who would have hired illustrators in the past now prefer to use increasingly available stock images rather than pay artists to render original sketches. However, illustrators and other artists may find an outlet for their talents in electronic art or animation. Career Tracks In most design careers, you'll move up the ranks from intern or junior level designer to senior level designer, art director, or creative director, based on your ability and the amount of experience you have. At the junior level, you'll usually assist veteran designers. Most designers start with routine work and gain more responsibility as they gain experience. Careers can advance within the design department of an agency or company, but many designers strike out on their own and either found their own shops or work on a contract basis for others. The work you do is what will establish you: Those with an impressive portfolio can make top dollar. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, four out of ten designers are self-employed. If you do end up going freelance, you'll need account management skills along with design skills to achieve the most success. Many designers at agencies or design shops end up handling account management responsibilities as project managers or account managers. Graphic Design Graphic designers manipulate type and images to create things like books, catalogs, posters, CD inserts, and corporate logos. Graphic designers find work in publishing, advertising, and in the design departments of companies in nearly every industry. Most graphic design these days is done on computers with programs such as Adobe Illustrator and QuarkXPress. Projects can vary from page layout on a book to designing a coupon for the Sunday insert of a newspaper. Graphic designers are different from visual artists because their work has immediate commercial use. Graphic designers often work closely with people in marketing to express a product's brand or a company's image. Graphic designers, for instance, take credit for the corporate logos you see throughout the world. Industrial Design Industrial designers work on mass-produced goods. They design everything from cereal boxes to stereos, though most specialize in a particular area, such as automobiles. Industrial designers usually work in large corporations, coordinating with others to shape products. Many in industrial design come from an engineering background. Industrial designers need to create products within a budget that can be easily and cost effectively mass-produced, marketed, and soldótheir work requires a high level of collaboration with people in other departments. They also need to think about safety: You won't want to create a toy that a toddler might swallow, for instance, or a lamp that gets so hot it could catch on fire. Interior Design Interior designers focus on researching, planning, developing, and implementing designs for indoor environments, such as living rooms or office lobbies. Many interior designers work at design or architecture firms and specialize in a particular area such as restaurants, private homes, office spaces, hospitals, or hotels. Many specialize even further and focus on, for example, living rooms or kitchens. As with other designers, if you go into interior design, your work will usually involve interacting with others, including your client, contractors, electricians, and plumbers. You'll need to design to state and federal codes, and your work will attempt to answer needs the client wants met, such as mood or efficiency. In addition to structuring space and drawing blueprints, you'll be responsible for choosing furniture, carpeting, paint, and fixtures. Much of your planning work will be accomplished on the computer. Fashion Designers Fashion designers determine the look of the shoes, dress, shirts, and pants you wear. As in the other design areas, you'll collaborate with others to create compelling designs. If you work for a company such as a Gap or Levi's, you'll work closely with the marketing department and your work will be driven by seasonal fashion trends. Your materials will be fabric: cotton, denim, polyester, and the like, and you'll be attentive to detail, style, and function. Many smaller niche fashion designers sell their work to high-end boutiques while other companies focus on the mass market. Other Careers If you're in the performing arts, you've probably worked with a costume designer. The last couch you sat on was created by a furniture designer. And the merchandise display at your local department store is the work of a designer. Designers in fact find a variety of careers, because we're surrounded by designs, from landscapes to textiles. In fact, designers can find ways to apply the principles of design, such as form, color, and function, to anything we create. The most limiting factor to design is imagination: If you can imagine it, you can probably find a way to design it. « Return to Previous Page Career Content ©2003 The Employment Channel		What is more important? • Health • Happiness • Money MO Power Ball:  8, 9, 16, 34, 48, Powerball: 8, Power Play: 5 IL Mega Millions:  4, 23, 33, 38, 49, Mega: 7 results posted by 9am following day Saint Louis, MO Sunny 61°F MORE→
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