Are you a creative professional who’s trying to figure out which career plays to your strengths and interests? Or are you a business leader looking for design experts to join your team? Designers might pursue one of three different types of design jobs: visual design, graphic design or digital design. All are important, but each involves completely different skills.
Often these different types of design jobs bleed into each other. For example, an organization might hire a graphic designer who can also perform visual design. An individual working on the data side of user experience might also take on digital design tasks when needed. Regardless, the push for compelling marketing and digital platforms calls for high demand and for the right design expertise. So, where do these fields intersect, and how do they differ?
Exploring Different Types of Design Jobs
Visual Design
Visual designers work to present design concepts and visual mockups to clients or executive leadership. User experience professionals then perform usability testing based on these designs.
Popular visual design titles include user experience (UX) designers and product designers. Both of these career paths typically call for candidates with a minimum of a bachelor’s degree, usually in majors such as computer science, design, information science or another related field of study.
Graphic Design
Graphic design involves the creation of imagery and visually laying out posters, infographics, brochures and other pieces that combine text and visual elements. Graphic designers use various applications to complete their day-to-day work, including Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign.
Experience in graphic design can guide individuals down one of many paths. Someone who starts as a graphic designer might later go on to become an art director, marketing director or creative director. Although a college degree can help a prospective graphic designer get a job, some employers may hire graphic designers who have not completed their bachelor’s degree.
Of these three career paths, graphic design is considered to be the most artistic, as graphic designers might sketch illustrations before generating computerized graphics. In addition, graphic designers might work full-time for a company or might perform freelance jobs independently. The flexibility graphic design jobs offer allows designers to work remotely, as long as they have a computer at home with advanced design software.
Digital Design
As the name suggests, digital design focuses more on technology. It involves the design of websites, mobile apps, landing pages, email marketing collateral, banners, and other online or mobile content.
Digital design is a creative field, just as visual and graphic design is, but it also places a heavy emphasis on analytics. To excel as a digital designer, individuals must understand HTML, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and JavaScript.
Working in digital design typically requires a bachelor’s degree in graphic design, interactive design, advertising, marketing or other related subjects. Some companies seek candidates with proficiency in software such as Photoshop, Adobe, and Illustrator.
Profiles Design Recruitment
If you’re in need of a creative, tech-savvy designer, get in touch with a creative technology recruiter today. At Profiles, we have the resources to connect companies with visual, graphic and digital designer talent, and top design talent with big brands nationwide.
