Graphic Design Jobs: Career Paths to Explore

Working in graphic design offers many different job paths. You can work as a web designer, illustrator, animator, or product developer and use your graphic design skills to be a creative director, production artist, art director, marketing specialist, or brand designer. 

It also tends to pay higher-than-average salaries. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that the median salary for graphic designers in the US is $58,910 with the top 10 percent of graphic designers making more than $100,450 per year [1]. Take a look at five types of jobs you can pursue in graphic design, as well as the skills and software knowledge you need to work in graphic design.

5 graphic design career paths to consider

Within the field of graphic design, you might choose to work in web and mobile design or print design and publication. Consider these industries to pursue a career as a graphic designer:

• User interface design

• Print, publication, and layout design

• Infographics and data visualizations

• Marketing

Increasingly, many of these jobs use GenAI skills, which are only going to grow in demand over the coming years. Consider strengthening your skill set with the University of Michigan's AI for Creative Work Specialization. Over three courses, you'll explore AI's relationship to creativity as you learn how to use this technology sustainably and successfully.

1. User interface (UI) design

As a user interface (UI) designer for web and mobile, you can create designs for websites and apps. You may work on projects such as app and website design, game interfaces, and landing pages. Additional responsibilities include:

• Using technologies to create functional websites

• Ensuring sites are easy to navigate 

• Incorporating the needs of users and clients

• Translating a brand's image into colors, fonts, graphics, and layouts

• Presenting content to clients or other stakeholders

• Updating websites as needed

Web and mobile designers can work for large or small companies, and some work remotely as freelancers.

Read more: What Is a User Interface (UI) Designer?

2. Print, publication, and layout design 

As a graphic designer specializing in print, publication, and layout design, you would need good typography and photo editing skills and a good grasp of color theory. You would need to know what images work best in print-ready copy.

Some of the material you may work on includes:

• Book covers

• Greeting cards

• Newspaper and magazine layouts

• Museum exhibit catalogs

• Menus

• Brochures

• Album covers

• Apparel

• Stationery

• Business cards

• Ad designs and layouts

Newspapers and magazines need graphic designers to layout pages, create ads, and typeset. Job opportunities are also available with advertising and public relations agencies. 

3. Brand identity and logo design

As a logo designer, you can create logos to match the personality of businesses or organizations. The goal of the logo is to have instant brand recognition. Nike, FedEx, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Apple are examples of recognizable logo designs. 

Read more: What Is a Brand Strategy? And How to Create One

4. Infographics and data visualizations

In this field of graphic design, you can work with large data sets to make information understandable and accessible to the general public through infographics or data visualizations. 

• Infographics: Visual representations of facts, stats, and other information that tell a story and draw conclusions or show relationships among items. For example, you might create infographics for marketing content, blog posts, case studies, or resumes.

• Data visualizations: Visual representations of data are organized to make it easier to understand and analyze. Common places you may create data visualizations include user dashboards on apps, reports, newsletters, and editorials. Data visualization and infographic designers can benefit from background knowledge and experience with data science. 

Read more: 17 Data Science Podcasts to Listen To

5. Marketing

If you enjoy behavioral psychology and consumer behavior, marketing and advertising design offer careers focused on understanding consumer purchasing habits. You may work with ad campaigns that can involve print and digital advertising, social media graphics, posters, banners, marketing emails, and brochures. 

Graphic design jobs

Consider these graphic design jobs, what they do, their salary, and job outlook:

1. Advertising designer

Median annual US salary (Glassdoor): $66,449 [2]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 3 percent [3]

As a marketing and advertising designer, you can work with a team of other professionals and clients to create effective ad campaigns. You may research current trends and your target market's characteristics and needs to know how best to influence them. In addition, you may work directly for a company or organization, an ad agency, or as a freelancer. 

2. Art director

Median annual US salary (Glassdoor): $89,358 [4]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 6 percent [5]

Art directors work in various industries, such as print, magazines, packaging, and film and TV productions, and they create and direct a design aesthetic with their team. They choose the artistic medium to render a look and manage the graphic designers, illustrators, and artists who bring the rendering to life. They also work with clients to follow budgets and meet project deadlines. 

3. Brand identity or logo designer

Median annual US salary (Glassdoor): $79,523 [6]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 3 percent [3]

Brand identity designers create the entire look and feel of a company’s visual presence by designing color palettes, typography, and other design elements. As a brand identity designer, you would also typically define a brand's strategy and guidelines. 

4. Freelance graphic designer

Median annual US salary (Glassdoor): $55,942 [7]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 3 percent [3]

Freelance graphic designers perform the same tasks as graphic designers, but they work for themselves, working with their own clients on various kinds of projects. Developing a portfolio with an agency or other company is a helpful step to becoming a freelance graphic designer. If you’re looking for a more flexible schedule or want a remote graphic design job, becoming a freelancer gives you those possibilities. 

5. Layout artist

Median annual US salary (Glassdoor): $66,560 [8]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 3 percent [3]

Layout artists use graphic design software and skills to create printed media layouts for advertising, PR, publishing companies, and magazines. They work on all kinds of media, such as books, posters, and magazines, to find the most aesthetically pleasing way to get all text and images onto the required materials. 

6. UI designer

Median annual US salary (Glassdoor): $83,560 [9]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 15 percent [10]

UI designers, sometimes referred to as digital designers, develop the look and ensure the usability of a website or other digital user interface. They work with the user experience (UX) designer to bring the customer journey to life through the creation of buttons, images, colors, and typography to achieve the interface’s aesthetic and usability goals. 

Read more: How to Learn Graphic Design: 7 Steps to Build Your Skills

How to get remote graphic design jobs?

If you want to choose your own hours but work in a creative profession like graphic design, a remote position gives you both. Follow these steps if you want remote graphic design jobs:

1. Get a graphic design degree or gain experience.

2. Make a graphic design portfolio and resume.

3. Display your work and services on a personal website.

4. Consider using social media to build a brand.

5. Find companies and job boards that hire remote graphic designers.

How to get a job in graphic design

The qualifications and requirements needed to begin a career in graphic design depend on the type of design and the employer’s needs. The steps below detail a career path for a graphic designer:

1. Get an education. 

Educational requirements for graphic designers vary by position. A degree isn’t always necessary if you are creative, have good knowledge of design principles and programs, and have a strong portfolio. A graphic design degree can put you ahead of the competition and offer you the chance to start building a strong portfolio. You can also learn color and design fundamentals, animated graphics, color theory, typography, and web design. 

Some educational programs available include:

• Micro certification: This certification provides you with the skills necessary to work in graphic design. The programs are generally taught at colleges and universities and require completing a set number of credit hours. 

• Associate degree: You can sometimes complete an associate degree online, and it typically takes two years to complete. 

• Bachelor of Arts degree: This liberal arts degree program helps you learn theory, technique, and application. This can typically take four years.

• Bachelor of Fine Arts degree: This degree program focuses on graphic design fundamentals and often offers opportunities for internships and work-study programs. This option can typically take four years.

2. Gain graphic design skills. 

Graphic designers need to have a good command of color theory and typography for selecting aesthetically pleasing serif and sans-serif font combinations. You may want to be comfortable using design software and all its available tools and command shortcuts. Explore software such as:

• Adobe Photoshop: Adobe Photoshop is a popular program used in graphic design for photo editing, digital art, animation, and web design. It has a variety of tools and is compatible with Windows or macOS.

• Adobe Illustrator: Adobe Illustrator is a vector-based graphic design software program used to create business cards, logos, and posters and is compatible with Photoshop. 

• Adobe InDesign: Adobe InDesign is primarily for layout and page design by newspapers and magazines for print and digital media. InDesign is compatible with Photoshop and Illustrator.

• Canva: Canva is an online program with templates for creating Facebook and Instagram graphics and stories, banners, posters, and brochures. Canva offers hundreds of templates and tools.

• WordPress: WordPress is a popular web-building program that professional web and mobile designers use because it offers many free and customizable templates. 

The type of work you might do as a graphic designer determines the program you may use, and some designers may use multiple programs, depending on the project.

3. Showcase your work and skills in your portfolio and resume. 

When you seek a graphic design position, you want a strong portfolio showcasing your best work. Because so much of your work might be internet-based, you want a website so prospective employers can view your portfolio. Be sure to add a link to your resume or LinkedIn profile.

4. Gain experience as you progress in your career. 

Employers often look for candidates with experience. If you’re just starting out, consider using volunteer work and internships as credentials. Volunteering to create a logo or poster for local businesses or organizations is an avenue for gaining experience. 

Build graphic design skills with Coursera

With a career in graphic design, you can unleash your creativity and imagination while helping clients with their design needs. Earn a Professional Certificate in UX Design from Google. Or learn more about this diverse career choice in the Graphic Design Specialization offered by the California Institute of Arts.