Talented individuals with creative minds often aspire to become graphic designers, and one question they often ask is, “Do graphic designers work on movies or only on still pictures?” The answer to that commonly asked question is yes. Graphic designers use their talent in many different ways and many different industries. Many people watch action-packed movies or classic television shows from the past without realizing they are watching work performed by graphic designs. Here is an overview of graphic designers, what they do in their careers as well as career potential.
What Graphic Designers Do
Graphic designers do work on still pictures and movies, but they also do many other tasks as part of their job, depending on the company in which they work. They design visual concepts to portray certain ideas and thoughts. They may draw some of their designs by hand or may use computer software programs. Their visual concepts may include fonts, numbers, images, graphics, logos and illustrations.
Many people don’t realize that when they see large billboards alongside the highways, graphic designers created the designs on the billboards. Their knowledge and proficiency with layout software, photo editing software and digital illustration make graphic designers highly in demand because advertising, branding and marketing are so important for the success of a business.
Types of Graphic Design
Graphic designs can be found in all areas of our lives, whether we’re watching our favorite program at home, participating in a marathon or reading the newspaper. Here are some basic types of graphic design:
- Visual Identity Graphic Design involves communicating the face of a brand through shapes, images and colors.
- Marketing and Advertising Graphic Design involves helping companies advertise their products through the use of flyers and postcards, infographics, banners, posters and billboards, email marketing, digital and print brochures, trade show displays, signs, social media ads, websites, and newspaper or magazine ads.
- User Interface Graphic Design involves communicating with users with interfaces such as app designs, game interfaces web page designs, and theme designs such as Shopify or WordPress.
- Publication Graphic Design involves communicating with an audience with public distributions like magazines, newspapers, books and catalogs.
- Packaging Graphic Design involves product packaging to educate others about the use of the product and may include labels, photographs, scans and illustrations.
- Motion Graphic Design is a relatively new graphic design specialty that involves using graphics that are in motion, such as videos, audios, animation, imagery, typography and similar effects that are used in films, video games, GIFs, websites, television and online media.
- Environmental Graphic Design involves connecting people with places and making places more pleasant and memorable by using office branding, signage, murals, conference spaces, and public transportation navigation.
- Art and Illustration for Graphic Design is similar to regular graphic design but uses artwork to illustrate a story or get across a point, such as in graphic novels, motion graphics, t-shirt designs, graphic textile patterns, comic books, websites, album art and technical illustrations.
Graphic Designers Working on Movies
The work of graphic designers is seen in almost every movie watched but most probably don’t realize it. Yet, graphic designers play an important role in helping to make the movies more appealing to the audience. The contribution that graphic designers make to the movie industry goes much further than just creating posters and billboards to advertise the movie. Although, these do play an important role in communicating the idea of the movie to the public.
In many movies, most of the logos or illustrations we see throughout a movie are the work of graphic designers. While watching a rerun of Little House on the Prairie, we see baking goods in old-time cans. Graphic designers are the ones who create the can labels to portray that they are from a certain time. Even with action-packed movies, graphic designers have created the images that go into the action parts of the movie.
Career Outlook & Wage Potential
The career outlook for graphic designers in terms of job growth varies by the industry and the job according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Graphic designers overall should see a three percent growth in jobs between 2018 and 2028. Those working in computer systems design, however, should see a growth of up to 24 percent during the same decade.
Graphic designers working for publishers that sell hard-copy newspapers, books and brochures could see a decline of 22 percent because of the increasing use of digital media. Overall, graphic designers are still projected to experience good job growth. As of May 2018, graphic designers earned an average annual wage of $54,680, but wages can also go as low as $29,610 or as high as $85,760.
Graphic designers are such a diverse and talented group of professionals; they can usually find jobs in various industries. Those who choose to work in movies and television shows have the opportunities to put their talents and education to use providing exciting entertainment for the world while earning a good wage.
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