Do you have notebooks full of elaborate doodles and handicraft projects stuffed in every corner of your closets? Do you automatically imagine better furniture arrangements when you visit a friend’s house for the first time? Do you lull yourself to sleep at night thinking about how you’d redesign your favorite cafe’s website?
Sounds like you’ve got it: The designer’s itch. Don’t worry! You won’t need a prescription ointment or antibiotics to cure it. What you need is an outlet for your creativity—and the good news is that high paying jobs for artists actually exist! With some tech skills, that “creative outlet” can be a seriously lucrative career. As in “$90k lucrative!”
And you can choose from so many different roles and jobs for creative people within the field of design. Here are 9 examples of real-life designer jobs that will make you almost six figures—not to mention give your artistic nature what it needs to thrive.
To earn the highest salaries in design and land the most lucrative jobs for artists, you’ll of course need some experience and strong skills too. But it’s definitely doable, and it’s definitely an interesting and rewarding path to choose. So, read on to find out what you’ll be doing in your new dream career and what you need to get those high paying jobs for creative people ASAP.
And if you are pumped about these jobs for creative people but not sure you have the skills you need to work as a designer in tech (or what that even means!) sign up for our free email course, the 10-Day Coding Bootcamp. You’ll get all the basics on what it means to code and work in tech.
Graphic Designer
You might be most familiar with this title when you think about doing visual design work and jobs for artists. Graphic designer is a term that’s been around for decades to describe people who create mainly print designs, for everything from packaging labels to magazine ads. What makes this position different nowadays is all the tools and systems around to make creating visual assets infinitely easier—and more fun! And of course many of today’s texts are the ones you read online so you’ll be designing for the digital space too.
Skills you’ll need: design (especially typography and color theory), Adobe Creative Suite, illustration, wireframing
Actual job you could get:
Graphic designer, The Black Tux (Santa Monica, CA)
Digital Designer
In digital design, you’ll be creating web pages, websites, emails, infographics, icons, and more—all to get messages across on screen. This is a fantastic chance to turn your creative inspirations into practical ways of helping marketing, social media, and communication teams express their ideas or pass on information.
Skills you’ll need: design, typography, Adobe Creative Suite, HTML and CSS, JavaScript and jQuery
Actual job you could get:
Digital Designer, Yext (New York, NY)
Visual Designer
As a visual designer, you’ll put your keen eye to work to create a unified expression of the spirit of brands and products. Your goal is to make all the visual aspects fit together so you should feel at home with everything from print to photography and ready to turn your ideas into amazing visual experiences of all types.
Skills you’ll need: design, UX, Adobe Creative Suite, illustration, photography
Actual job you could get:
Sr. Visual Designer, True & Co. (San Francisco, CA)
Product Designer
Product designers are true problem solvers. They look at the big picture of what users want from a product and the details of how companies can make it, and then they come up with solutions that work well and look great, too! So, consider this career if you can understand both customer needs and business demands, plus you’re ready to sweat the details of how it all fits together. It’s a challenge to turn visions into reality, but the end results can be legendary. (Think Jony Ive’s iconic Apple products.)
Skills you’ll need: design, mockups, illustration, animation, Adobe Creative Suite, possibly HTML and CSS, and JavaScript and jQuery
UI Designer
Making things look and feel just right is the task of UI (user interaction) designers. That means your goal will be to make it easy and enjoyable for users to find what they’re looking for on a web page, from a website, or within an application. And, by understanding the psychology behind what makes users enjoy a site or app, you can make their online experience so enjoyable that they’ll want to stick around even longer!
Skills you’ll need: wireframing, user flows, site maps, prototyping, animation, Photoshop, HTML and CSS, JavaScript and jQuery
UX Designer
Ready to dig into what people do and why? Then try UX (user experience) design. You’ll research and analyze how users interact with your site or app to help develop and improve it. This is a role that requires constant collaboration with developers so you shouldn’t shy away from coding if you’re thinking about UX.
Skills you’ll need: user research and analysis, prototyping, mockups, wireframing, Adobe Creative Suite, HTML and CSS, JavaScript and jQuery
Actual job you could get:
UX Designer, thirteen23 (Austin, TX)
Mobile Designer
You gotta admit that you look at your phone at least ::cough:: a zillion times a day, right? So, why not get in on the mobile revolution by designing for those devices? You’ll be putting your creative juices to work and have the satisfaction of knowing that you gave someone a beautiful experience on their phone or tablet.
Skills you’ll need: design and responsive design, wireframes, mockups, Adobe Creative Suite, HTML and CSS, JavaScript and jQuery, understanding of mobile systems like Android and iOS
Actual job you could get:
Mobile Designer, The Climate Corporation (Chicago, IL or Seattle, WA or San Francisco, CA)
Motion Graphics Designer
I know you adore BB8 as much as I do, but what if it was *your job* to bring adorable characters like him to life? Whaaa? Too good to be true? Not if you’re a master of motion graphics design. In that field, you’ll animate all kinds of creatures and creations as well as create the visual versions of them for packaging, advertising, online outlets, and so much more.
Skills you’ll need: design, mockups, illustration, Adobe Creative Suite, animation tools and technology
Actual job you could get:
Motion Graphics Designer, Sphero (Boulder, CO)
Creative Lead
If you’re one of those special artists who also loves bringing people together to get a job done, your dream career could be as a creative lead. You’ll be in charge of teams of designers, helping them to work together and with other departments to come up with the designs needed throughout a company or agency.
Understanding both the day-to-day work and excelling at relationship building and coordination are the superpowers you’ll need to bring to this role.
Skills you’ll need: experience with and understanding of all areas of design and the tools and technology, creative vision, organizational and leadership talents
Actual job you could get:
Creative Lead, Beyond (Mountain View, CA)
If any or all of these jobs for creative people spark your interest, but you still need the skills to land the job, sign up for our free email course, the 10-Day Coding Bootcamp. You’ll get a chance to dip your toe into the water of the tech industry and find out if it could be a fit for you. Spoiler alert: you’ll be surprised at how approachable learning tech skills can be!
And if you’re ready to dive in head first, check out our Skillcrush Career Blueprints. You can build your foundation, create your own portfolio, and get your first paycheck(!) with our Web Designer Blueprint. And, when you’re ready to take it to the next level, our Front End Developer Blueprint will give you the hottest skills in responsive development. And you’ll be on your way to $90k in no time!
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