When you hear a term like “design,” you know it’s very general. Design can mean one thing to an individual and something completely different to someone else. However, if you enjoy design, you can leverage that and make it into a career in many different industries.
Let’s look at some design careers that you might choose to pursue. If you like design and want a creative job that never gets boring, you can probably find one with a little luck and persistence.
Video Ad Creator
You might work for a company that creates video ads. Many such companies exist these days since lots of business entities want to create unique videos as part of marketing campaigns. These jobs can pay pretty well, and you’ll get to experience different projects since you’ll never make two identical video ads.
You can create video ads that are compatible with the most popular platforms. You might make some that the company which hired you can feature on their social media accounts. They may showcase them on Meta, YouTube, Twitter, or elsewhere.
Each ad you make further establishes you as an industry expert. You can create a portfolio and use it to attract more high-end clients with bigger ad budgets.
You can either work for a video ad creation company, or you might work as a freelancer if you crave the freedom that comes with that. You can make your own schedule and only take on the jobs you want.
Interior Decorator
If you like designing things, you might use that to launch an interior decorating career. Some people think that interior decorating just involves picking out a couple of throw pillows and vases and installing them in a room for someone too lazy to do it themselves. It takes a lot more than that, though, which is why the best interior designers can command such high prices.
Interior decoration for individuals with money means setting up a home so that it’s as inviting as possible. They might provide you with a budget and describe an aesthetic they’re trying to attain. They may bring celebrities over for events at their house, such as political fundraisers.
Choosing how to use a space is an art form, and not just anyone can do it. You might create an interactive living space that conveys a certain mood that’s uniquely your own but still follows the directives your client gave you.
UX Designer
The term UX means user experience. You probably have several of them every day, even if you don’t necessarily know about them. You go through a user experience every time you visit a website.
A UX designer is kind of like a website designer, but it is not quite the same thing. If you work doing UX design, you usually look at existing business websites and interact with them. You then take notes on how to improve UX, which generally means restructuring or otherwise tweaking a site so that the average user will have an easier time interacting with it.
Companies will pay top dollar to hire the best UX designers. They count on your knowing how to use the latest analytics-based tools to figure out why someone might not enjoy interacting with their company website. They’ll want to know why a site visitor might not convert when they’re thinking about buying a product.
As a UX designer, you can either work for a company, or you can strike out on your own. With a company, you often get benefits like healthcare, but you might like the freedom that comes with the freelance lifestyle. If you can get better website engagement for each one of your clients, you can use that track record to command a higher price for your services.
App Designer
If you enjoy design and are good with computers, you might become an app designer. Many companies need apps for their business. They might start with a website that users can access on a laptop, tablet, or desktop. They’ll graduate to an app at some point because they know how many potential customers like using applications when they’re shopping for something on the go.
App designers need to have many computer skills. You need to know how to create an application from scratch that perfectly matches what a company needs. You’ll need to understand how much to charge a company to create that app, and you might have to work as part of a team if you’re making a larger and more complex application.
App designers usually work as freelance operatives since they’ll create one company’s app and then move on to the next one. However, you can also maintain relationships with businesses since they’ll likely need you to update and maintain that app as time passes.
Website Designer
Website designers also get to flex some creative muscle in their day-to-day lives. They might start by using a template from WordPress or Wix, but then they’ll use feedback their client gave them to build that site from the ground up.
That means choosing the theme, word font, color scheme, and other elements. You likely won’t write the site copy, but you might. If so, you can charge your client even more for that.
You can add site elements like drop-down menus, a landing page with social media buttons and a company logo above the fold, an “about us” section, a company blog, product pages, contact information, and more. If you make a site and take it live, you’ll get to see something you created out there in the world where people can interact with it. That’s an exciting feeling you’ll likely cherish.
You can do something like graphic design if you like design and the creative lifestyle. You might choose user interface designer or photographer as a career. Maybe something like animator or multimedia artist appeals to you. You will likely find that many more lucrative design careers exist than you might have suspected.