Your Guide to Design Degrees

Designers bring together technical know-how with a creative drive to create new products, graphics, and ways of presenting and organizing information. The job of a designer, in whatever specialty, is inherently collaborative and creative, as a designer must take input from a client and translate it into the finished product in ways that may not seem obvious at first glance.

Design principles surround us, from how we decorate our homes, to the layout and design of public spaces and architecture, to the structure and content of websites and advertising materials. Every industry has a niche where designers can fill a role, and this guide can help prospective students of design in learning about a field that will never go out of style. 

Quick Facts on Design Careers

  • The designer skill set involves seeing relationships and structure that the average person would pass by. Understanding relationships and needs, identifying critical concepts, and crafting effective solutions are just a few of the essentials needed for successful design.
  • Fashion design? Product design? Medical device design? Interior design? Design for environmental sustainability? The design landscape is one of rapid innovation and evolution, and it pays to look into your industry before committing to designing for it. Look here for a short list of design-heavy industries.
  • Going to school doesn’t just get you an education as a designer, it also gets you exposure. Networking isn’t everything, but once you’ve got the fundamental skills down, it’s way ahead of whatever’s in second place.
  • Salaries can vary widely, in part because of the huge variety of design-related careers, and also in part due to the degree of networking and brand-building that can be necessary to establish a career as a professional designer.
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Education & Training

Unless you’ve got an idea for your own design firm burning a hole in your pocket right now, a bachelor’s degree or higher in design is usually required for entry-level employment in the design industry, although different specializations (and employers) can vary widely in their requirements.

Take graphic design, as presented by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as an example—while a 2-3 year associates degree can be enough, more and more a bachelors will be required to prove you’ve been keeping up to pace on the latest trends and technologies in the field.

Programs in design can be as varied as the students they serve, and the big names in academics don’t always top the list when it comes to something as specialized as design. Check out InsideCollege’s list of the top design schools in the country—sure, Stanford, Harvard and MIT are all up there, but right alongside them are some quality design institutions that you may never have heard of, such as Arizona State University, Babson College and the Cleveland Institute of Art.

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Salary & Career Outlook

Salaries can vary widely, in part because of the huge variety of design-related careers, and also in part due to the degree of networking and brand-building that can be necessary to establish a career as a professional designer.

However, here are some average salaries for designers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

  • Fashion Designer: $61,160
  • Interior Design: $44,950
  • Graphic Designer: $42,400
  • Floral Designer: $23,230

Job prospects in the design area are staying the same or growing overall, with the most new opportunities opening up for graphic designers with web site design and animation experience. Fashion and interior designers can expect fierce competition, as these jobs are highly sought after. Many floral designers only work in that occupation for a limited amount of time, leaving a growing number of opportunities for new professionals.

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What to Look for in a Design Degree Program

  • Faculty and opportunities for mentorship. Most design schools tend to be on the smaller side, either as stand-alone institutions or as part of a larger university. Interactions at a personal level between students and instructors are critical to what you’ll get out of a program in design, so take some time to peruse the biographies of current faculty, and talk with current students about the level of faculty involvement they experience on a daily basis.
  • Academic rigor. Reputation can mean a lot coming out of any academic program, design-related or otherwise. Hiring managers who are familiar with your school’s reputation may pre-judge your job application based on the school where you received your degree, so be careful when choosing what program will be headlining your resume for the foreseeable future.
  • Accreditation. Most design schools are accredited, some aren’t. There’s nothing inherently superior about an accredited school, but it does provide a guaranteed baseline of performance for the quality of the education provided. Many smaller schools of design will provide an equivalent education but can’t afford the administrative overhead to become accredited, so if you’re willing to do some of your own research you might be able to dig out the occasional diamond in the rough by going to a newer school that hasn’t had a chance to jump through the accreditation hoops yet. Just be cautious if the school was once accredited but no longer is, as this can be a sign of academic decline.
  • Alumni. What happened to the alumni from the program you’re considering? Are they successful? Are they famous? Or are they toiling under debt payments for unaffordable student loans? Reading up on a broad spectrum of program alumni (and not just the über-successful standouts) can help you get a grip on how a degree in design can realistically affect your future job application success, earning potential, and lifelong career development.
  • Job placement history. Do graduates of the school go on to secure good jobs? How much do they earn? Do earnings compensate for payments on student debt? Even at a less-than-stellar program, you’ll probably come out making more than you did going in, but at what short-term cost?
  • Student debt. Before even considering what school to go to, it’s probably worthwhile to look into what kind of financial aid can be made available, and how that aid breaks down into grants, loans, deferred interest, and so forth. It’s easy to rack up debt fast at a prestigious design school, and the bills start arriving very soon after graduation.
  • Post-graduate connections and support. Will your school continue to provide career development resources after graduation? Whether through alumni contacts in the design industry, alumni-specific job boards, or other opportunities exclusive to alumni, the support provided by a good design school to recent alumni can be just as valuable as the education itself (and its usually free).
  • Institutional history. What is the history of the design school? With no disrespect intended to newer or smaller schools, there’s a certain safety in an institution that’s been around for centuries, especially as part of a larger academic setting such as a university. Newer schools, on the other hand, are less bound by tradition and can be more open to rapid changes in the design industry, while smaller institutions can allow for greater flexibility and adaptation within their programs.
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Scholarship Resources for Aspiring Designers

  • Careers and Colleges. In exchange for creating a login and entering some personal information, this website will help locate scholarships and financial aid programs that you may qualify for.
  • School Scholarships. This website provides an alternate resource to locate financial aid programs that can help you attend the design school of your choice.
  • NextStudent. The tagline is “College Funding Made Simple”…or at least as simple as a complicated amalgam of grants, loans and deferred interest payments can be. This website takes personal information that you provide, combined with schools in which you are interested, and guides you through the process of calculating financial need and a plan to meet it during and beyond your education.
  • Fastweb is a generic scholarship seeker, whether you’re aiming for design school or any other professional school.
  • Financial Aid Finder is a comprehensive database of scholarship and financial aid packages for a large range of colleges and professional schools throughout the country.
  • My College Options. This website provides access to online databases categorized by several design-related areas of study,  including Architecture, Art, Drafting/CAD, and Graphic Arts/Design.
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Job Search Resources

  • CareerBuilder is a general employment resource for anyone needing to get a resume out there, whether in the design industry or any other career.
  • AIGA.com is a job resource board for designers in need of short-term or contract work.
  • Be creative. The founder of architecture5cents.com didn’t let the recession get in the way of his love for architectural design, and used a novel business model to expand his client base and grow his business amid the recession.
  • Coroflot.com. Advertise yourself by putting your design portfolios online. This probably won’t be enough by itself to snag a job offer, but it provides a handy reference when a prospective employer wants to see some samples of your work.
  • Jobs Radar. Use this search tool to dig up local jobs based on your zip code, and let employers know that you’re out there and in the area.
  • All Graphic Design. This job board provides career opportunities, job listings and other resources for job searches in the field of graphic design.
  • iFreelance. Whether you’re looking to be  dedicated freelancer, or just in need of a little extra income or experience on the side, iFreelance can provide you with the contacts and opportunities necessary to get into freelance design work.
  • Designing Crossing. This website aims to showcase “every design job opening out there”, and while they may not have hit the moon on that one, they’ve at least landed among the stars. Hundreds of job postings, from entry-level design firm jobs to freelance and contract positions, Designing Crossing has something to get every aspiring designer started.
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Explore Related Careers

  • Graphic Design. From logos to branding to major advertising campaigns, it’s hard to imagine any aspect of modern marketing or mass communications that doesn’t require graphic design of one form or another. Video game programming and design, although usually requiring a more in-depth background in computer science, is a field likewise dominated by graphic designers.
  • Web Design. It’s hard for a struggling new business to establish itself these days without an intelligent webpage and web presence, and that’s where web designers come into play. From basic HMTL programming to more complicated database and interface management, anything and everything that goes into a successful website must go through the hands of a competent web designer.
  • Fashion Design. Creativity, glamor, style, a knowledge of fabrics and clothing materials, and intense competition mark the fashion design industry. Within the US, most aspiring fashion designers are concentrated geographically in either New York city or California, and the competition for positions at prestigious design firms in these markets can be cutthroat.
  • Industrial Design. More than any other career in design, industrial design will require additional academic preparation in order for you to be successful in it. Specialization can be early and intense, depending on your target industry—Medical devices? Automotive? Aeronautical?
  • Product Design. From conceptualization, through evaluation, refinement, and eventual construction of new products, product designers seek to combine the scientific and the artistic within their products.
  • Interior Design. Interior design can run the gamut from architecture to art, depending on the designer’s level of specialization and the needs of the client. Everything about building an optimal living space must be taken into account, a true marriage of structural and functional concerns with aesthetic considerations.
  • Architecture. Among all design careers, architecture is the ultimate “measure twice, cut once” kind of job. Precision and planning is highly valued among architects, because their products are expected to stand the test of time. Architects are also some of the most heavily-regulated design professionals, and students must pass through extensive educational and apprenticeship programs before moving on to leading roles in design as licensed architects.
  • Landscape Design. Landscape design is a blend of civil engineering, botany, and art. It seeks to create beautiful and comfortable outdoor environments for people to enjoy, whether in the comfort of their own backyards or in large public spaces.
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Best Cities for Designers to Call Home

  • Austin, TX. Throw together the University of Texas, a city government committed to the arts, and the city’s unofficial mantra to “Keep Austin Weird”, and you can begin to see why Austin made the list of top cities to work in as a designer. Low unemployment and reasonable cost-of-living are important if you’re just starting out as a designer. 
  • Los Angeles, CA. Before it began moving mostly overseas in the 70’s, the US garment industry was based heavily in LA, and that history has left an imprint on the area. As one of the largest media markets in the US (the biggest on the West Coast), and the heart of the US entertainment industry, LA also provides a myriad of opportunities for getting your name out there as a designer of whatever stripe.
  • New York, NY. If you’re an aspiring fashion designer, it’ll be hard to pass up the runways and showrooms of the Big Apple. The market for new, cutting-edge fashion designers (and the people who support them behind the scenes) may be huge, but it’s also hyper-competitive. If you want to design in New York, it’s go big or go home (unless you’re from New York in the first place, in which case what’s there to lose?).
  • Paris, France. In a similar vein to New York for fashion design, only more so. The classiest of the classy in world fashion debuts on the runways in Paris, and many of the world’s biggest fashion labels are headquartered in or near Paris.
  • Portland, OR. The former “Stumptown” is one of the most bike-friendly cities in the US, and takes pride in design and engineering for sustainability on a civic scale—the public ethos strives to be an intimate environment for fostering design creativity and innovation. For you fashionistas out there, the winner of Project Runway Season 7, Seth Aaron Henderson, runs his design business out of his home in the Portland suburb of Vancouver, Washington—and even in the face of his new-found fame and success, he has no inclination to relocate outside the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
  • Raleigh, NC. The Raleigh-Durham metropolitan area, and more generally central North Carolina, have been a leading hub of technological and design innovation for decades. The area is home to some of the most prolific academic R&D (research and development) institutions in the country, among them Duke University in Durham, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University in Raleigh, and Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem.
  • San Francisco, CA. When it comes to electronics, graphics innovation, medical and bio-technologies, the San Francisco Bay Area is hard to beat for aspiring designers. More medical device start-ups have been founded within the bay area than in any other region in the world (although Minneapolis and Boston haven’t been far behind). San Francisco’s vibrant counterculture is symbolic of the creativity and free-thinking nature that leads to great new ideas and exciting design concepts.
  • Seattle, WA. Spurred by the success of homegrown Amazon.com, Boeing and Microsoft, the emerald city is a promising originator of design careers in the high tech industry, whether graphics designers, aero/astro design engineers or computer scientists and product designers.   
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