What Does Digital Design Training Look Like?

There are various specialties in the digital design field, including game design and development, graphic design, visual communications, and digital animation. Of course, the specific degree you choose depends on your desired career path. There are various digital design courses that you will take as your earn any digital design degree, including the following:

•    Layout Design
•    Graphic Design
•    3-D Modeling and Animation
•    Digital Photography

The length of your program–and which specific digital design courses you’ll take–depends on whether you choose to earn an associate’s degree or a bachelor’s degree. Your digital design courses can give you the right knowledge and experience, as well as valuable portfolio samples.

What Careers Does a Digital Design Degree Prepare Me For?

Any job you choose in digital design will likely be a specialization in one of the following areas:

•   Graphic Design: As a graphic designer, you create visual communications for advertising, magazine layouts, book illustrations, or Web sites. You design packaging, logos, and signs for businesses. Most entry-level careers in graphic design require an associate’s or bachelor’s degree in digital or graphic design. You have to have an eye for balance and color, and additional courses in psychology, culture studies, and communication can also be helpful as you design images to convey messages. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment in this area is growing as fast as the national average between 2006 and 2016, and the median annual salary is $46,750.
•    Multi-Media Animation: In this field, you help design 3-D animation and visual effects in movies and computer games. This career is growing faster than any other art career: 26 percent growth between 2006 and 2016–much faster than the national average, according to the BLS. The field is competitive, so a passion for your job, a great portfolio, and up-to-date digital design training are all essential. For most jobs, a bachelor’s degree in a digital-design-related field is required. But the career training pays off, since the median annual salary for multi-media artists is $62,380, according to the BLS. Of course, you aren’t limited to working just in movies or video games; many corporations, Web sites, and advertisers require some kind of digital animation to communicate a message or promote a product.

What the Benefits of Earning a Degree Online?

Flexibility is the major advantage of earning your degree online. You can study when it’s convenient for you from any place with Internet access. If you have obligations such as family or full-time work that keep you from being able to attend traditional classes, online digital design courses offer a convenient alternative.

Completing digital design training is essential to starting a career in this field. Make sure you know your strengths, and look into online degree programs carefully to select the right one. Education and experience go a long way toward helping you start your ideal job.

Design used to be a pen-and-paper field, with workers spending hours over logos and designs we may still recognize today. With increasingly sophisticated technology, however, digital designers can complete tasks more efficiently than ever before.

Necessary Training for a High-Tech Art
The benefits of digitized design are obvious: designers can work from home on projects. Freelance designers can move from project to project without giving up months of their time. Projects can be completed faster and modified more easily to meet the changing needs of clients.

With all that convenience, however, comes some necessary requirements. Education and training become more important as computer-aided design programs grow more sophisticated. With workers aspiring to enter the field, competition increases, and a strong portfolio becomes essential for employment.

Popular Digital Design Specializations
Your focused digital design training depends highly on your individual educational and career goals. The Bureau of Labor Statistics recommends a bachelor’s degree for those interested in entry-level design positions, and notes that those with Web design and animation experience are expected to see the best job opportunities.

Certificates and degrees in desktop publishing and graphic design are recommended for aspiring desktop publishers, who largely work with newspaper, periodical, book, and directory publishers.

Coursework in Digital Design
Though all educational programs are different, students of digital design should expect to receive a standard education including coursework relevant to the industry. Courses may include animated Web graphics, developing a corporate identity through design, optimizing website performance, effective uses of typography, and more.

Typical Digital Design Salaries
Desktop publishers earned an average of $37,470 in 2007, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Those working for advertising and related services earned slightly more, at $42,840. That same year, graphic designers earned $45,340. The portfolio-building experience you earn with a degree in digital design can have real rewards in the competitive design and publishing industries.

Improve Your Portfolio
Do you already have a basic knowledge of the programs and techniques you need to become a Flash animator, Web designer, art director, or computer illustrator? You may still need the fundamentals only offered by formal education. Career training in digital design can give you portfolio experience, a chance to build the body of work you’ll eventually show to hiring managers and potential clients.

Even if you have some existing knowledge of the industry, an education offers proof of your talent, commitment, and experience to potential employers. A digital design degree offers much more than an art-school education–rather, it can create a foundation for the rest of your career.