I've always wondered where my future is taking me and what career would be the best fit for me and the lifestyle I would like to have. I choose to take a look into the careers that interest me the most, which are, Graphic designer, illustrator and a Business owner. I think all would fit with my personality but I wanted to know which one would help me have a stable and secure salary with my future plans.
When researching careers to fit my level of creativity and originality I decided to look at graphic design. Graphic design is new and up to date with current trends, which makes the job more creative and flexible with projects. Salary for a graphic designer can vary with work experience and level of education. This would mean that skilled graphic designers would have a yearly income of about $80,000, and average skilled, basic graphic designers would make around $30,000 ("Do Graphic Designers Get Paid Well?"). In my personal opinion I don't think 80,000 is enough to live the way I want comfortably, single with maybe a child in the future. Based on my parents financial situation being middle class and both of my parents making more than 80,000 is why my opinion is that this salary is too low. Levels of education are basic to be a graphic designer, with only requiring a bachelor's degree ("Do Graphic Designers Get Paid Well?"). Bachelor's degrees can be earned in an average 4 under-graduate colleges. Also along with a bachelor's degree, colleges recommend that students take a fundamental art and or design course before applying or planning to be a graphic designer ("How To Become a Graphic Designer: NewSchool."). I think this is standard and understandable to go to college for 4 years, find yourself and figure out what you're doing next. I don't think this really changes the way I think about graphic design as a future career since I'm already planning on attending college for four years. The demand for graphic designers in the future plans to decline by 4 percent by 2029, due to increased number of workers and not enough jobs ("Graphic Designers : Occupational Outlook Handbook.") The demand for Graphic designers is located in high populated areas, big cities, and or big companies ("Graphic Designers : Occupational Outlook Handbook."). This means that the salary I'm making has to be able to help me maintain a practical life in a city where I'll mostly find a job for my future career ("Graphic Designers : Occupational Outlook Handbook."). The geographic availability of the job is anywhere typically in need of business from a graphic designer. High populated areas tend to have a higher demand for graphic designers, so places like San Francisco, CA, New York, NY, Bridgeport, CT, Framingham, MA and Los Angeles, CA are more likely going to have more jobs available for graphic designers (Pen). These locations are more pricey when it comes to living expenses, since the population is increased and houses are limited. This means that salary wouldn't go as far in higher populated areas than in a suburban neighborhood, and I'm most likely going to have to live in a city apartment/ townhouse. Other benefits with a bachelor's degree is that I can venture into different careers after college. These other careers that also require a bachelor's degree are, Art Director, Marketing Manager, and or Artist/Animator ect. ("How To Become a Graphic Designer: NewSchool."). Marketing Manager is another option I'm considering going to college for as my future career so knowing that I can do either with the same degree is great.
Another career I research as my future possible career is being an illustrator. This job spoke to me as being a practical job for me since I'm artistic, creative and loving a challenge. I think that my creative ability would allow me to work up to my full potential. The salary of an illustrator is averaged to be around $50,000, depending on jobs worked during the year (Donohoe). This would be stressful to me, making below the wage I would like to. I think that the wage is too low for me to live off of and feel stable. Also times when jobs are low and illustrators aren't being hired, I would have a hard time finding a stable placement in a job. This means that the wage and job availability is limited and temporary so this would increase stress levels with this job. As an illustrator you don't need a particular degree, you can be self taught, Art class taught and also degrees are acceptable from art schools (Donohoe). This means that you can be flexible with education before starting your career as an illustrator (Donohoe). This seems nice giving me a chance to breathe and enjoy life in college while planning my future calming. Illustrators can take classes in college for graphic design and in computer design courses to help them later on with their career (Donohoe). Businesses look for Illustrators to have an associates degree prior to hiring (Donohoe). This would be helpful because I would be able to choose which career path to take after college with graphic design and illustration both requiring an associate's degree with art classes. The demand for Illustrators is expected to grow by less than 10 percent and that will lead to long term job spots for illustrators to be hired (Donohoe). This means that in my future illustrators will be in higher demand if the economy continues to grow and succeed. The higher the economy grows the more money people will have to spend on art (Donohoe). Working as an illustrator can be adventurous and unstable at times, you constantly have to be looking for work as an artist, you are your own small business (Maltby). This can be an advantage and a disadvantage working for yourself in ways that can make life easier and harder. Working for yourself makes hours, days and time off flexible, but everything you do depends on you. This works well with other benefits of being an illustrator, like you can also run your own small business. Working on your own as an illustrator finding small projects can be frustrating at times but can be independent and you have complete control and freedom of the jobs you take on (Maltby). This is flexible for ways to increase your salary by making and selling your own books and making your own illustrating business. No matter where you work you need to pick a location where work is needed. In places where you settle or live you need to be able to find jobs and listings that can help you maintain your salary and financial needs in the area (Maltby). With technology now you can really work from anywhere and digitally send your work around to other companies (Maltby). This will help with choosing a place that works for you and finding jobs quicker and easier.
Being a business owner has personally been one of my biggest dreams and I think still is the most practical for me as a young creative fun spirit eager to get my art into the world. In my research I looked at the average income of a business owner and ranged from the lowest salary being $29,000 to the highest being $160,000, adverging around $59,000 for most successful small businesses (Gregory). This is scary because business can be stressful and if not in the right location or selling popular products in the area business can be a disaster quickly. Education is not required for owning your own business, although permits are required (Gregory). This means that no education is needed and college debt would be an issue since college isn't needed. Is it recommended to go through some business courses to know how to run a business successfully (Gregory). The demand for businesses around the world is growing for the future and is planned to be close to 10% growth for self owned businesses (Gregory). I think this is great for me to set up a plan to own a business and personalize my art to be sold in stores I own. Artists can sell their art in my store and I can make a living off of art and even illstruate while having free time between running and managing my business. Your business goods and products should match and be practical with the buyers and placement of your store so that your store is successful in selling and creating revenue ("Geographic Segmentation: Definition, Characteristics and Examples."). This would depend on where I decided to settle and a location would be chosen carefully where people would pass and see my store. Other benefits with owning a small business would be I would have the freedom to work on other projects during the time I was owning business. I would still be able to be an illustrator or even a graphic designer and collaborate with other brands and such. With the freedom of owning a business I can choose location, employees, other stores around the country, products, prices ect, ("Take Online Courses. Earn College Credit. Research Schools, Degrees & Careers.").
In conclusion, I do think that with all the research and information I found about Graphic designers, Illustrators and business owners, business owners will give me the freedom and stability that I need in a career. To meet my security and finals needs I need something like a store I can depend on or fall back on while working on side projects to make extra cash.
