Graphic Design, the rising industry that has many new jobs being created everyday and even more applications for it.
“The field is exponentially growing. We live in a visual world and increasingly, visual information is outweighing the rest.” Daniel Whipple, art teacher at Oswego High School, said in an interview. And this is totally true people are using things like photoshop and illustrator to create yearbooks, ads, T-Shirts, logos, or even touch up old photos to recolorize them.
Just at Oswego High School each semester there are roughly 150 students in graphic design classes and about 425 students in classes that use or could use graphic design. These classes include digital art, design, web, AP and of course graphics classes.
And these classes aren’t just for fun. The graphic design career is “creative, fun and allows people working in the industry to stay connected to the current trends” Marie Strejc-Wood, an OHS graphic design teacher, said but it doesn’t mean that it isn’t hard work. To have a job in this career means keeping up with the trends and changes going on. Careers and jobs for this industry are still and probably will forever be growing.
“Technology keeps it strong, game design ,illustration design, advertising design and so much more fall within the graphics umbrella” Marie Strejc-Wood said. And not only did Mrs. Strejc-Wood have something to say about the career becoming a stronger industry so did Mr. Whipple, “ It is a competitive field especially since popularity has skyrocketed but there is a lot of options out there.” The graphic design field has only expanded in recent years with things like character design in video games all the way to things like memes or photo editing.
And this career will only keep changing with new innovations and new software being developed. But graphic design is something we see everyday in our lives and it influences us, from things we see on to TV to things we buy because we like the way it looks. ”It is a lot of power and a lot of responsibility. Graphic Designers guide humanity through life.” Mr. Whipple said about his thoughts on the career. But not only is it a lot of responsibility, Mrs. Strejc-Wood said “it’s a great career path for people that love to be creative and work with their hands, imagination and technology.”
Plus there are many great colleges to go to for graphic design. They are all over the country and there are even a few nearby. Colleges like Northwestern are all leading the way into the future of what graphic design can be. Majors can be anything close to advertising, design, photography, or even animation because all of these things use graphic design. Graphic design isn’t just one thing and it is always being redefined.
Graphic Design is a very diverse career that could be great for anyone! And just because you aren’t good with one aspect of graphic design doesn’t mean you have to give up, keep going at what you’re good at and maybe you could make it your career one day. So next time you are signing up for classes think about signing up for a graphic design class.
Student Publication of Oswego High School, Oswego, IL
