The history of design dates back to pre-historic times when ancient people would draw on caves to communicate their thoughts and ideas to others. Today, we’re seeing a global use of design in the widest possible sense.
It’s certain that design will always have a place in the world. However, its concept is changing, and industries are rushing to adapt to the new consumer demands. That’s why some design careers are more prosperous than others.
In this article, we’ll explore the options that are here to stay, and then we’ll have a short overview of design jobs that may not remain popular for long.
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Design Careers of the Future to Pay Attention To
Below are the top careers for designers that are here to stay.
Digital Product Design
Whether you register on a website, shop for a gadget, or use your smartphone, you’ll encounter digital products everywhere. This can be an image, video, app, smart gadget, and just about anything that catches your attention online. Businesses are well aware of the importance of high-quality digital products and invest incredible amounts of money in digital product design.
Product designers are mostly employed in startups, software companies, and major product-based corporations. There are also plenty of specialized designers in the automotive industry. As we’re seeing a major shift to electric cars, many car companies are even on the hunt for product designers to design apps, software and improve the UX of the new models.
Strategic Design Managing
Strategic design manager roles will keep emerging in order to deliver solutions to complex problems that call for strategic capability and a creative approach. Creative people that know how to solve issues and drive growth will be in high demand, especially in private businesses and governments.
Front Web Development
Front-end developers are in charge of designing the parts of a website that clients and visitors can interact with. They’re in charge of coding the interactive elements, layouts, navigation, buttons, etc. Front-end developers bring web designers’ work to life using JavaScript, CSS, and HTML. Plus, they take care of the technical SEO, display across browsers and devices, bug testing, and more.
Every modern-day industry is on the lookout for front web developers. You can get an entry-level job regardless of where you’re located. The great news is that the need for these specialists is far from over, and it will stay as long as websites are used.
UI/UX Design
Every business that wants to survive in a competitive market has to create an appealing user experience for its customers, and the only way to do this is through UX and UI designers. It’s virtually impossible to boost customer loyalty, build brand awareness, and make a business work without an online presence in terms of apps, banking, websites, and similar services.
UX designers mostly focus on offering a great user experience. The main focus is the user interaction, so they need to make sure a product is easily accessible and usable. The work consists of research, testing, wireframe creation, and teamwork. The tech industry is the most common employer of UX designers, as they are needed to make sure web and mobile apps and software work as smoothly as possible.
UI designers, on the other hand, work with screens that users move through in apps, websites, video games, or software. Their main goal is to produce visual elements and make a website interactive by including forms, menus, buttons, images, etc. A UI designer makes sure you can navigate from point A to point B on a website by using different touchpoints. Much like UX designers, UI specialists are mostly needed in tech-related industries.
Both UI and UX are some of the highest-paying design jobs.
Complex 3D Design
The 3D printing industry has made a big entrance and the trend looks like it’s here to stay. Construction industries will keep using this technology to deliver material and technique improvements at an affordable price.
3D printers will become more affordable and portable, which can turn them into a major means for construction. This is especially true for remote spaces with limited resources.
Graphic Design
Another design career that’s not going anywhere is graphic design. Graphic designers create visual concepts, including layout and production design. Graphic designers usually work in teams and departments, but can also be freelancers. Most often, they create internal graphics, marketing materials, packaging, brand assets, signs, website graphics, and the like.
You can find a graphic design position open in just about any industry, from startups to engineering companies and publishers.
Wearable Technology Design
Wearable technology has shown its potential for changing people’s lives. Whether it’s used for wellness, fitness, or geriatric services, wearable gadgets make our daily efforts easier to track, control, and make room for progress. In addition, since we are being confronted with a massive aging of the population, we’ll see an increase in these devices to help the elderly improve their daily lives.
Art Direction
Art directors take care of the visual style of media like magazines, product packaging, movies, newspapers, and television productions. They’re responsible for the overall design of a product and may also direct teams to produce new layouts, artwork, and final deliverables.
Many magazine publishers, public relations firms, advertising companies, and the entertainment industry are on the lookout for art directors. You can even find plenty of art directors in the e-Commerce space and retail, both as freelancers and independent contractors.
Motion Graphics Design
Motion graphic designers create animated artwork for publication on social media, TV, web, AR technology, or film. Popular content created by these artists includes trailers, movie clips, title sequences, advertisements, etc. With the help of visual effects, animation, and graphic design, they bring creations to life.
AI companies are most in-demand of motion graphic designers, as well as startups, the entertainment industry, creative agencies, e-Commerce platforms, creative agencies, and others.
Design Careers That Might Be on the Way Out
Here’s an overview of the jobs that may not be in demand in the near future due to the improvements in technology and the way design jobs function.
Visual Design
Unlike UX designers who focus on how an app feels, visual designers only focus on its looks. An average designer will often do both, but it seems like the jobs that only require visual design skills will die out.
Design Research
Design researchers were popular at the time ethnographic research was a new concept in design. Today, any designer will look at what the customer wants and create work according to those needs.
Every designer can conduct customer research today, so a dedicated researcher is no longer needed. Also, the advancement of new technologies like virtual reality and machine learning only help in this capacity, as they make a wide range of data available without much effort.
Traditional Industrial Design
Industrial designers are attached to the “industrial” part of the job, meaning they are too focused on the sculptural look of a product. In the modern-day, form doesn’t follow function anymore because now software development can do much more. Most designers in the future will be hybrids, and industrial designers may have a hard time adjusting to that trend.
In Closing
Newly emerging global trends dictate how design careers change and thrive. If you want to kickstart a career in design, it’s best to explore the options that are here to stay. UX/UI design, product design, 3D design, and other design career mentioned in this article is more than worth considering.
And if you need a hand finding a suitable online course, Coursary has thousands of courses related to product development and design. After all, online courses are the most accessible and most affordable way to see whether a certain career will work for you.