What jobs can I get? How much can I get paid?
Degrees and certificates in the Visual Communications program may lead to the following jobs or careers:
Graphic Designer1
$17.81
Entry Hourly Wage
Commercial/
Industrial Designer1
$25.27
Entry Hourly Wage
1 This job may require a bachelor's degree or higher. Please
review current job openings and contact your advisor to review your options.
All data gathered for Dallas/Fort Worth. Source: Dallas College Labor Market Intelligence
What Is Visual Communications? How Is it Used?
Design is everywhere you look: logos, websites, business cards, advertisements, brochures, billboards, product packaging, posters, magazines, books, newspapers, greeting cards, playbills, matchbooks — the list is virtually endless.
Is “visual communications” just a fancy way of saying “graphic design”? Not really. The old-guard field of graphic design focused on translating the conceptual to the visual using a variety of 2-D media. Emphasis was on creating the form of the message using photos, illustrations and more.
Visual communications includes other types of communications beyond the print medium of the old graphic design industry. One example is the design of interactive computer presentations that integrate video, animation, sound, stored images and text.
By its problem-solving nature, visual communications is about combining the “why” of the message with the “how” of the medium for a specific purpose and audience. It provides the form of graphic design as well as the function of why this particular medium (printed material, website or other) best suits a particular message.
Career Areas
There are many jobs and job titles in this field, depending on your interest, skill set and continued education, including:
- Advertising artist or copywriter
- Animator
- Artist
- Desktop publisher
- Digital photographer
- Graphic designer
- Illustrator
- Layout artist
- Multimedia specialist
- Print specialist
- Public relations specialist
- Web designer
- Web developer
- Webmaster or Web administrator
Why Is This a Good Career Bet?
CareerOneStop, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, projects job growth increase of 18 percent for graphic designers, 18 percent for multimedia artists and animators, and 26 percent for Web developers over the next decade. Workforce Solutions of Greater Dallas’s targeted occupations lists graphic designer as a local high growth area, projecting 3,370 job openings this year.
For jobs requiring at least an associate degree, Web developer is ranked 13th among CareerOneStop’s 39
fastest-growing occupations and seventh of its top 36
careers with the most job openings through 2022. U.S. News and World Report’s Money Careers’ lists Web developer in fourth place of its top 11
“best technology jobs” through the next decade.