From The Student Room

TSR Wiki > Careers > Career Options > Art and Design

---

Thanks to Springboard for the original content of this page, now updated by TSR users.

As long as the economy continues to do well, people will keep spending money.

That’s great because the sort of things people buy - anything from CDs and computer games to clothes and jewellery - have all been designed. In fact, these days, practically everything is ’designed’.

On the other hand, many goods are now manufactured overseas. This means that art and design opportunities are not always as plentiful as you’d think. There’s also competition for jobs in this country from well-trained overseas students.

Opportunities available

Artistic or design-related skills are used in many work areas but you might not immediately think of them as art and design jobs. For instance, hairdressing and floristry both need arty skills.

Other jobs are more obviously art and design-based, such as graphic designer or fashion designer, but to do them you still need many other abilities on top of artistic or design talent.

Entry requirements

Careers in art and design are really popular. That means there will probably be someone with a few more qualifications or that bit more experience competing for the same job. Don’t let this put you off. For most jobs, being persistent is half the battle!

Degrees are useful, though not essential, for some areas. Budding fashion designers, for instance, can start by making clothes for friends, then progress to selling on market stalls and then to shops.

Areas like photography and cartoonist/animator are more to do with talent, personality, luck and contacts (work experience is very helpful). Other jobs, such as schoolteacher or art conservation officer, do require degrees.

Future trends

We’re likely to become even more design-conscious in the future but increasingly goods will come from overseas. Language skills and the ability to move where the work is will be important.