Pickens Technical College Graphic Design Pathway: Making It in a Slowing Job Market

In the Pickens Technical College Graphic Design program, you’re well on your way to learning the skills you’ll need to work in multimedia design. Pickens’ program is purposefully structured to give you a wide range of skills so you can find a job doing what you love somewhere.

As someone with a creative streak in them, you’ve absorbed all the advice and lectures about making a living, and on and on. But with the training you’re involved with at Pickens, you’ll have a better shot at a long, rewarding, and lucrative career in graphic and multimedia design than most other graphic designers trying to break into the industry now.

Another fact you’re probably hearing nonstop is how many jobs there are in the Colorado economy right now. That might be the reason you decided to attend PTC in the first place. There are, in fact, many jobs right here in the Denver metro area, many of them requiring multimedia or graphic design skills, but overall, the job market for graphic designers isn’t expected to grow as fast as other industries. What can you do to gain a foothold in this unforgiving job market?

The Numbers

According to the US Department of Labor, the job market for graphic designers is expected to grow four percent between 2016 and 2026, that’s three percentage points below the overall projections for all job markets in the US in that time: seven percent. While graphic designers remain key cogs in the creative, advertising, and multimedia markets, the job outlook for them isn’t expected to keep up with the overall growth of the economy.

What To Do

Getting opportunities in this field is all about putting your name and your work in front of the right people. Once you have the skills you need from Pickens, you can start developing your portfolio. Even if you create designs, logos, etc. on your own, that’s at least something you can show to prospective employers.

Another way to break into the industry is to find a niche. John Lawson at Pickens will arm you with the building blocks to take on almost any graphic design project, but in the job market, you’ll find many companies looking for specialized designers to help them with advertising or branding, etc. If you can focus on one aspect of your skills as a graphic designer and dial that in, showing you’re able to produce certain types of visual content extremely well, you’ll find a home for yourself at a company that needs your skillset.

Even for freelancers, specialization can create an advantage in this field. Many companies that hire freelancers often do so to drill down on one project at a time, or for particular tasks that fit perfectly with the best-specialized graphic artist they can find.

After you build your skillset in Graphic Design at Pickens, you’ll be armed to start your job search with momentum.