Know How to Establish a Career as a Visual Communication Designer

Do you love to paint, draw and design using pencils, paper and colors or maybe using computers? Are you creative? Are you always keen to make things look aesthetically beautiful? Are you the person who does design of the cover pages and other pages of your school magazines or websites? Do you love to see beautiful designs, patterns, images and videos? Do you want to create such designs, patterns, images and videos yourself? Visual communication Design is a very good career option.

Visual communications designers are graphic designers who are specialized to use various software applications and design tools to design 2D graphics, websites, banners, posters, books, leaflets, magazines, animation, motion graphics (used in videos), video films, etc. They can be referred as storytellers who use design and visual appeal to tell the story of a product and bring it to life. As a visual communications designer, you will have to work with different websites, colour codes, graphic designing, etc, so that they can convey a proper message.

Why become a Visual Communication Designer?

Visual communications designers are graphic designers who are specialized to use various software applications and design tools to design 2D and 3D graphics, websites, banners, posters, books, leaflets, magazines, animation, motion graphics (used in videos), video films, etc. They can be referred to as storytellers who use design and visual appeal to tell the story of a product or a concept or a brief and bring it to life. As a visual communications designer, you will have to work with different websites, color codes, graphic designing, etc, so that you can convey the message that your clients desire. In recent times, visual communication designers also take part in complex animation programs as well as advanced graphics designing.

Popular Specialization in this Career

1. Photography Designer: As a visual communications designer, photography is a specific specialization field wherein design and photography is combined to provide a visual impact. As a visual communications designer, you are expected to learn about resolution, subject-background ratio, filter, and style match to communicate your idea visually.
2. Graphic Designer: Design is integral to visual communications wherein you have to deal with the different elements of designing so as to create a visceral, reflective and emotional response from the audience. As a visual communications designer, you will have to be able to arrange different items on a page, illustrate, define patterns, and be able to grab the attention of the audience using different trial-and-error methods.
3. Animation, Multimedia and Game Art Designer: In the modern world, visual design has entered into many technological fields like games, visual effects and special effects. A visual communication designer can use various multimedia tools to create animations and special effects so as to make footage visually appealing and impactful. Animation and multimedia could be used to develop special effects in movies or videos. As a visual communications designer, you can also develop game art that can be used in video games too.
4. Web design refers to the layout of a web page that could make it more attractive for the user to interact with. Web design is important for the popularity of a web page, as it will enhance the user experience. As a visual communications designer, you will have to know the basics of web page designing and try to understand how you can make a webpage more attractive by page layout, font and other such factors.
5. Advertising and Merchandising: Communication is one of the main purposes of a visual communication design, and in each communication tactic there could be a motive for promotion and advertising. Hence, visual communications designers try to use visual design to promote and advertise different products. You can also release self-designed merchandise for this purpose so as to help in the communication process.
6. Film And Video Designer: Visual designers tend to work in different film sets as prop designers or art directors so as to combine their knowledge of visual art with the film environment so that it becomes visually in sync with each other. As a visual communications designer, you will have to understand how different props and visual design will appear on the screen and adjust accordingly to create a visual impact. Along with that, you will be introduced to film editing where you can include special effects as well.

What does a Visual Communication Designer do?

Every Visual communications designer has to learn these basic tasks which include:

• Create aesthetic designs which will match with the requirements of the client.
• Collaborating with the various departments in the office including the creative department, sales, and marketing department to create engaging visual product stories.
• Managing and executing the visual asset product.
• interpreting the qualitative concepts and the quantitative data that has been acquired through market research and formulating a suitable design plan on the basis of the interpretation.
• Engaging in strategic planning with other designs so as to select the specific medium that will have the best appeal.
• Meeting strict deadlines for events and generating concise and accurate estimates for project work.
• Maintaining a close understanding of the industry, monitoring existing trends and forecasting the design direction to keep the brand visuals and email templates innovative and current.
• Establishing and executing photography guidelines so as to create interesting and clear product photography suitable for use in platforms like email, web, and apps.
• Learning and growing the technical understanding of the field and understanding new methods so as improve the brand visuals.
• Maintain consistency with the product visuals and review the designs with the development team so as to ensure that consistency is maintained.

How to become a Visual Communication Designer – Eligibility Criteria

Undergraduate studies after school:

To be eligible as a visual communication designer, you need an undergraduate degree. After high school, you can go for a graduate degree in any of the following fields:

 Visual Communication Design / Graphic Design / Digital Design / Animation Design / Film and Video Communication / Film and Video Design, etc.

You can also opt for diploma courses after school such as Professional Diploma in Visual Communication.

Post Graduate studies:

After your graduation, you may want to have in-depth knowledge and application of visual communications. Thus, you can opt for Post-Graduate degrees, in the study fields of:

Visual Communication / Animation Design / Multimedia Design / Film and Video Design and Communication / Special Effects & Visual Effects Design / Digital Design / Photography Design / Media Design / Games Design / similar courses.

Educational Fees

The educational fees for becoming a visual communication designer in India can vary depending on the institution and program you to choose.

In general, pursuing a Bachelor of Design (B.Des) degree in Visual Communication or Graphic Design from a reputed design institute in India can cost anywhere between INR 3 lakhs to INR 10 lakhs for the entire program, depending on the institution and location.

Similarly, pursuing a Master of Design (M.Des) degree in Visual Communication or Graphic Design can cost between INR 2 lakhs to INR 8 lakhs, depending on the institute and program duration.

Job Opportunities

As a graduate, you will start off as a visual communication designer intern. 

If you have a postgraduate degree, then there is certain positions that you can go for, which are:

• Junior Graphic Artist
• Photographer
• Animator
• Cartoonist
• Desktop Publisher
• Associate Visual Designer
• Junior Communication Designer
• Web Designer

Some of the organizations where you can get a job opportunity are:

• UDLAB
• Litmus Branding
• Studio Fifi
• Crazyhead Solutions
• Identix Design

Salary of Visual Communication Designer

Visual communication designers tend to have slow growth at first. As a junior visual communication designer, you can expect a salary of Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 35,000 per month. A mid-level visual communication designer with 5-6 years of experience will get a salary of about Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 80,000 or more per month. Senior Visual communication designers can get Rs. 80,000 to Rs. 2,50,000 per month or more.

Career progression in visual communication designer profession 

At first, a visual communication designer would be hired as a trainee.

After 2-3 years, they can move up to work as an assistant visual communication designer. It is possible that they will be working in a specific field, such as graphic design.

They will get training under a senior visual communication designer.

After 4-5 years of further training, they can be appointed as a junior visual communication designer.

After 8-10 years of experience, they can move up and become a Senior Visual Communication Designer.

Visual Communication Designers can also take up supervisory positions like Creative Director, Art Director, etc after 12-15 or more years of experience.

What does industry trends say – Future Prospects

The visual communication design industry is changing and now, the future of advertising and designing is context and communication. According to Simoul Alva, one of the top designers under age 25, agencies in India are slowly moving towards design-centric advertisements making it more visual and immersive. 3D designs are starting to make a mark in India and advertisers are trying to use it to appeal to the audience. Plus, according to Alva,  new software is being created to make the work of the visual communication designer easier and more refined.

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