Part One:
The Essential Question that I am trying to answer through my capstone project is "How can graphic design be implemented in multiple careers?" This question is my driving factor in my research and future presentation because of my long admired love for art. I have always wanted to pursue a job with a good salary but more importantly a job that I am passionate about. Graphic design, or rather careers that you are able to pursue with a graphic design degree have been that happy medium for me. Finding the answers to this question will benefit my life today because I believe it will provide me with more clarity on what I want to do with my future. Having reassurance that there are many different fields that I could possibly go into with this degree will give me a much more confident outlook on my college and career plans. I know now of at least ten if not more jobs that can come out of a bachelor in graphic design, and the one that interests me the most is a Art Director. They often times work with clients to figure out what is best for their business in terms of marketing and advertising. You have complete artistic control over the situation at hand and that sounds awesome to me. Knowing the answers to my essential question will definitely make a difference in my life because it will ultimately determine what I decide to do with my career. This will more recently affect what I choose to do in college as well as what I college I may want to go to. Overall this question means a lot to me, as I try to find out what will be the best fit for my in a future career, so I will be able to support my life as well as having creativity and passion.
Part Two:
So far I have completed two full annotated bibliographies on my essential question as well as completed an interview with a college student earning their Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Digital Marketing and Advertising. These two concepts have provided me with a solid foundation of knowledge that I will be able to build more information off of as I continue in this research project. Through my research and annotated bibliographies I have found ten jobs that can be attained through a degree in a form of graphic design. These jobs included graphic designers, web developers, art directors, marketing specialists, software application developers, marketing managers, public relations specialists, multimedia artists/animators, commercial and industrial designers, and software quality assurance testers. Along with these jobs the salaries were also given alongside them, and this was extremely helpful because most people care about how much money they make in today’s time. There was also extra information given on the flexibility of the career and how high the advancement rate was for the particular field. My second annotated bibliography was a more in depth look at what Art Directors do, because I have seen this career come up a lot in my life lately and it really intrigues me. An Art Director is the person that has complete control over the creative and commercial advertisements of a business. They are normally the boss of other that work under them however they do have a boss themselves, or if they are working for an independently owned business they will answer to these business owners. They have to know their way around a business and the best way to market and advertise specific goods in order to get the most for their money. Most of the time Art Directors will be found in magazine or newspaper firms, businesses that are selling a specific product or business owners trying to get their upcoming stores or establishments more well known. Lastly I have gained a lot of insight on my project so far through my interview with Madisen Mayfield, a graduate of Johnson High School who is know pursuing her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Digital Marketing and Advertising. This has been one of the most insightful ways of research for me because it allowed me to understand through a primary source what all it would take in order to attain a degree in graphic design or other similar degrees, as well as the types of jobs that come with these degrees. In our interview the two pieces of information that were most helpful to me was the flexibility and opportunity for advancement in this field as well as the importance of a portfolio. Flexibility and opportunity are two things that are huge to me, and Madisen was able to inform me that there are many different jobs in this field of learning, and as much as technology is involved your dream job my not even exist yet. Secondly, learning that a portfolio is very important in this field of learning was not surprising, however it is an aspect that I haven’t taken into account. This was extremely helpful because now I will be able to make sure I am prepared for college and future career opportunities. Overall I have learned a decent amount of information in able to answer my Essential Question and hope to compound on this understanig more throughout the research process.
Part Three:
As I conducted my research in order to fully develop my understanding and answer for my essential question, I was able to pull information from a wide variety of sources. The main sources for my argument are found in the two news articles from online sites about the varying careers of graphic design. An article published by a university contained information about ten jobs that can be attained through a graphic design major, and the key specifics about the jobs. These ten jobs were listed in detail above, and one of those being an Art Director position, which I looked into in further detail. This career is what made up the sole information of my second annotated bibliography, in which I researched more in depth on what a person in this field does. I chose this specific career because it was the most intriguing to me, and what I may possibly want to do in my future. Alongside these sources I also interviewed a college student gaining their bachelor’s degree in Business Administration Digital Marketing and Advertising. She was able to allow great insight on what it is like to major in a field of art and business as well as the credentials needed in order to be more accepted into this field of education. These three fields of information proved to be the most successful in answering my essential question to the fullest extent. I was also able to fully justify that these three main sources had little to no bias involved in them, considering the websites university credibility and a primary source of a college student who knows more about the field of graphic design than most high schoolers. On top of these three sources of information, I also looked up videos and testimonies of other self proclaimed graphic designers on YouTube, how they got their start and any helpful tips for their subscribers interested in the same topics. Other videos included the basics of graphic design, and what it means to be a graphic designer, which are videos that I plan on intertwining in my website. Overall I was able to find mainly unbiased information about graphic design inspired jobs, and how to specifically find the best career option that is right for you when considering graphic design as a major.
Part Four:
After researching the different career fields that are made possible through a degree in graphic design, I was able to expand my knowledge on the topic as well as add new information to the knowledge I had beforehand. Before I was able to fully conduct my research on this given topic, my view on what type of career paths that one was able to take with a degree in graphic design was limited. I thought that you would have to do graphic design for businesses and that was all, however through this experience I was able to explore the multiple careers that could be accomplished. These careers include: art directors, marketing specialists, software applicators, marketing managers, and multimedia artists and animators. I also found that if you pair your graphic design major with a business or computer these career fields widen even further. Now, by having this deeper understanding on my topic, I am able to have a more clear vision of how college and after college will affect me. I also know now that having a portfolio heavily affects any type of art career, and being able to advance in art colleges. Through this experience I can now inform others of the information that I have found, and am more encouraged because of the highly technological and advancing society that graphic design is focused around. The job that I may end up pursuing might not even exist yet, and this career field will continue to evolve as I grow in my knowledge and experience of graphic design. Overall through this research project I was able to advance my knowledge on graphic design majors, how to get them, where to get them, and ultimately what you can do with them. I hope that I am able to use what I have learned to inform others who may be interested in a similar career path or even any career path related to art or business.