Picking a college degree can feel like quite a gamble these days. How much do you balance a choice that will reward you with financial security with one that rewards you personally?
For creative people, this can be a special challenge. Complex mathematics and science courses don’t always appeal to those who are right-brained dominant, and the strictures of the classroom can often dull the imagination. Here are some great ideas to get your creative juices flowing, while still offering the potential for job security in a competitive market.
One of the first degrees to consider is a graphic design degree. Virtually every company, especially those with web and social media presence, need eye-catching graphics. You are probably looking at them right now on your own device. Advertising and marketing firms are constantly on the lookout for help in this arena, as well as creative individuals with an understanding of what catches a consumer’s eye. There are many community colleges and technical colleges with helpful classes, and quite a few of them offer college degrees. It is a skill that can be an asset in almost any industry or professional choice.
Creativity is an often underrated asset in manufacturing and industry. With this in mind, consider earning a product design degree. This education prepares graduates for key positions in numerous production or manufacturing industry settings. They will often consider the cultural, functional, behavioral, and historical aspects of the products people use every day. It requires a diverse, almost erudite background, and this profession can offer a fantastic challenge to the creative mind.
Industrial design is a similar field, but it usually deals directly with larger manufacturing. Cars, computers, and home appliances are just a few examples. Some university engineering programs even offer an industrial engineering major, which requires a more technical background. The field assists other engineers, like electrical or mechanical, in making common products more useful and applicable to the everyday user.
The field of art direction is also a quickly growing one. It can require a college degree in art, design, visual communications, or even digital media. People in this profession work with web design, project management, video game, and even movie development. Art directors need to have a strong sense of style, and an ability to manage other artists with various talents, often combining multiple media into a cohesive story or product. These degrees are usually offered at major universities, as well as schools specifically geared toward art and design.
Instructional design is a field aimed at simplifying the vast amount of directions and instructions people deal with on a daily basis. They help design things from how you put together a piece of furniture, to how you install a new app on your phone, to how you fill out a form on-line. Skills require a strong knowledge of the language, as well as an understanding of design flow and how people learn things. Skills in education and psychology can be key to a successful career in instructional design since it is a way of teaching people how to accomplish a task.
Finding a career in a creative field with both job security and financial reward is a lot simpler than most people think. Earning a college degree in one of these fields can really give you a leg up on finding that creative career. Business, science, and math are not the only paths to monetarily successful jobs, and those with a creative side can often find work in almost any field.
