Art and Business

<p>I want to take art as my major. Well, I don't want to do traditional art like painting or stuff b/c I want to make money. I wonder... how much does an average art major get paid? (any kind of design stuff... fashion/graphics/interior etc) Which of the majors get paid the most? Is it architecture? Graphics design? or is it something else?</p>

<p>this is only the average. I know that if you're really good, then you get paid well. what about a really good architect compared to a really good graphics designer? so yeah.. I'm a little scared because I don't want to be a starving artist. A lot of people have been saying that art doesn't really relate to business. It's more of a passion. I've heard that artists (designers) can't really depend on their art skill to earn a nice living.</p>

<p>I just want to know some facts and opinions about the average amount of money designers make (any kind of designers) and which of those kind make the most.</p>

<p>and one more thing. you know how job employers look for graduates from certain colleges (like let's say microsoft would look for applicants who grad from MIT rather than some random college), whats the college that's like that for design? i mean, from what art/design colleges would the grads get the most job and the most well paid ones?</p>

<p>thanks</p>

<p>Art & Design are two different fields/majors, which by reading your post, it seems like you're a little confused about. </p>

<p>Art as a major usually will be listed as Fine art or Studio, and will consist of all three : photography, sculpture and painting. Most all the time, you will have a concentration which again will be either photography, sculpture, and painting.</p>

<p>With design, you have to pick a certain field to major in such as Fashion Design, Interior Design, Product Design, Toy Design, Digital Media, Illustration, Graphic Design, Jewelry Design, Furniture Design, etc. You can't just major in Design, because it would be to broad of a major, and I don't think any school offers just a major called Design.</p>

<p>The creme of the crop of art/design schools is Rhode Island School of Design(RISD). But even then, there are still schools who dominate RISD in certain majors such as Parsons, FIT, Central St Martins and Otis for fashion design. Employers who recruit fashion majors are familiar with these schools, because they are the big fashion schools. And it all depends on the major you're looking to get into that will have recruiters knocking on certain school's doors. Like at Otis, I know that Mattel is one company that recruits for our Toy Design Major, and EA games and other gaming companies for our digital media major, Abercrombie & Target, usually hit up many of the majors within Otis such as fashion, graphic design, and product design. Just by word of mouth Art Center is another school that is extremely good in most all their majors especially in their car design and graphic design majors. I've been to a lot of Illustration art shows in los angeles and most of them come from art center.</p>

<p>You have to know what you want to major in, and know that an ARt/design school is right for you, because the minute you enter an art/design school, your life becomes about art and design, there is no chance to explore other majors outside of the art and design majors. you would have to go to another school for that. and if you honestly have other interests such as business or whatever, what may be best for you is a regular university who has more than just art/design majors such as university of cincinnati, carnegie mellon, university of michigan ann arbor etc.</p>

<p>Alot of regular university have some of the best dept in certain majors, beating out art schools such as Kansas State University or University of Cincinnati for Interior Design. It's all about researching the majors you think you want to get into and seeing what schools are the strongest in them.</p>

<p>Like you said different design majors will get paid more than others like architecture more than a graphic design major. </p>

<p>In my opinion I think there's more of a tendency to relate starving artist to someone who majors in fine arts. by majoring in fine art you're basically saying that you want to do your own thing, and unless someone likes what you're doing and is willing to pay money for your work, then you're basically going to need a back up plan.</p>

<p>When you major in some type of design, your education is being geared towards an industry that wants to hire new designers or fresh talent for their companies. Their is a job market out there for you. But even so what's going to get you a job is your portfolio more than anything.</p>

<p>It's also all about having an open mind, because even if you were to major in something like English at a regular university that doesn't mean that only career options you have are being an english teacher. The same applies to design.art majors, for example a fashion major could pursue being a buyer, a stylist, a designer,, a visual merchandiser, a fashion jornalist, editor, being a Sales Rep, and so many more. Majoring in something isn't so black and white. There's a lot of grey in between, but if you expect everything to come to you, you won't see that, you have to pursue what you want, even if it's an internship, a job, or your major.</p>

<p>in the 21st century, boundaries between business and design are becoming more and more blurred. they are integrating with each other, as business employers are looking for more creative people out there. most of the successful business practices like google and facebook are driven by creative minds, and that is something that design school teaches you that business schools do not. Design degrees, especially architecture, train you to become a thinker, to create, to question and be critical..which can then be applied not only to architecture, but to basically anything creative, including business, etc. this is why I think architects would make such good entrepeneurs, because they are trained to think holistically, and creatively. Creative thinking is always needed in society. It' just a matter of how you apply that to other fields. There are more and more business schools out there today that are trying to integrate the design curriculum into the business curriculum...essentially think business in the context of design.</p>

<p>also, while there is the potential to earn a lot of money in architecture, architects start out very low. It is only after years of experience and after licensure, do you start to make a little more.</p>

<p>So from what I've learned so far (and I've heard several time):
Big names are RISD, Parsons, FIT, and maybe Pratt? I'm not sure but that's what I got so far. I just want to know in the nutshell names like that.
And architecs earn the most money of all designers? Is that the case for most people?</p>

<p>oh, and I don't want to study business. I'm just curious of how designers live their lives. Is it a poor life? A decent life? Or a wealthy life? What's the chance of a designer being poor and how does that compare to the chances of being wealthy? I know it all depends on the skill of the designer but you know... just in general. some ideas.</p>

<p>website design is a pretty lucrative career from what I hear because it is in pretty high demand right now as the world wide web is becoming more and more influential in the way we live. information science is another interesting field, where you design systems and ways in which people interact with technology. </p>

<p>architects start out from 30k-40k after being graduating from an accredited architecture program. after internship and licensure (typically 4-7 years), you'll probably earn around 40-60k. after that, it really depends on what you do. principles earn a lot but only after you are successful, which takes quite some time. architects with 10 years of experience usually earn at least 60k. there are also other ways to go about earning more money related to architecture, such as real estate development. </p>

<p>while architecture is probably higher paying than other design fields, it is not worth doing it if you are doing it for money. architecture is a profession and compared to other professions, it does not compensate for the amount of schooling you and work you have to go through. it boils down to whether you are passionate about architecture or not</p>

<p>being an architect and being a designer are quite different. designers typically spend much more time designing while architects have far less control. it really depends on what you are interested in. being an architect as opposed to a designer requires you to be adept in many fields, not just in design because the process of architecture involves many areas such as finance, law, etc, not just design. it is far more of a people thing too, as you are required to negotiate, consult, and work with clients, contractors, developers etc. design is also involved in the business, finance, management, etc aspects.</p>

<p>for me, i think it is exciting to be in a collaborative environment and be involved in different areas, which is personally why I think it would be rewarding for me, not to mention seeing something that you design come to reality and be used by people. work is usually varied which always makes it an educational and interesting experience.</p>

<p>Parsons and FIT are good for Fashion. I'm not sure how strong they are for other majors. </p>

<p>overall design schools are RISD, Art Center, Pratt</p>

<p>dhillman: thanks for starting this thread :)
I am applying to art/design schools and my parents think that art/design careers will lead to poverty and starvation, which isn't true. They automatically assume that those majors provide a future that's basically a stay-at-home life painting and drawing for money. Not true.
I'm pretty sure I'll be successful or at least have a stable life having a career in designing Websites, graphics, or fashion, etc. It's what I love doing.</p>

<p>liek0806 and sashimi46: your posts are amazingly helpful! Thank you for clarifying the difference between art and design and providing useful information on the schools and majors. :)</p>

<p>My daughter's interests are very similar. When we first started researching colleges and majors, her initial thought was to major in graphic design. She is good at drawing, but her interest was primarily in computer graphics, not programming, but using computers to design things like corporate logos, and ad campaigns. We started researching graphic design and visual communication programs, but found many were within the school of fine arts and required too many courses in the first year or two in things like drawing and art history.</p>

<p>She gave up on the graphic design idea and decided to look into advertising. But now she is finding many advertising programs are within communication and journalism schools, and focus too much on writing rather than creating ad campaigns.</p>

<p>We are still looking at some advertising programs, but I'm wondering if there aren't more graphic design/visual communications programs that tend to focus more on the electronic arts rather than fine arts. She is interested in large schools, preferably in a somewhat urban environment, possibly Big 10 type schools rather than art/design schools.</p>

<p>Does anybody have any suggestions before she completely gives up? Thanks!</p>

<p>Im hard pressed to think of any good graphic arts program that does not include drawing and art history. They are subjects which impart the basis
of visual communication. Probably one of the best professional graphic arts programs is at Art Center in Pasadena. But like every other good program, you are going to be required to study drawing and art history.</p>

<p>Drawing isn't so much the issue as other courses such as painting and sculpting. I've seen programs where you spend at least two years in art studio classes before you get into any computer graphic design type course.</p>

<p>Check out University of Cincinnati's School of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning. In particular, check out their Digital Design major. These kids specialize in both graphic design and interactive media. They also do a LOT of web design and special effect. Kids who are good and specialized in this major generally are among the highest paid design majors around.</p>

<p>RIT also has a similar strong program in New Media Design. Check these out.</p>

<p>Interior Designers also do well financially and even better than most architects, according to my wife who was a commercial interior designer.</p>

<p>Top School for Interior Design are University of Cincinnati, Kansas State and Pratt Institute.</p>

<p>I understand that Toy design can pay pretty well too. Otis College of Art and Design has a strong Toy design program</p>

<p>One benefit of attending a full service univesity of an art school is that you can also take business courses in marketing, advertising, accounting etc. In addition, full service universities usually offer better athletic facilities, music programs such as marching band and lots of extra curricular things to do.</p>

<p>Hope this helps.</p>

<p>yeah, I'm having a similar prob. I'm interested in design, but would like to also pursue other majors, and would therefore like to go to a larger university rather than an art school.
But I can't seem to find many large universities that have good design programs. :?
the only thing that I've found is that Cornell has a seemingly new department called something like "textiles and apparel" or something. I'm sure one wouldn't get as great of an exposure to the fashion industry there as in a place like FIT though. And I dont like that Cornell is in a rural area
<em>sigh</em>
I'd like to be on the east coast or Cali</p>

<p>Syracuse has a good art program, as does RIT. I kind of have the same situation. I want to major in Metal and Jewelry arts, but I don't want to go to a full out art school because I want to pursue other things (I'm thinking of maybe a double major or minor in Japanese). Here's the list of schools I've found so far for me:
RIT
Temple
U of Iowa
U of Washington (Seattle)
Syracuse
East Carolina U
U of Michigan
U of Massachusetts (Dartmouth)
Kent State</p>

<p>foundation is very important to be a good designer, a good designer is not just a good software or computer operator. Parents who are not in this industry don't know how important are these art skills. If you want to make it higher in the career, like art director or creative director something, to be sure to take those classes! also writing and communication are also very important for designers! This is what makes you different than normal software operator designers.</p>

<p>correct. computers and software are tools used in the process, or, the contemporary craft of design, but button pushing is not design. design is a process that accommodates the needs and interests of people. a well designed outcome will be useful, pleasing, and functional to the appropriate degree. good designers and artists generally have strong foundation level skills such as those covered on this very poorly designed web page.</p>

<p><a href="http://char.txa.cornell.edu/language/principl/principl.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://char.txa.cornell.edu/language/principl/principl.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>these are better, but present the context of web design it seems, ut the concepts are universal</p>

<p><a href="http://www.digital-web.com/articles/principles_of_design/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.digital-web.com/articles/principles_of_design/&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.digital-web.com/articles/elements_of_design/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.digital-web.com/articles/elements_of_design/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I'm also having issues with the desire to get a good design education but pursue a minor. My biggest issue is I really don't want to leave California. Which universities in CA are best for this? Someone told me CSULB wouldn't be a bad idea but I'm not sure. Any thoughts?</p>

<p>Advmom - Have you seen the Visual Communications major at U of South Carolina? It is in the school of journalism but looks like something you may be interested in.
USC is a large school in an urban setting ( state capitol - although not comparable to NY,Chicago setting), beautiful campus, great school spirit and sports, and reasonable cost. Maybe worth a look. My younger d won't go south so it's out for her - plus she is thinking more along the fine arts path. My older d is at USC studying advertising and loves it.</p>

<p>sorry, didn't read this all. Just wanted to comment that you should go check out the prices of art even at small galleries. If you are a decent artist, you can make a living off just selling your work. Get slides made and work your ass off getting them in galleries.</p>

<p>That's a little misleading. The prices of art in galleries include the gallery's commission, which is usually 30 to 50% of the sales price. If you are connected with a gallery you might get a show once a year. They'll have your work in the back room, available for purchase at other times, but it won't be front and center.</p>