How to Become a Graphic Designer in New York

New York State, with more than 19.4 million residents and many thousand commercial businesses, supports almost 20,000 professional graphic designers.  About 40% of New Yorkers, as well as most of the commercial businesses, are located in New York City.  However, thousands more businesses throughout the state hire communications design professionals for many assorted visual design tasks.

New York Schools and Training Programs for Graphic Design

Hundreds of colleges and Universities in the state of New York offer degree programs in graphic design, with dozens in New York City alone.  Popular New York City design schools include Barnard College, Fashion Institute of Technology and NYU, among others.  Colleges for graphic design in other parts of the state include Erie Community College in Buffalo, Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, Onondaga Community College, Syracuse University in Syracuse and Cornell University in Ithaca.  As well, many aspiring New York artists earn their degrees online.  Among the largest design colleges with online degree programs in communications design are The Art Institutes, ITT Tech, University of Phoenix and DeVry.

Graphic artists at New York design schools often major in Communications Design, which is a formal way of saying graphic design.  A typical graphic design degree program at a New York design college might include computer science, mass communications, marketing and psychology, as well as drawing, photography, digital graphics, animation, typography and related subjects.

Working as a Graphic Designer in New York

Some New York graphic designers work for leading local advertising agencies.  Top New York City ad firms include Brand Pharm, Grey Advertising and Horizon Media.  Among the top advertising agencies in other parts of New York are Lanark-Warner in Buffalo, Butler-Till Media in Rochester, and Com-Group in Syracuse.  Some local artists design film credits, movie posters and promotional materials for top New York City motion picture producers like Lang Syne Films, Oxygen Media, Warner Brothers and literally thousands more.  Leading movie makers outside New York City include Back Straight Productions in Buffalo, CGI Communications in Rochester and Visual Technologies in Syracuse. 

Communications designers in the state of New York also work for art galleries, museums, colleges, real estate offices, news syndicates, software developers, internet start-ups and many other commercial businesses.  Statewide graphic design jobs include high tech illustrations, medical charts and diagrams, visual product descriptions, company and brand logos, instruction manuals, book covers, web pages, product packaging and street signs, to name just a few. 

America supports more than 280,000 professional graphic designers.  Salaries for graphic designers in the state of New York depend partly on education, experience, expertise, commitment and, to some extent, geographic location.  Designers employed in New York City tend to earn higher incomes (on average) than their statewide colleagues. 

A recent study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals that the average annual salary for a professional graphic designer employed in the state of New York is around $57,525, with an average hourly rate of about $27.70.  Roughly half of all professional U.S. graphic designers earn between $30,000 and $60,000 a year, although this figure does not account for the unreported salaries of self employed individuals.  New York ranks first among states in terms of average income for graphic designers.   

Skills of a Graphic Designer

Graphic design is professionally commissioned visual art that communicates specific messages to large groups of people.  The bulk of a graphic designer's workload consists of page layout, which involves the manipulation and arrangement of objects and their backgrounds. 

Applicable qualifications include advanced linguistic communication skills, graphic design software proficiency, web design experience and complete knowledge of typographical techniques.  Aside from artistic creativity, the most desirable personality traits of professional graphic designers are sharp focus, a great deal of patience and religious adherence to detail.