How to Become a Graphic Designer in Orlando, Florida

With almost 100,000 commercial businesses, bragging rights to Disney World and a city-limits population around 240,000, Orlando, Florida is an ideal home for artists pursuing careers in graphic design.  Local companies hire communications design professionals for a broad assortment of visual tasks.

Orlando Schools and Training Programs for Graphic Design

Popular graphic design colleges in Orlando, Florida include High Tech Institute, Orlando Tech, Florida Technical College, Valencia Community College and University of Central Florida, to name just a few.  Additionally, many schools offer graphic design training and degree programs online.  Among the most influential nationwide examples are The Art Institutes, DeVry, ITT Tech and University of Phoenix.  Some Orlando graphic designers obtain degrees from Full Sail University, a popular online design college with a campus near Winter Park.

Graphic designers in Orlando, Florida typically major in communications or visual arts.  A communications design degree program in Orlando might include courses in computer science, marketing, digital media, traditional media, website design, photography, animation, technical drawing, typography and printmaking, among other relevant topics.

Working as a Graphic Designer in Orlando, Florida

Orlando, Florida maintains an ongoing demand for professional graphic designers.  Communications design applies to items such as brand logos, promotional materials, cover art, web pages and educational literature, as well as product packaging for advertisers, commercial signs for storefronts, road signs for commuters, print patterns for the textile industry and visual instructions for assembly, among others. 

Some graphic designers in Orlando, Florida work for leading local ad agencies such as Cramer-Krasselt, Fry-Hammond-Barr, G&G, Orlando Weekly Classified, Push Incorporated and Y-Partnership.  Other local designers are hired by Orlando movie producers like CDI Studios, Convergence, Magnetix Group, Octane Entertainment, Transit Television and literally hundreds more.  Communication design professionals in Orlando, Florida also work for art galleries, photo studios, software companies, colleges, publishers, manufacturers, construction contractors, architects, realtors, internet start-ups and many other commercial organizations. 

United States companies currently employ more than a quarter million graphic designers.  Around half of them earn between $30,000 and $60,000 a year.  Starting salaries are based on education, expertise and professional experience, among other things.  Final hiring decisions are heavily influenced by the quality and style of the design portfolio, which is a book of professionally designed images representing the artist's best efforts. 

Skills of a Graphic Designer

Graphic design is a method of communication that is visual in nature, but not traditional written language.  Graphic design images are grouped and manipulated in particular ways to send specific messages to target markets.  A graphic designer alters and arranges design features to achieve subliminal psychological effects on observers.  Most graphic design work consists of layout, which is determining the size, color, location, orientation and other attributes of objects on a page.  Graphic designers show tremendous attention to detail as they so elegantly combine artistic talent and technology with a splash of psychology to hypnotize consumers into buying things.