What You Need to Know to Be a Graphic Designer in Las Vegas, Nevada

The city of Las Vegas, Nevada, with a population nearing 600,000 and at least 125,000 commercial businesses, supports about 300 resident artists locally employed as graphic designers.  Numerous Nevada businesses hire communications design professionals for a wide variety of important visual tasks.  Roughly twenty percent of Nevada's commercial businesses are located in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Schools and Training Programs for Graphic Design

Quite a few Nevada colleges offer degree programs in graphic design, with most of them situated in Las Vegas and in the nearby city of Henderson.  Popular Las Vegas area design schools include University of Nevada and Community College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, as well as The International Academy of Design and Technology in Henderson.  As an alternative, many aspiring Las Vegas artists earn their degrees online.  Among the more well known schools offering online degree programs in graphic design are The Art Institutes, ITT Tech, University of Phoenix and DeVry.  These four franchise design schools also feature numerous physical locations across America.

Graphic artists at design colleges in Las Vegas, Nevada sometimes major in photography or fine arts, but more often digital visual media.  A typical graphic designer's curriculum might include drawing and digital graphics, as well as website design, animation, typography, printmaking and related subjects like psychology, social networking and online marketing.

Working as a Graphic Designer in Las Vegas, Nevada

Some Nevada graphic designers work for leading local advertising agencies.  Top Las Vegas ad firms include All American Advertising, Cyberspace and Red Rock Marketing.  Some local artists design film credits, promotional materials and other visual displays for acclaimed Las Vegas motion picture producers like Channel-8-KLAS-TV, Istream Planet and Network Broadcasting.  Other Las Vegas communications designers work for casinos, event planners, news syndicates, software developers and internet start-ups, to name a few.  Graphic design opportunities for local artists include company logos, event programs, movie posters, promotional artwork, book covers, web pages, product packaging and more. 

In excess of 280,000 graphic designers are currently employed within American commercial businesses.  Their starting salaries depend primarily on training, work history, skills, talent and the quality of the designer's portfolio.  Geographic location can also play a role.  Nevada graphic designers earn, on average, about $22.80 an hour.  The mean yearly income for a professional graphic designer employed in the state of Nevada is about $47,300.  Roughly half of all graphic designers employed in the USA earn between $30,000 and $60,000 a year.  Nevada ranks 13th in the nation in terms of average income for graphic design professionals, with designers in big cities like Las Vegas earning more, on average, than similarly employed artists in other regions of the state.

Skills of a Graphic Designer

Aside from artistic talent, excellent communication skills and keen attention to detail, a professional graphic designer is also familiar with drawing styles, computer art, photography and typographical technique. 

The best designers are familiar with all types of drawing, rendering and shading.  They can quickly sketch accurate images from verbal descriptions.  They can produce cartoons, lifelike anatomical figures, architectural blueprints and abstract forms on demand.  Typographical technique consists of appropriately manipulating linguistic symbols for optimal visual effect.  Other useful graphic design skills include web design ability and a sharply appealing “signature” style.