What You Need to Know to Be a Graphic Designer in Wichita, Kansas

With a more than 382,000 local residents and as many as 40,000 commercial businesses, Wichita, Kansas is a prime location for resident artists pursuing careers in graphic design.  Companies throughout the city of Wichita employ graphic design professionals of every kind.

Wichita Schools and Training Programs for Graphic Design

Local artists earning graphic design degrees in Wichita, Kansas typically attend Wichita State University or Wichita Area Technical College.  Nowadays, many Wichita-based graphic designers obtain their degrees online.  Among the largest colleges offering graphic design degree programs online are The Art Institutes, ITT Tech, University of Phoenix and DeVry.

Aspiring Wichita designers typically major in Communications Design or Fine Arts.  A degree program for a local graphic artist might include computer science, website design, digital art, traditional media, photography, animation, technical drawing, typography, printmaking and related topics.

Working as a Graphic Designer in Wichita, Kansas

Graphic designers in Wichita, Kansas are in relatively high demand.  They are hired to design brand logos, visual product descriptions, promotional art, educational materials, book covers, web pages, product packaging, road signs, home interiors, textile prints and assembly instructions, to mention just a few. 

Some designers living in Wichita, Kansas work for leading local advertising agencies.  High-revenue examples of these include A-Step-Above Publishing, Gold Media Interactive, Menefee-&-Partners, Mathur Media Group and Mitchell Media.  Other local designers create film credits and promotional materials for Wichita motion picture producers like Cherished Moments, Condo Engine, Digital Production Incorporated and W.P. Post & Graphics, for instance.

Other companies in Wichita, Kansas hiring graphic designers include art galleries, news syndicates, patent offices, software developers, colleges, book publishers, retailers, manufacturers, industrial contractors, architects, real estate agents, internet start-ups and more. 

About half of all graphic designers in America earn between $30,000 and $60,000 a year.  Businesses across the United States currently employ more than 250,000 graphic artists.  The starting salaries of communications design experts depend on education, experience and expertise, among other factors.  Design portfolios are carefully reviewed when hiring decisions are made.  A design portfolio is a collection of pictures representing the artist's best work. 

Skills of a Graphic Designer

Graphic design is the communication of specific messages through the use of pictures instead of standard written words, and is often done for commercial purposes.  Most graphic design work is technical in nature and involves layout, which is altering and arranging the size, color, location, orientation and other attributes of images on a page.

Graphic designers utilize technology, psychology, visual arts and savvy marketing techniques to affect certain target groups in certain ways.  Professional designers harness the power of juxtaposition, the effect of colors on mood, the psychology of symbols, the location of the observer and other visual subtleties unnoticed by the casual observer.