Art and Design Degree Overview

Listed below are colleges and universities that offer online degrees or certificates in Art or Design and a detailed list of the programs that are offered. Tuition, financial aid, course offerings, online classes, and other options are available by request. For information about campus-based schools, click on the ‘On Campus Degree’ link above.

Skills Needed in the Art and Design Industry

It takes a lot more than unique ideas and an artistic eye to be successful in a creative industry. You need practical skills while maintaining the ability to be off-the-wall and innovative. Although the design world is ‘fun’ there is a level of expertise and passion needed to build a solid career in the industry.

Some of these skills include being passionate, tech savvy, a solid project manager, a networker, and a good communicator. To learn about other art and design skills that are in demand click on the link

Salaries in Art and Design

Growing and Popular Areas of Design

A significant portion of the population works in design related careers. Over 70,000 people work as interior designers, nearly 23,000 people work as fashion designers, and over 286,000 people work as graphic designers.

The need for new employees in many design fields is expected to go up as fast or faster than the average profession over the next decade. Two of the fastest growing design fields are graphic design and web design. Creative people with strong computer skills are in high demand because more and more companies are putting their business on the web and because many people are starting entirely web-based businesses. The number of apps, blogs, and programs is growing at an exponential rate and many of them require the skills of a graphic designer and/or web designer.

Take a look at the following design careers and their predicted job growth through 2018

Outlook for Art and Design Careers

There are good paying jobs available in the world of design. However, the right design career needs to be matched with the right education and experience qualifications. In design careers, you’ll typically enjoy a higher starting salary with a higher level degree. Once you get started in your career, your salary will be most likely to increase as your skills improve, your client list grows, and/or you further your knowledge of your craft.

Career Forecast for Salary

The graph below shows the median art and design salaries for various careers. Art directors have a higher median pay than most jobs in the art and design industry.

art and design median salaries

Education Requirements for Careers in Design