Magazine Designer Job Description
A magazine designer is someone who handles the look of a publication. Magazine designers build advertisements and graphics, and use photos and other forms of artwork to create covers and inside pages. They need to be highly innovative and understand their magazine's demographic, analyzing trends and paying close attention to what the competition is doing.
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Basics
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Magazine designers meet with editors, circulation directors and advertising managers to coordinate the appearance of their upcoming issue. Occasionally, magazine designers also work with photographers gathering ideas on the best way to present their work. Designers decide on and create things such as typefaces and fonts for the magazine's cover and headlines, as well as which type of artwork will be used with each story, and how the two elements will best be tied together. They also design the all-important "flag," or the title of the magazine that appears at the top of each issue and acts as the publication's trademark or logo. Some design accompanying websites as well.
Skills
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A magazine designer must be creative and possess strong communication skills, considering she has to relay her design ideas to editors and other managers. Sometimes she will need to take someone else's idea, such as a client who wants a certain look to an ad, and build on it. She also should have a firm grasp of how to use publication-related design software, such as PhotoShop or Illustrator. On top of those things, magazine designers should be organized and professional, and must be able to work well alone or as a member of a team.
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Background
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Most magazines prefer candidates with previous experience in creative artwork--either with newspapers or ad agencies--when hiring a designer. Some require a bachelor's degree, with an emphasis on courses in graphic design, communications, printing techniques and perhaps journalism and communications.
Prospects
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Jobs for graphic designers are expected to increase by 13 percent during the 2008-18 decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). That growth rate is about as fast as average for all occupations. While the BLS provided no firm data for magazine designers, it is assumed their employment will increase along with the rest of the industry. At the same time, prospects are likely to be better for magazine designers who also have experience designing websites.
Earnings
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Graphic designers earned anywhere from $9.73 to nearly $27 per hour in March 2010, according to PayScale.com. Meanwhile, the BLS reported that graphic designers in the publication industry made a median salary of close to $37,000 per year in May 2008. Much of a designer's salary is based on things such as experience, as well as the size of the magazine.
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References
- Photo Credit lady relaxing with a magazine image by Peter Baxter from Fotolia.com
