How to elevate my career to the next level?

January 28, 2009 8:53 PM

I think i've peaked as a designer, help me find my next step.

I'm a graphic designer working mostly in interactive web design. I have bachelors in fine arts. I've done a lot of print, identity, branding work in the past but mostly focus on web design and some development. I've always been interested in the strategic side of the web like information architecture or web strategy itself.

Though im currently an art director, i feel like i've hit a plateau in my designing abilities and salary. I would like to "elevate" my career in some fashion but im not positive how to do so. I'm aware i can go back to school specializing in HCI or get a Masters in Fine Arts in Visual Communications but what other fields/areas of studies are related to the Web that could build on my foundation? Are there other emerging cutting edge fields linking directly to web design/development that have a promising future where schooling pays off?

I'm interested in pushing my career to create more income and to posses a highly sought-after skill-set. But am not sure the investment of more schooling will necessarily pay off in the long run.

Though my questions aren't completely clear, any advice and suggestions are welcomed.

posted by AMP583 to work & money (5 comments total)

Schooling won't help you anywhere near as much as networking will. You need to find a better job, or start doing commission work privately, or both. You might find it helpful to talk to an agency for web designers, to see if you can get some contracts that will stretch your skills.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 9:30 PM on January 28

I hope I'm coming close to answering something... my experience with creative people who hit a plateau is that they need to get the hell out of their comfort zone for a while. Some do it by going back to school, some deliberately change their design/writing/cooking/singing style, some pretend they're totally new and rediscover principles of their craft over again.

So.. one way you could do this (while still making dayjob money, as well as helping out) would be to find a charity that needs web help, and volunteer X hours a week. Lets you learn from the ground up about how web strategies work (and don't), and gives you an opportunity to throw all your old web design out the window and start with something completely fresh. Should also be enough of a taste to give you an idea about what you want to be doing.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 9:33 PM on January 28

what other fields/areas of studies are related to the Web that could build on my foundation?

Marketing. A huge, huge can of worms to explore! In my business, marketing held huge amounts of creative power and authority (I would argue too much, but that's for another day). It's basically the amalgam of design, psychology and management. Most designers end up having to answer to a Marketing person, and 9 times out of 10 that marketing person is a complete and utter imbecile. Be one of the smart ones!

Are there other emerging cutting edge fields linking directly to web design/development that have a promising future where schooling pays off?

Not really.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:00 AM on January 29

Oh, except software development. But I didn't get the impression you wanted to code from your question.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:01 AM on January 29

Oh, but a talented designer that can code is a heck of a marketable talent provided they're not horribly deficient in some other normal-human capability. And even then...
posted by bz at 12:15 PM on January 29