Why businesses are headhunting graphic designers as part of their essential team

AOD discusses the importance of school leavers taking up graphic and animation design education as a noticeable void for qualified 

professionals developin the market

If there’s one thing all businesses have in common, it’s that they all face competition. A qualified designer can make a brand stand out in a crowded market and open its product or services up to the right target and even entirely new audiences by speaking a visual language that makes sense to them. This is why graphic and animation design has become so important to businesses today.

However in Sri Lanka, there are not enough qualified graphic designers to fulfil the massive demand from businesses. Although there are substandard diploma holders and people with basic software knowledge, there are very few real graphic designers with international level degree qualifications or an in-depth understanding of what the business world is looking for in terms of branding, corporate identity design, packaging, etc. Despite businesses offering high-paying careers for degree holding qualified professionals, the scarcity of real graphic designers is felt throughout the market today. 

This was discussed by AOD – Sri Lanka’s leading private design educator. AOD is also the preferred design institution by most businesses in the country and therefore, is constantly approached by businesses to employs its graduate designers, especially in graphic design. Although AOD graduates a sizeable cohort of graphic designers each year, it is still not enough to meet the increasing demand made by the business world. 

AOD principal, British designer Karen MacLeod stated that the number of inquiries that AOD receives to employ its graphic design graduates is an average of double the amount of graduate designers that the school produces per year. “Graphic design is, by far, the most in-demand creative profession out there today. All businesses need graphic designers and most of them now look to employ in-house graphic designers as part of their core marketing/promotions team, as everyday social media and digital promotions become a norm. So, we are encouraging more school leavers to join our graphic design and animation degrees; the job prospects are guaranteed and they are high-paying fantastic careers. 

“With the reputation that AOD has for excellent graphic designers, and our international faculty that trains students to become professionals who can work with local or international clients, we are able to offer the best education and career prospects for graphic design in Sri Lanka.”

What do graphic 

designers do?

To understand the role of a real graphic designer and why they have become so essential to business, a closer look at what their work entails. A graphic or animation designers are professionals trained to become experts in creating and assembling images (or videos in the case of an animator), typography, symbols, colours and visual cues to send out a specific message, exactly as intended. This message can be in several forms according to the need of the client, such as logo design, branding, corporate identity, packaging, advertising or promotions. 

A graphic designer who is properly trained with international standard education or experience, has a vast knowledge of how visual messages in colour, shapes and symbols are perceived by the general public; therefore they can decipher a brand message or a promotion using exactly the right visual elements to create the desired outcome. 

This ability to get a meaningful, interesting and aesthetically appealing visual message across to the right audience is an essential for businesses today because of their need to cut across market clutter and reach the right people.

How did the role of a graphic designer become essential 

to businesses now?

With the advent of social media, digital marketing etc. advertising has become decentralised and become easier, cheaper and regularly accessible to brands and businesses. This is one of the biggest reasons why more businesses are looking to work with graphic designers directly without going through agencies, or to employ resident graphic designers. Therefore today, freelance graphic designers have highly lucrative careers while working with several businesses. Graphic designers who wish to have secure employment also have fantastic opportunities as businesses now recognise their value and are willing to hire them at attractive remuneration packages.

Despite this favourable situation, there are very little qualified graphic designers and not enough school leavers taking it up for higher education and then careers. This is mainly due to the lack of awareness on the reality of career prospects and the dawn of new jobs, such as graphic/animation design, that offer great opportunities. AOD, in the face of rising demand from local businesses, encourages school leavers to take up careers in graphic design through the right kind of education that can place them as professionals needed by industries.

AOD is currently enrolling for its 2016/17 intake for the prestigious Northumbria University UK degrees in BA (Hons) Graphic Design and BA (Hons) Motion Graphics & Animation Design. These globally recognised degrees taught an international faculty can now be completed in Sri Lanka at AOD. 

For enrolments, free graphic and animation design career counselling, walk in to AOD at 29, Lauries Road, Colombo 4 between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call AOD on 0775 980 141/0115 867 772 or email [email protected]. You can find out more about AOD on www.aod.lk or www.facebook.com/aodsrilanka.