You'll probably find that while you are reading this article you encounter the work of a designer in some way, whether it is the chair you are sat on, the clothes you are wearing or this forum you are using.
So, as you can imagine, the design industry is vast, with many different types of design disciplines available to work in — think everything from product and packaging design to working with brands and logos and much more besides.
If you are interested in a career in design you might want to specialise in one area — such as copywriting or furniture design — however, the Design Council says the versatile nature of the industry means it is possible to work across more than one discipline, citing Wayne Hemingway as an example of a designer who has put his skills to use designing wallpaper, clothes and buildings.
Inspired by the wide variety of careers available in this creative sector, we are running a series of Q&As exploring what it is like working in each type of design, how they overlap, and the skills and qualifications you'll need to break into this area.
And because competition is tough in this sector — the Design Council also reports how there are more students leaving design education than there are jobs to receive them — we'll be looking at how the current jobs market and how you use your creative ability to land a role.
First in the series is graphic design — which involves choosing and organising words, images and lots of other aspects of design to communicate a client's message to a target audience.
As with design as a whole, graphic design careers can be hugely varied — you might focus on certain areas such as corporate identity or typography, or bring your talents to many different types of design briefs, so, if you'd like to know more about training and working as a graphic designer join our panel of experts on September 8 at 1pm.
Our panel:
Deborah Lunnon is an online tutor in Graphic Design for the Interactive Design Institute. Deborah has more than 20 years of corporate design experience and also works as a freelance corporate designer.
Karolina Johnson is the the creative services and studio manager at the Design Council. Karolina graduated in 1994 from the Victoria University School of Design with a degree in Visual Communication and Design and has been working in the industry, both client and agency sides, ever since.
Matt Davies is founder and creative director at Attitude Design, a design agency based in Nottingham. Matt has more than eight years of experience working in the design sector, and he has had work published in several books and showcased in Computer Arts Magazine and .net magazine.
Freda Sack runs her own company Foundry Types Ltd, which features exclusive typefaces and specialises in the design and implementation of typefaces and corporate images. Freda is a design education adviser, who lectures internationally, and is currently senior board member of International Society of Typographic Designers.
Louise Seager is a director of Dusza, a graphic design agency based in Bournemouth. Louise is responsible for managing a team of designers and working with businesses to achieve their branding and marketing goals.
Rhiannon James is the senior manager of education and professional development at D&AD, an education charity which promotes creative excellence in the communication industries. Rhiannon's role includes focusing on producing and developing an education programme and highlighting industry trends off and online. She also develops opportunities and events for emerging creative talent.
Geoff Thomas-Shaw is course director for the BA in Graphic Design Communication at the Chelsea College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London.
Paul Wilkes is currently training and recruitment director at visual effects and animation school Escape Studios. He runs the recruitment business within Escape as well as looking after the commercial side of the training business. Paul has been working in the recruitment of computer graphic artists and animators for more than 10 years.
Max Stanworth works for SEO Company Blueclaw and is responsible for front-end design and general web development. Max is a graduate of Interactive Multi Media from the University of Huddersfield. He also blogs about design here.
We'll also be joined by three representatives of brand design consultancy A+B Studio:
Alex Lampe is the co-founder and creative partner of A+B Studio. After graduation he worked at brand consultancy Lewis Moberly where he met Benji Wiedemann, also co-founder and creative partner of A+B Studio. Both Alex and Benji will be online to answer your questions.
Tom Carey is a designer at A+B Studio. Tom graduated from Kingston University with first class honours in 2009 where he won second prize in the D&AD student awards and the D&AD Adobe Future Creative Bursary.
