The world of graphics offers a multitude of possibilities to flourish, thanks to training ranging from bac+2 to bac+5 and varied career opportunities. Lucas, Eva and Manon tell their story.
“Graphics brings together lots of different things,” immediately announces Lucas, 25, now a junior artistic director in Paris. BTS graphic design, professional license, Fine Arts or specialized school… the multiple access routes allow you to consider careers from web graphics to motion design through artistic direction.
Numerous training courses for a multitude of professions in graphic design
After a CAP in signage and decor, Lucas left for Belgium to follow the equivalent of the professional baccalaureate in graphic arts. He continued with a bachelor’s degree in advertising with “lots of practice and little theory”he remembers, as concept-oriented layout.
Eva, 23 years old, is taking a STD2A baccalaureate before a BTS product design that doesn’t impress. In packaging design license, she confirms her interest in graphics. She continued her career at the IIM digital school on a work-study basis where she designed posters, before completing bac+5 level training in Graphics and UX design.
As for Manon, 30 years old, her career path takes her from a preparation course at the Atelier de Sèvres to the Beaux-Arts in the region, before a master’s degree in multimedia and internet interface design at the University of Paris 13.
Tough competition in the graphics sector
“As a bachelor, I did a six-month internship in artistic direction in Paris,” says Lucas. Recommended by his managers, this internship opened the doors to his current advertising agency. But according to him, “places are limited”.
Eva confirms: currently on a work-study program, she has been looking for a job in advertising graphics for six months.”I’ve had lots of interviews, but it’s a bit clogged“, she confides. It is better to find out quickly about the aftermath.
If Manon also obtained a permanent contract at the end of her end-of-studies internship, as a web graphic designer for the creation of visuals in a digital agency, she nevertheless notes that “the competition is tough”.
Freelance full time or on the side?
“I’ve always done things outside of school, it’s more or less thanks to that that I found work,” assures Lucas. However, freelancing is not always easy. Five years as a web graphic designer/UI designer, two of which were independent, Manon took up an online Motion Designer bachelor’s degree, a field in which she has been working for two years.
“My freelance experience was rather difficult,” testifies the one who supported her clients on their visual identities. “We have to do time-consuming things at the start: administrative, accounting, canvassing. It’s a lot of energy at the start for little results”she believes before advising to be “organized and perseverant”, and take part in competitions to get started. She returned to paid employment for “peace of mind, while continuing to freelance on the side”.
“It’s rewarding to feel useful”
What Manon is passionate about is “seek to create a visual universe that makes sense by playing between content and form”. She also enjoys the different stages of graphic creation, from brief to research and production. “Recently, I have appreciated the command aspect of the work, it is rewarding to feel useful.”
As artistic director, Lucas’ days are rarely the same : “Today, I made a storyboard for a brand and I have to provide feedback on the first version of a 3D film,” he says. A freelancer in his spare time, he admits to sleeping “very little”. In the afternoon, he will return to supervise the photo retouching of a shoot.
