What Can I Do with a Multimedia Design Degree?

Design has come a long way in a short time, with the rapid devel­op­ment of dig­i­tal media break­ing down all of the old tech­no­log­i­cal bar­ri­ers. Today, mul­ti­me­dia design uses a wide array of dig­i­tal and ana­log tools to trans­form every­day life. With a degree or cer­tifi­cate in mul­ti­me­dia design, grad­u­ates can take ordi­nary web­sites and cre­ate excit­ing and new adver­tis­ing cam­paigns that can be broad­cast over tele­vi­sion, radio, and the inter­net. With mul­ti­me­dia design, there are no lim­its on an artist’s creativity.

What Is Multimedia Design?

Mul­ti­me­dia design is an art form that uses many dif­fer­ent types of media. This can include pho­tog­ra­phy, video, graph­ic design, audio, writ­ten con­tent, and many more. Mul­ti­me­dia design is used to cre­ate web­sites, video games, com­put­er graph­ics, dig­i­tal pro­gram­ming, mobile apps, as well as a wide vari­ety of oth­er forms of art and pro­gram­ming. Mdia design uti­lizes many forms of media to cre­ate one piece that may serve sev­er­al dif­fer­ent pur­pos­es. The abil­i­ty to bring these many dif­fer­ent kinds of media togeth­er to cre­ate use­ful designs takes an artist with a keen eye and the abil­i­ty to use their imagination.

Mul­ti­me­dia design can be used in many dif­fer­ent capac­i­ties. With the intro­duc­tion of dig­i­tal media, mul­ti­me­dia design has tak­en on even more depth and resilience. It can be used across more plat­forms than ever before. Mul­ti­me­dia design usu­al­ly includes both audio and visu­al medi­ums. Com­put­er­ized or dig­i­tal graph­ics make it pos­si­ble for the medi­um to be used in a vari­ety of capac­i­ties, includ­ing tele­vi­sion, video, radio, print­ed mate­r­i­al, pho­tog­ra­phy, and sound bytes, just to name a few.

School/ Program Accreditation

Accred­i­ta­tion is the process of ver­i­fy­ing that a school or its degree pro­grams exceed indus­try stan­dards. Sev­er­al pro­to­cols must be met ver­i­fy­ing that when a stu­dent grad­u­ates they will have been taught the most accu­rate infor­ma­tion and giv­en the most up-to-date tech­no­log­i­cal­ly advanced tools to date. They will be able to uti­lize the infor­ma­tion and resources they have been giv­en to become a pro­fes­sion in their cho­sen career field. Accred­it­ed sta­tus guar­an­tees the val­ue of the edu­ca­tion the stu­dent receives. Accred­i­ta­tion also rein­forces that the uni­ver­si­ty and pro­gram are uti­liz­ing the most up to date infor­ma­tion and tech­nol­o­gy possible.

Accred­i­ta­tion is an ongo­ing process. It must be renewed reg­u­lar­ly, in some cas­es, every one or two years. If the accred­i­ta­tion process is not com­plet­ed on a reg­u­lar basis, accred­i­ta­tion will be lost and the entire process must start over. Requir­ing the school or pro­gram to renew their sta­tus every few years ensures that they are main­tain­ing the high­est pos­si­ble stan­dards sup­port­ed by the indus­try. This is true just as true of mul­ti­me­dia design as it is of any oth­er type of degree program.

Region­al accred­i­ta­tion is used to ver­i­fy the teach­ing meth­ods and pro­to­cols of uni­ver­si­ties, col­leges, and oth­er insti­tu­tions of high­er learn­ing. In order to become accred­it­ed, the school must be able to ver­i­fy that its teach­ing meth­ods are sound and can pro­vide stu­dents with a learn­ing envi­ron­ment that will allow them to thrive. The envi­ron­ment must be con­ducive to the stu­dents’ growth as well as their abil­i­ty to explore options for their future. Both online and class­room learn­ing should be eas­i­ly acces­si­ble and taught by pro­fes­sion­al fac­ul­ty mem­bers and instruc­tors who are above reproach on every pos­si­ble lev­el. Region­al accred­i­ta­tion also ensures that the course cur­ricu­lums used for each degree pro­gram are as up to date as possible.

Spe­cial­ized accred­i­ta­tion is the ver­i­fi­ca­tion process used to ensure degree pro­grams and certification/licensure pro­grams offer the best edu­ca­tion­al mate­ri­als pos­si­ble for stu­dents who are try­ing to earn a mul­ti­me­dia design degree. Degree pro­grams must be able to pro­vide accu­rate infor­ma­tion and resources that allow the stu­dent to learn the skills they need to suc­cess­ful­ly cre­ate mul­ti­me­dia designs. Just like region­al accred­i­ta­tion, spe­cial­ized accred­i­ta­tion must be renewed on a reg­u­lar basis. In some cas­es, the review process must be per­formed every one or two years. With degree pro­grams, how­ev­er, reviews are also per­formed when cur­ricu­lums are changed or addi­tions are made to the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion process. When exams for cer­ti­fi­ca­tion and licen­sure are updat­ed, the pro­grams that are used to pre­pare for these tests must also be updat­ed as well.

Types of Multimedia Design Bachelor’s Degrees

There are mul­ti­ple types of Bach­e­lor’s in Mul­ti­me­dia Design Degree pro­grams. In addi­tion to being taught online and in the class­room, stu­dents also have the choice of choos­ing an accel­er­at­ed pro­gram. There are also numer­ous con­cen­tra­tions to choose from which will allow the grad­u­ate to fol­low along on a career path they enjoy. Mul­ti­ple con­cen­tra­tions can be tak­en at one time that will allow the stu­dent to use their tal­ents in many dif­fer­ent ways and many dif­fer­ent career paths.

Online Multimedia Design Programs

Online mul­ti­me­dia design degree pro­grams offer the same learn­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties as stu­dents who choose to attend class on cam­pus. Online pro­grams allow stu­dents to learn from any loca­tion and at their own con­ve­nience. Choos­ing an online pro­gram is an excel­lent way to con­tin­ue their edu­ca­tion while main­tain­ing a full work sched­ule. Stu­dents are able to study at their own leisure allow­ing them to retain more infor­ma­tion and go over lessons as need­ed. When enrolling in an online degree pro­gram, stu­dents are able to start their careers and begin apply­ing what they learn as they move for­ward. Online mul­ti­me­dia design degree pro­grams allow stu­dents to explore their options while attend­ing col­lege and look­ing at what career paths may be avail­able to them. When enrolled in an online degree pro­gram, stu­dents can trav­el almost any­where in the world and still attend their class as long as they have an inter­net connection.

Accelerated Multimedia Design Programs

Accel­er­at­ed Bach­e­lor’s in Mul­ti­me­dia degree pro­grams con­dense the infor­ma­tion con­tained in the cur­ricu­lum’s les­son plans so that the stu­dent can grad­u­ate much ear­li­er. A degree pro­gram that is tra­di­tion­al­ly 24 months or two years long, can be com­plet­ed in 18 months or less. A degree pro­gram that is 36 months or three years long may be able to be com­plet­ed in less than 30 months. Accel­er­at­ed degrees can be tak­en online or in a class­room. Many peo­ple who choose to take an accel­er­at­ed degree pro­gram are already work­ing at a full-time job and want to com­plete their degree pro­gram in as lit­tle time as pos­si­ble. Stu­dents who choose to enroll in an accel­er­at­ed degree pro­gram often do so because they want to com­plete their stud­ies as quick­ly as pos­si­ble. Accel­er­at­ed degrees are a great way to move for­ward with your edu­ca­tion and enjoy new opportunities.

Digital Journalism

Dig­i­tal jour­nal­ism is a spe­cial­iza­tion of mul­ti­me­dia design that incor­po­rates mul­ti­ple forms of media in a plat­form that is used to relay infor­ma­tion to large groups of peo­ple. Audio record­ings, video, dig­i­tal pho­tog­ra­phy, graph­ic design, and many oth­er dig­i­tal forms of media are used to cre­ate doc­u­ments or web-based pub­li­ca­tions. Dig­i­tal jour­nal­ism can be used to cre­ate pub­li­ca­tions that can be sent across the globe in just a few sec­onds com­pared to writ­ten or “hard” pub­li­ca­tions that could take months to reach their des­ti­na­tions. Dig­i­tal jour­nal­ism can also be used to con­dense large amounts of infor­ma­tion into an eas­i­ly trans­mit­table format.

Game Production

Video games require many dif­fer­ent types of media. Video, pho­tog­ra­phy, audio, and graph­ic design are all used togeth­er to cre­ate the dig­i­tal aspects of a video game. While com­put­er cod­ing lays the foun­da­tion of the video game itself, mul­ti­me­dia design is what makes it stand alone. The audio/visual ele­ments and the inter­ac­tive pro­gram­ming used to pro­duce the game are all part of mul­ti­me­dia design. Earn­ing a degree in mul­ti­me­dia design gives a stu­dent all of the tools and skills they will need to be able to design and devel­op every aspect of a video game.

Creative Industry Management

Cre­ative indus­try man­age­ment involves the abil­i­ty to man­age large groups of tal­ent who work with all types of media, both dig­i­tal and oth­er­wise. This spe­cial­iza­tion includes mul­ti­me­dia design cours­es as well as man­age­ment cours­es. The blend­ed cur­ricu­lum pro­vides stu­dents with the course­work that inspires their cre­ativ­i­ty while at the same time pro­vid­ing them with the man­age­ment skills they need to take care of the day to day oper­a­tions of a suc­cess­ful com­pa­ny that spe­cial­izes in mul­ti­me­dia design. A grad­u­ate with a Cre­ative Indus­try Man­age­ment degree can find work in the mar­ket­ing indus­try, enter­tain­ment indus­try, and dig­i­tal journalism.

Broadcast Journalism

Broad­cast jour­nal­ism is a spe­cial­iza­tion that includes video, audio, and dig­i­tal ele­ments that make it pos­si­ble to broad­cast news over sev­er­al plat­forms. Pro­grams can be trans­mit­ted via live stream, radio, tele­vi­sion (ana­log), and dig­i­tal. Jour­nal­ism involves col­lect­ing infor­ma­tion and cre­at­ing valu­able con­tent. Broad­cast jour­nal­ism usu­al­ly involves an audio broad­cast over one of the pri­or men­tioned plat­forms. When broad­cast over the right plat­form, the sig­nal can reach across the globe in a mat­ter of sec­onds allow­ing for the pub­li­ca­tion to be sent to almost any location.

Website Development

Web­site devel­op­ment is a spe­cial­iza­tion that can include the use of many forms of media. Pho­tog­ra­phy, audio, video, and graph­ic design are all used to cre­ate inter­ac­tive web­sites that are used for many dif­fer­ent pur­pos­es. Dif­fer­ent web­sites use dif­fer­ent com­bi­na­tions of media to make them more inter­est­ing as well as more infor­ma­tive. Web­sites and web­site man­age­ment rely on the use of dif­fer­ent forms of media to make them stand out and be as mem­o­rable as possible.

Event Reconstruction/Forensics

Foren­sics and event recon­struc­tion requires the use of dif­fer­ent forms of media to recre­ate an event or acci­dent. Video and audio record­ing are essen­tial, as well as being able to cre­ate three-dimen­sion­al images through the use of graph­ic design tech­nol­o­gy. Being able to use var­i­ous types of media helps cre­ate an extreme­ly accu­rate depic­tion of what­ev­er even is being inves­ti­gat­ed. This type of foren­sics can be used by law enforce­ment and oth­er orga­ni­za­tions that study acci­dents and oth­er cat­a­stroph­ic events.

Marketing Development and Strategies

Mar­ket­ing and devel­op­ment and strate­gies can use many dif­fer­ent types of media. In the mar­ket­ing indus­try, all forms of media are used to devel­op mar­ket­ing strate­gies that attract atten­tion and build an audi­ence for a spe­cif­ic brand. Audio and visu­al forms of media are used to inform and intrigue an audi­ence. Cre­at­ing inter­ac­tive mar­ket­ing tools involves using mul­ti­ple forms of media over a spe­cif­ic platform.

Multimedia Design vs Graphic Design

Graph­ic design vs mul­ti­me­dia design is a com­mon ques­tion many stu­dents ask. There is a major dif­fer­ence between the two types of design. Graph­ic design uses dig­i­tal imagery and con­cepts to cre­ate two and three-dimen­sion­al designs. They are used to cre­ate pro­to­types and oth­er projects in great detail. With graph­ic design, projects can be com­plet­ed in lay­ers so that every aspect of the design is complete.

Mul­ti­me­dia design involves the use of mul­ti­ple forms of media that are brought togeth­er to cre­ate a final project. Mul­ti­me­dia design is often used to cre­ate web­sites, mar­ket­ing tools, social media, and many oth­er dig­i­tal projects in a wide vari­ety of indus­tries. Using many forms of media in one project allows for max­i­mum cre­ativ­i­ty and a design that would not be pos­si­ble with­out the dif­fer­ent ele­ments being added.

Certifications for Multimedia Design

Cer­ti­fi­ca­tions and licens­es are avail­able for many of the mul­ti­me­dia design pro­fes­sions. Cer­ti­fi­ca­tions and licens­es are intend­ed to be able to pro­vide ver­i­fi­ca­tion that the grad­u­ate has sur­passed all expec­ta­tions of knowl­edge. Sit­ting for a state board cer­ti­fi­ca­tion or license exam and suc­cess­ful­ly pass­ing it, proves that they have the prop­er under­stand­ing of the sub­ject mat­ter of their degree. Cer­ti­fi­ca­tions and licens­es can be used to advance a grad­u­ate’s career from design­er to man­age­ment. Hav­ing earned a cer­tifi­cate or license can also mean an increase in pay.

Cer­ti­fi­ca­tions and licens­es must be renewed reg­u­lar­ly. Some licens­es are good for one, two, or five years, depend­ing on the indus­try and the type of license or cer­ti­fi­ca­tion. In between renew­al times, the per­son must com­mit to a spe­cif­ic num­ber of eli­gi­ble con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tion cred­its. These cred­its can be elec­tives that add up to the required num­ber of cred­it hours or the per­son can enroll in a cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­gram that meets the objec­tives of the con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tion require­ments. One of the ben­e­fits of enrolling in a cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­gram is the oppor­tu­ni­ty to learn about the lat­est tech­nol­o­gy and tech­niques in the industry.

Careers in Multimedia Design

There are many dif­fer­ent careers that a grad­u­ate with a Bach­e­lor’s degree in Mul­ti­me­dia Design degree. Mul­ti­me­dia and graph­ic design go hand in hand with many oth­er types of man­age­ment and design pro­grams. Research and devel­op­ment stu­dents can also ben­e­fit from mul­ti­me­dia design. The fol­low­ing careers are just a few of the options avail­able to grad­u­ates with a Bach­e­lor’s in Mul­ti­me­dia Design.

Mul­ti­me­dia Artist and Ani­ma­tor – A mul­ti­me­dia artist and ani­ma­tor work with car­toons, ani­ma­tion, com­ic strips, car­i­ca­tures, illus­tra­tor, mar­ket­ing design­er, and many oth­er posi­tions in which sketch­ing, draw­ing, or illus­tra­tions are used on a reg­u­lar basis. Mul­ti­me­dia artists and ani­ma­tors use a vari­ety of medi­ums. Dig­i­tal tablets and sketch­ing apps for phones and oth­er elec­tron­ic devices make it pos­si­ble for an artist to draw using almost any medium.

Graph­ic Design­er – Graph­ic design­ers use dig­i­tal pro­grams to design and cre­ate two and three-dimen­sion­al ren­der­ings of almost any object. They are impor­tant mem­bers of design teams and can use com­put­er pro­grams to bring tra­di­tion­al draw­ings to life. Graph­ic design­ers can cre­ate com­put­er soft­ware, video games, edu­ca­tion­al pro­grams, and oth­er com­put­er or web-based programs.

Art Direc­tor – A grad­u­ate with a Bach­e­lor’s in Mul­ti­me­dia Design offers indi­vid­u­als an oppor­tu­ni­ty to apply for Art Direc­tor posi­tions as long as they have pri­or work expe­ri­ence in a sim­i­lar field. As an art direc­tor, a grad­u­ate with a Bach­e­lor’s in Mul­ti­me­dia Design can super­vise the plan­ning and cre­ation of many dif­fer­ent projects.

Mar­ket­ing Spe­cial­ist – A grad­u­ate with a Bach­e­lor’s in Mul­ti­me­dia Design can find work as a mar­ket­ing spe­cial­ist. Mar­ket­ing spe­cial­ists use a vari­ety of media types to cre­ate adver­tis­ing cam­paigns social media posts, web­sites, ban­ners, and dig­i­tal bill­boards. Mar­ket­ing spe­cial­ists use mul­ti­me­dia design to cre­ate mar­ket­ing strate­gies and cam­paigns for busi­ness­es and oth­er pro­fes­sion­al organizations.

Dig­i­tal Jour­nal­ist – A Bach­e­lor’s in Mul­ti­me­dia Design can be used to find employ­ment as a dig­i­tal jour­nal­ist. Dig­i­tal jour­nal­ism involves using many dif­fer­ent types of media to cre­ate infor­ma­tive jour­nals on a wide vari­ety of sub­jects. Dig­i­tal jour­nal­ism allows for pub­li­ca­tions to be pro­duced in a dig­i­tal for­mat mak­ing it eas­i­ly trans­fer­able over the internet.

Edu­ca­tor – With a Bach­e­lor’s in Mul­ti­me­dia Design, a grad­u­ate can become an edu­ca­tor in almost any type of art or media-based class. Being able to teach oth­ers about the dif­fer­ent types of media as well as how they are used when it comes to design. Becom­ing an edu­ca­tor can be a very reward­ing career for those who are inter­est­ed in help­ing stu­dents reach their full potential.

Salary

A grad­u­ate with a Bach­e­lor’s in Mul­ti­me­dia Design can expect to earn any­where from $50,000 to almost $100,000. A graph­ic design­er can earn a medi­an salary of $50,000 if they have the right degree plus a cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in design soft­ware. The earn­ing poten­tial will increase the more expe­ri­ence the can­di­date has. Graph­ic design­ers can work in many dif­fer­ent indus­tries. It is an excel­lent start­ing posi­tion for indi­vid­u­als who have recent­ly grad­u­at­ed with their degrees.

The salary of a Mul­ti­me­dia Artist and Ani­ma­tor aver­ages approx­i­mate­ly $73,000 per year. While oth­er degrees may require a cer­ti­fi­ca­tion or expe­ri­ence, an ani­ma­tor will be assessed on their port­fo­lio of work as well as their Bach­e­lor’s degree. Ani­ma­tor and Mul­ti­me­dia artists are most­ly employed by the enter­tain­ment indus­try and mar­ket­ing pro­fes­sion­als who spe­cial­ized in spe­cif­ic types of artwork.

Anoth­er option for a grad­u­ate with a Bach­e­lor’s Mul­ti­me­dia Design is as an Art Direc­tor. Art Direc­tors may apply with a Bach­e­lor’s degree but will need a Mas­ter’s in order to advance upwards through the ranks. The annu­al salary on aver­age for an Art Direc­tor is approx­i­mate­ly $93,000. If an appli­cant has expe­ri­ence in a sim­i­lar field, they may be able to earn more if they have the edu­ca­tion to back it up. Art Direc­tors are often in charge of expen­sive works of art and oth­er valu­able pieces. Indi­vid­u­als who work in this field, car­ry extra respon­si­bil­i­ty and are paid high­er wages to com­pen­sate them for the addi­tion­al work.

Professional Organizations in Multimedia Design

Mul­ti­me­dia Design­ers have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to join one of many pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions that can assist them in gain­ing a pro­fes­sion­al on their com­peti­tors. Choos­ing to join any one of these orga­ni­za­tions will offer cred­i­bil­i­ty to the can­di­date if they choose to apply for high-lev­el positions.

AIGA – Amer­i­can Insti­tute of Graph­ic Arts

The AIGA is the largest and the old­est of all the pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions for grad­u­ates with a degree in Mul­ti­me­dia Design. The orga­ni­za­tion rep­re­sents over 20,000 pro­fes­sion­als who spe­cial­ize in design. Mem­bers include edu­ca­tors, stu­dents, and artists who work in the field.

CAA ‑Advanc­ing Art & Design

Advanc­ing Art & Design, for­mer­ly known as the Col­lege Art Asso­ci­a­tion, is ded­i­cat­ed to pro­mot­ing excel­lence in edu­ca­tion by offer­ing schol­ar­ships and oth­er finan­cial assis­tance to stu­dents who are inter­est­ed in the visu­al arts. Cre­ativ­i­ty and the prac­tice of art in all its forms are promoted.

Design His­to­ry Society

The Design His­to­ry Soci­ety is an inter­na­tion­al soci­ety that sup­ports the study of design in all its forms.

Enter­tain­ment Soft­ware Association

The Enter­tain­ment Soft­ware Asso­ci­a­tion serves com­pa­nies that pub­lish video games and com­put­er games. The Soci­ety links to pub­li­ca­tions that cater to video game cre­ators. The Soci­ety also keeps a list of col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties that spe­cial­ize in degrees that have to do with the soft­ware used in the enter­tain­ment industry.

IGDA – The Inter­na­tion­al Game Devel­op­ers Association

The Inter­na­tion­al Game Devel­op­ers Asso­ci­a­tion is a non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tion that serves video game cre­ators. It is the largest orga­ni­za­tion of its kind in the country.

Nation­al Art Edu­ca­tion Association

The Nation­al Art Edu­ca­tion Asso­ci­a­tion is an exclu­sive orga­ni­za­tion for indi­vid­u­als who are employed as edu­ca­tors in the visu­al arts.

New Media Caucus

The New Media Cau­cus is a not for prof­it orga­ni­za­tion that oper­ates on an inter­na­tion­al lev­el. The orga­ni­za­tion pro­motes a full under­stand­ing of new media art and how it is developed.

Nation­al Coun­cil of Arts Administrators

The Nation­al Coun­cil of Arts Admin­is­tra­tors is for arts admin­is­tra­tors, past, present, and future, to allow them to come up with solu­tions to issues that many face in the field of fine arts and in high­er education.

SEGD – Soci­ety for Envi­ron­men­tal Graph­ic Design

The Soci­ety for Envi­ron­men­tal Graph­ic Design is an orga­ni­za­tion that brings togeth­er what is con­sid­ered the built envi­ron­ment and com­mu­ni­ca­tion design. Peo­ple who work on this plat­form strive to bring glob­al uni­ty by using the full poten­tial of graph­ic design.

Relat­ed Rankings:

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Mul­ti­me­dia Design

15 Best Online Bach­e­lor’s in Mul­ti­me­dia Design

10 Fastest Online Bach­e­lor’s in Mul­ti­me­dia Design

10 Most Afford­able Bach­e­lor’s in Mul­ti­me­dia Design

15 Best Online Train­ing and Devel­op­ment Programs