Multimedia Designer

   Multimedia is the art form of the digital age. A Multimedia designer combines electronic source material-graphics, audio, text and more into understandable communications for websites, games, video or other media. There are entire films composed on computer, and many films and commercials made today have some sort of computer manipulation involved. Multimedia is also an important part of the business world (i.e. stores that function 100% online). Using a multitude of different softwares, designers who know multimedia are working behind-the-scenes designing and creating graphical, audio and text communications for a many different purposes from new apps to animated movies!

   

Multimedia designers must be flexible and always able to adjust to new technologies that come their way. Since they are somewhat of a “jack of all trades” they have more software to familiarize themselves with as it evolves.

   Multimedia designers are responsible for projects such as: web design, computer games design, video game design, advertising, graphics, animation, podcasts, apps, design for web, interface design, social media, etc…

Fashion Advertising and Marketing

Fashion advertising is a specialized and competitive area of art and graphic design. An artsy and creative mind is needed to be a successful advertiser. Advertising is the most important tool for any fashion designer.

The focus for advertisers is on helping a client sell their products. The advertising field is divided into a few different categories such as account services, creative, media, and traffic and production.

• ·         An account manager is the middleman between the client and the agency. Their job is to pitch the designer’s product as well as project manage the development of potential ad campaigns. Entry-level hires are placed into account coordinator positions. Account planners use qualitative and quantitative research to understand consumers’ buying habits and what will make them purchase or not purchase a product. You could say it’s psychology being used on audience.

• ·         The creative department brings an advertising idea to life. Copy writers create the written part of print ads as well as the scripts for radio and TV ads. Art directors develop the visual concepts and designs of advertisements and manage everything from preparing layouts for print ads to the filming of TV commercials and photo shoots. Fashion coordinators and merchandise planners work to create a eye catching and unified look in retail stores or magazines. Visual merchandisers are responsible for designing in-store and window displays to attract customers.

• 
  
• ·         The media department places ads in the right place at the right time to target the right audience. Media planners use the knowledge of viewing habits along with evaluate editorial content and programming to determine what media to use.

• ·         The traffic department monitors ad development and submission deadlines, the production department controls how print or media ads are made.

Advertisement doesn't only deal with creativity, it deals with business as well. That is where marketing comes into play.

Marketers track and monitor fashion trends and consumer trends. They know the ins and outs of moving designer labels from showrooms to consumers’ closets and how to keep customers coming back for more. A fashion marketing career often starts with an intern position or a contract job at an entry level. A full time job as a marketing associate furthers your career and allows you to continue to polish your skills. A top job would be marketing director or vice president, directing a team of marketing associates. Successful fashion marketing professionals are: self-driven, business-minded, excellent communicators, social media savvy, creative, thick skinned, quick thinking, and up on trends and current events. Also, being good with numbers doesn't hurt either.

Social Media Specialist

A social media specialist’s job includes building and executing social media strategy through competitive research, platform determination, benchmarking, messaging, and audience identification. They are to generate, edit, publish and share daily content, such as original text, images, video or HTML, that builds meaningful connections and encourages community members to take action. They also set up and optimize company pages within each platform to increase the visibility of company’s social content, and moderate all user-generated content in line with the moderation policy for each community. Other responsibilities include creating editorial calendars and the syndication schedules. So, in a nutshell, the Social Media Specialist is responsible for the ongoing management and growth of the business’s/company’s social media presence in alignment with their business strategies and direction.

To be successful at this job you will need to have excellent consulting, editing (photo/video/text), writing, and presentation and communication skills. It is important that the individual has social networking experience and social analytics tools knowledge, and working knowledge and real-world experience in planning, managing and executing social media initiatives. You will also need to have real-word experience planning social media programs that span blogs, Facebook, and even sponsored Tweets. Likewise you will need knowledge of Digital Marketing current best practices and an understanding of Digital production processes. You also must be knowledgeable of social media legal guidelines. You must also possess knowledge of strategic planning and processes for brand management and creative development. Adequate knowledge of web design, web development, CRO and SEO. You should also have knowledge of online marketing and good understanding of major marketing channels. You should have a positive attitude, be detail and customer oriented with good multitasking, good organizational ability, and have strong negotiation skills. I found during my research that most if not all the companies require 3+ years of experience and either a BS or BA in Communications, Marketing, Business, New Media, Public Relations, or any other related field.

Since we live in a world where the Internet is important, it is a vital part in our everyday lives. Companies need/want to go where the potential customers are, which is online. So, while doing my research I found a ton of companies, across the United States that are hiring a Social Media Specialist. Companies I found that were hiring individuals for this position include Campbell’s Soup, Micro Solutions, Creative Circle, Meridian Technology Group, and O’Reilly Auto Parts, just to name a few. 

Photojournalism

Photojournalism is a career that is just what the name would suggest. It is the creation of a story told through photos. It is a journalism career & can deliver news. Most images are in print form, such as newspapers & magazines. Sometimes photojournalism can include video presentation, but for the most part it is limited to photos. The story the photojournalist creates is purely images. The audience is able to understand the story the photojournalist creates just by looking at the series of photos.

There are a few important things to think about if you choose to pursue a career in photojournalism. You must know how to operate a camera, of course. You have to be very motivated & outgoing. You have to be willing to put yourself into many different types of situations to get the best possible series of photos to support your story. You have to be ready to jump at the opportunity to get great shots at any time. The most important thing, I believe, is that you must love taking photos & really appreciate being able to tell a story through an image.

There a many different places you can work for when you are a photojournalist. One example would be working as a magazine photographer. It's good to pick a specific type of photography that you like, such as nature, fashion, etc. When you are a photographer for a magazine you are focused in on a specific story that you are trying to portray in a spread for an issue. You have to be very creative so your audience can understand what you're trying to show or tell them through your photos. Photojournalism can be a very challenging career, but it can also be one of the most creative careers a person can have.

Animator

Animator

Animators have come a long way since before they started creating animated movies and TV shows. Some animators started their careers with flipbooks. Animation isn’t just a drawing; it’s giving that drawing life that creates the animation. I remember as a child being amazed as I made my own flipbook. The ability to start with a drawing in a book and draw on each page the same character with just one different movement made me realize at a young age how wonderful this art was. Once I put them all together they created an animated sequence as the character was walking through the pages! From there animators took that simple sequence and used it to develop characters on screen with even more detail and action giving the characters personality. With the technology we have today animators have gone from making pencil and paper animation sequences into computer graphic animation.

This may sound simple and easy, as I created a flipbook as a child, but to become an animator it requires special skill. You can’t be an amazing animator if you only know the basics; you must be able to combine old media with new media as some animation companies may require some old techniques. The traditional hand drawn animation is still used today and can be combined with other techniques that a great animator will use. Great animators also know how to use model, or stop frame animation such as that used in the movie “Chicken Run.” The ability to use clay figures and film them to make them look as if they are real is what makes stop animation so unique and an important skill for an animator. Now with the new technology being able to create 3-D animation using computer graphic technology is also in high demand.  Now these aren’t the only skills required you must also be a good storyteller, have good timing and composition, and an understanding of motion, size, ratios and perspective. And with the ever changing world we have today animators should have skills in mathematics, physics, computer operating systems, software-specific computer scripting languages, and digital asset management. Continuing to educate yourself as our ever changing world continues changing is a must in this career as today’s new media may be not so new in five years. And of course with any other job there are also the necessary skills to succeed in almost any career; teamwork, an ability to take direction, the ability to work quickly, meet deadlines while keeping your work at a high standard, and interpersonal communication.

Some animators are known to work on their own, but with technology and the demand for more animated movies the emphasis on teamwork and multitasking is becoming a need especially for Fortune 500 companies such as The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Animators must be willing to work together as a team and to secure a job within Disney all of the skills I stated in the last paragraph are required and for The Walt Disney Company a familiarity with the characters is a must. I would love to secure a job working for the company, but it takes much dedication and is a very competitive career chose. A large team will be involved in various stages of production helping create the Disney movies we all know and love to watch. Animators don’t just create the characters and backgrounds they are also responsible for helping raise the finance for the original idea, to script the development, finding that perfect “voice” that will make that character come to life (We all know Mickey Mouse just by the sound of his voice), recording the soundtrack, checking the design, editing and sound mix, and once the final production is finished it must look like it was all created by one hand. Disney is known for using all three technologies of animation with Tim Burton’s help they have created some of the most beautiful and imaginative stop animation movies. An animator has many opportunities especially within a company as amazing and as well-known as The Walt Disney Company and I’d be happy to work for them, even if my major is marketing securing a job within their company is a huge milestone. 

Hand Drawn Animation

Stop Motion Animation

Computer Graphics Animation (CGI animation)

Resources

http://www.skillset.org/animation/careers/article_3772_1.asp

Picture Resources
laughingsquid.com
www.digitalmediaacademy.org
www.cgmeetup.net

PR professional

Job Responsibilities for a public relations professional or communications specialist include to plan (& attend) events, interview clients and community members. They also write/edit/publish press releases, attend meetings, develop (or redevelop) websites. Some of their most important work is to maintain relationships with clients, manage social media sites, media outreach/relations, and network. Other tasks include to design (& distribute) marketing materials, and crisis communications.

I currently work at a public relations (PR) firm. While I do perform all of these tasks, I also do a lot more. The PR firm I work for is a small company of just three people (the owner, her business partner, and myself). Some of our clients include government run offices so part of my job is to follow all of their protocol, generate monthly reports for financing and grants, help with their website, and attend a lot of meetings.

One of the most important parts of this job is to network and effectively communicate goals and ideas between yourself and the client. In order to work as a PR professional or communications specialist, you have to be outgoing, organized, hard working, flexible, and patient. Even though it is part of the job to provide counseling and guidance on how certain things should be done (design, colors, fonts, when to release things, public statements, etc) you also have to be willing to let the client take the credit. I have written countless blogs, stories, press releases that no one even knows I have written—the client takes the credit. The most important thing to remember about this job is that you are essentially the (mostly hidden) voice of whatever company or client you are representing so you have to act on their best behalf.