Many students who choose to study for an art and design degree do so because they have a specific job in mind. However, if you want to study it, but have no clue what to do afterwards, here’s some good ideas…
Updated: 05 Sept 2025
The beauty of an art and design degree is its flexibility. Many students in the UK opt for this study path because they have a specific career in mind, however, for all those students who are undecided or have changed plans midway, there are plenty of options once you graduate.
An art and design degree will have covered the fundamental design principles, but as a graduate you get to decide exactly how you’ll use that knowledge, and in what arena. You could go a slightly less conventional route and become an art valuer, a museum or gallery curator, or even a fine artist. But if your heart is set on pure design, then consider the following jobs you can do with your degree...
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What you’ll do: It’s not just about making living and working spaces more beautiful; it’s also about improving functionality and safety. If you’ve always had an eye for colour, harmony and good lighting, this may be the career for you. You can be an industrial designer for office spaces, design homes, educational buildings or even become a bespoke kitchen designer.
How you’ll use your degree: Interior designers typically sketch their designs or use special software, then share their vision with architects, builder or engineers so they can make the dream a reality. You’ll be trained on different software throughout your degree.
Why you’ll love it: You get to help people design their perfect home, making a difference in their lives. You’ll be remembered by your customers as you assisted in creating their vision, and you’ll be able to witness something that you helped design come to life.
How much you’ll earn: Salaries start at around £18,000 and can rise to about £45,000 with experience, or more if you work as a freelancer.
What you’ll do: Online publications, print magazines and websites all need someone to coordinate their creative team to bring together advertising projects, layouts and more. Using software like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, you’ll make sure every element is coming together properly.
How you’ll use your degree: If you enjoyed the parts of your degree that focused on mixing media for a more commercial purpose, you may find art direction appealing. You’ll likely work with marketing and communications professionals.
Why you’ll love it: If you’re a people person, you’ll love working with different teams throughout your career, coming together to create the same vision. The job role consists of coming up with new ideas and pleasing the team from the many, many companies you’ll work with.
How much you’ll earn: Average salaries are around £37,000. You'll probably start on a lower salary than this, but with experience you could work your way up to about £65,000.
What you’ll do: This much-coveted role can be difficult to break into, but those who persevere find it a rewarding field. You could find yourself creating bespoke wedding couture, designing for a major fashion label or even working with artisans to style accessories like shoes, bags and jewellery.
How you’ll use your degree: When you design for the human body, your constraints and challenges are different than when you’re designing for, say, a home or piece of equipment. But an eye for detail and understanding trends is a way your art degree can prepare you for fashion design.
Why you’ll love it: Many fashion designers say that they love their jobs because they adore creating clothing and drawing. If you’re someone who spends their past time shopping and looking up the latest trends, are hard-working and wants a fast-paced working environment, you’ll be extremely content here.
How much you’ll earn: £25,000 to £30,000 is a standard salary for a junior designer, although this can vary widely and can go up a lot with experience and promotions.
What you’ll do: Websites, apps, video games, software interfaces – all of these are as much “objects” in the designed world as a beautiful vase or Scandinavian-style living room. You’ll work hard to improve the way that customers use digital products and systems.
How you’ll use your degree: This is one for those designers who constantly ask, “how well is this system really functioning?” If your degree covered areas of prototyping and programming languages, you could do well with UX design.
Why you’ll love it: Again, this is a great job to have if you’re a people person. You'll be working with designers, developers, copywriters, product managers and more. You’ll also be at the forefront of tech, using different tools and processes.
How much you’ll earn: Experienced designers can command up to £50,000 with consultants earning £65,000 or more.
What you’ll do: Industrial designers are responsible for crafting useful items like furniture, appliances and even cars. You’ll need a special blend of creative flair and a solid understanding of how this fits with practical applications in the real world.
How you’ll use your degree: You’ll need plenty of computer aided design (CAD) experience and know how to work with prototypes.
Why you’ll love it: If you love creating things, designing and being in a fast-paced, creative environment, then you’ll do well in this career. You will be thinking about design 24/7 work with a range of people and talents to help you bring them to life.
How much you’ll earn: You could earn £20,000 to £40,000 depending on the company or brands you design for and your experience level.
What you’ll do: This is a popular career and for good reason – graphic designers get to work on logos, illustrations, advertisements, visual concepts and fonts, merging them all seamlessly into a coherent brand identity for their clients. You’ll need both a good eye for design and a thorough understanding of marketing principles.
How you’ll use your degree: The more visually minded student can use their creativity as well as any coding skills they’ve gained from their degrees to become effective graphic designers.
Why you’ll love it: You learn a lot about a lot of things in this job. You learn about many types of businesses, making them look better than their competitors, and the industry is always evolving so you’re constantly learning and in demand.
How much you’ll earn: Salaries are around £20,000 to start with but can go higher if freelancing or consulting.
What you’ll do: If you love special effects, video games, illustrations and other creative forms of media, being a multimedia artist or animator can help you bring ideas to life. Usually working with other artists, a multimedia artist will also need a solid grasp of coding and relevant animation software.
How you’ll use your degree: If your design degree offered courses on programming, Photoshop, UX wireframes or basic programming, you might have what it takes to be an animator or multimedia artist.
Why you’ll love it: There's a surprising amount of research involved with this career, but not the usual type. If you need to animate a tiger, you research their behaviour, anatomy and language – interesting topics to work with. Each project you’ll work on will be unique, and you get to have a lot of fun with your designs!
How much you’ll earn: You can expect around £25,000, although larger projects may be better funded.
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