Carve your own niche – build an art and design career that suits you

It’s the dilemma that all arts and design graduates face: how can you make a living out of doing what you love, when graduate job opportunities that will allow you to make use of your creativity are so few and far between?

Some find jobs that allow them to use their talents relatively quickly – but many others have to find something to pay the bills, and are faced with the challenge of how to manoeuvre into a position where they can put their artistic gifts to good use.

If you’re working in a role that is not directly related to your degree, you may be able to make a creative niche for yourself within your current organisation. Other ways to get the work you want include freelancing and setting up your own enterprise. You’ll find tips below on how to approach all of these solutions to the creative career challenge.

Build your own job

‘His position is unique. He has made it for himself. There has never been anything like it before, nor will be again.’ Sherlock Holmes about his brother Mycroft

Sometimes the job you really want doesn’t actually exist – yet. The most common reasons for this are:

• it isn’t (or wasn’t) economically viable
• it hasn’t been thought of yet
• no-one is willing to take the risk

If you’re working for an organisation in a role that isn’t creative, and you spot an opportunity to make use of your art or design background, you may be able to persuade your employer to give you a chance to show what you can do.

There’s a great example of how to approach this in Gerald Durrell’s book, Fillets of Plaice, in which Gerald Durrell describes how he got the job of decorating the window tank in a fish shop despite the manager believing it was his responsibility alone. Durrell first secured the job of shop assistant, and built up the manager’s trust. After that, with some well-placed flattery, he was allowed to decorate smaller tanks, before being allowed a trial run with the prize tank. After dazzling the manager with his aptitude the job was his.

Here are the four basic steps you need to take in order to be allowed to decorate your own fish tank, or talk yourself into the creative role of your choice:

1. get a foot in the door – even if this is at a relatively junior level
2. impress the appropriate people with your ability
3. request additional responsibilities, and suggest the field you’re interested in
4. impress the appropriate people with your ability

Managers like to give jobs to people who want to do them, and a hard worker who does a good job and enjoys it is in a good position to get the kind of work they want.

Freelancing in art and design

Freelancing is tough in any industry, and especially so in the world of art and design. It can be particularly hard for the fresh–faced graduate, who has relatively few contacts. It’s a better option for someone who has been working in the sector for a couple of years, and has had the chance to build relationships with potential clients.

According to the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education 2010 survey from the Higher Education Statistics Agency graduates from design studies were the most likely to be self-employed within six months. Around 13.9% chose this route (followed by music, 8.4%), drama, (6.2%), and fine art (4.6%).

Here are the steps you need to think about if you want to freelance.

• Build up a client base. If you want to go freelance then it is essential that you know that there is enough work out there to support yourself. You will need to keep things ticking over during the lean months (whenever they are).
• Take control of your own business affairs. You don’t have to be Gordon Gekko, but an ability to keep your accounts in order is probably a prerequisite. This means managing your own finances, and making sure everything you do is legal and above board.
• Deliver skilfully, frequently, and in a timely fashion. The best way to ensure that you continue to get work is to make sure that you conduct business as professionally as possible.
• Take advantage of the support. There are plenty of schemes, grants and advice out there specifically designed to help people setting up their own businesses. This frequently includes freelancers, so don’t be afraid to ask government and academic institutions for support.

Some artists and designers are so successful that they can take on apprentices and even start ‘schools’. For more information on setting up your own business check out Direct.gov’s advice for self-employment.

Be an art and design entrepreneur

You can also work on your own creative project in your own time, outside your main day job, with a view to using it to help you find employment, selling it to a company or developing it into a commercial venture yourself.

Say, for example, that you wanted to get a cartoon series onto mainstream television. It is fairly easy to set up a blog and see how much traffic you can generate. If it is popular enough you could take the viewer statistics to a prospective employer. You can also set up advertising through blog pages to make some cash. You may find that, in the end, you don’t even need the corporate backer.

When it comes down to it, there will have to be a point at which you will have to sell your idea for all it’s worth. If your proposal is popular enough you may be in with a chance.

A couple of things to bear in mind when making a pitch:

• Make sure that both you and your idea are presentable, and easy to understand
• Show the gatekeepers that you have thought about the target audience, and you know what you are doing.

If you have a good pitch then your idea should be judged simply on the balance of merit. If it isn’t accepted, then you can always take the constructive criticism and alter your idea. Or you can simply try and sell it elsewhere.

What do art and design graduates do?

A 2009 analysis by the Higher Education Careers Services Unit gives a flavour of the kinds of roles available. Just under a third of 2008 art and design graduates were working as arts, design, culture and sports professionals six months later, including the following:

• Commercial artists 6.5%
• Artists (fine art) 4.9%
• Graphic artists and designers 4.9%

Other art and design graduates were working in a range of fields, including marketing, administration and management, and just over a fifth were working in retail and catering, including waiting and bar staff roles. That suggests there’s an awful lot of frustrated talent out there.

Have a ‘plan B’

Getting work in art and design has always been tough, and during an economic downturn it’s harder than ever. It may be that you decide you’re happy to work in another field by day, and keep your creativity alive in your own time. Chances are you’re going to have to compromise at some point, but don’t lose sight of what you want in the long term. Above all, don’t worry about trying and failing; worry about never having truly tried.