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Art, craft and design

Careers in art, craft and design

Working in art, craft and design offers lots of different roles.

You could:

  • work with clients to design products
  • produce goods using traditional techniques
  • make items using the latest technologies and materials

There are roles at all levels with lots of routes in. You can find out about the different entry routes you can take on the job profiles.

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Examples of careers in art, craft and design

Within this sub-sector, you'll find a range of career opportunities.

We've selected a few examples to show the variety of roles, levels and training times. Training time is the amount of time it takes to learn and gain the experience needed to do the job well.

Click on any of the job profiles to view information on entry routes, salary and progressions opportunities, plus much more.

View all careers in this sub-sector

Hear from people working in art, craft and design

Hear from individuals working in art, craft and design to find out about the jobs they do to see if a career in this sub-sector could be for you.

Meet joiner Darren

Darren had his own business for 18 years before working as a joiner at North Manchester General Hospital.

1 minute 40 second watch

View transcript

I'm Darren Taylor. I'm a joiner and I work at the Estates at North Manchester General Hospital.

I had my own business for 18 years. Decided when this opportunity came about, I’d try and go for it. Obviously age wasn’t on my side at the time, but that didn’t matter, it was my quality and my skills and what I could bring to the Estates.

Within the theatres, obviously it’s a fast moving industry, you know, you got emergencies coming in, trolleys smashing doors. So sometimes hinges come off. Bolts, locking bolts come off. Digilocks go wrong. Do what I need to do, clean up and get out before it becomes sterile.

You've got to have a bit of flexibility with it, some of it’s hard and fast. You just want to get in, do your job so they can do theirs.

I had a guy, snapped his key in his locker. A surgeon. Patients ready to be operated on, and he’s no scrubs. Can’t get to them. So flew round with my trolley. Got in it for him, whatever means I did. And he’s literally getting dressed into his scrubs while I was tidying up.

We’re all at the same level here, whether you’re a porter, joiner, plumber, chief surgeon. We’re all at the same level. One cog drops out, the links gone.

The amount of training I’ve had on the digital code locks, changing them, fixing them, repairing them. You name it, if anything goes wrong with a lock in this hospital now I feel quite confident to sort it out. Rescue and release on lift training, asbestos awareness, induction to all the machinery in the workshop.

We will turn our hands to pretty much everything within our remit. It’s not a case of, right well, I'm a joiner, I’m not doing it, it’s a case of right, I’m a joiner, fix a door, can fit a kitchen. I can do this, I can do that, but if, then you do.

It’s mainly the people I'm working with about the job, and then the satisfaction once I've completed the job over there.

Watch other videos

Hear from others working in art, craft and design to find out more about their role.

Meet graphic designer Alicia

Alicia talks about how she got into graphic design, and the skills she uses in her role as a graphic designer.

1 minute 10 second watch

View transcript

Hi I'm Alicia. I'm a creative designer at OCPR which is a digital Market agency in Sheffield.

I've always been a creative from ever since I could pick up a pencil so I've always been into drawing, painting, anything I could do. Photography.

I decided to do my degree at Loughborough University studying graphic communication and illustration.

So in the graphic design role, there could be illustrators, there's animators, there's people going to editorial.

You you can sort of find your niche or you could be super broad within graphic design which I've really enjoyed as well.

Once you've done a design, take a step back and just be like 'So why have I done it? What purpose is it serving? Is this communicating the right message? Is it, you know, is it going to resonate with the audience?'

You always need to take a step back and be really critical about it I think that's one of the key skills of graphic design.

I think the best advice I could give to anybody starting in the creative industry, particularly graphic design is to always stay learning. Because it's just a constantly changing market and if you're working lots of different businesses, you want to know as much as possible.

I think as well just generally just being inspired by the world around you because everything is so relevant to the role, from signs on the road to how they lay it out, to menus you know.

Anything you look around you is it's all learning so I think you should take it all in wherever you are.

Meet architect Muyiwa

Muyiwa wants to diversify the ways people can become an architect.

2 minute 15 second watch

View transcript

My name is Muyiwa. Muyiwa Oki. I'm an architect. I work at Mace Group Limited, it’s a construction consultancy company, and alongside that job, I am also the president of the Royal Institute for British Architects, RIBA.

I love my job because it is, it's fascinating. It's fascinating. It is dynamic. I focused on architecture because you use your hands and there was a variety in the subject matter, which was creative in that analytical problem solving. You meet people and engage with people.

On a day to day basis my task varies quite a lot, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to be an architect, because at the end of each day or the end of the programme or project, you get to see the fruits of your labour.

There's bits of coordinating with different stakeholders, and stakeholders are people who are interested in what you're doing, who have a stake in what you're doing, so from your client to the end users to other architectural and design professionals, people who are funding the projects, liaising with them, trying to get the project from a concept, a figment of someone's imagination, all the way to site and being realised.

So the journey was very linear, to be quite honest with you. And one of the reasons why I wanted to do architecture is because of that linear procession between, you know, what you want to do at A level, the kind of subjects that you do at A levels, translating that into a university degree. At the end of university, you know exactly what you're going to do at the end of it, you’re going to be an architect. So that's one of the reasons why I chose architecture.

Now, in my role as president, I want to diversify the range in which people can enter and access the profession because the built environment is the backdrop to everyone's daily lives. And if you want to be creating a built environment fit for everyone, I believe people that are creating it needs to be as diverse as people who are using it.

Example pay ranges in art, craft and design

Below are some examples of the pay you could earn from working in different jobs in this sub-sector.

If you’d like to see more salary information for more jobs in this sub-sector, you can view all careers in art, craft and design.

We estimate our salary ranges based on different sources. Find out more about the sources we use for salary information.

We'll put a salary as variable if reliable information is difficult to find. This might happen for jobs that are often freelance or have lots of self-employed workers.

Job role Starting pay Pay with experience
3D printing technician £27,000 £45,000
Advertising art director £30,000 £60,000
Animator Variable Variable
App developer £31,000 £65,000
Architect £31,000 £58,000
Architectural technician £24,000 £42,000
Architectural technologist £25,000 £50,000
Art editor £28,000 £54,000
Art therapist £40,000 £57,000
Audio visual technician £22,000 £35,000
Baker £19,000 £26,000
Blacksmith Variable Variable
CAD technician £24,000 £42,000
Cake decorator Variable Variable
Carpenter £24,000 £40,000
Ceramics designer-maker Variable Variable
Choreographer Variable Variable
Community arts worker £19,000 £29,000
Conservator £26,000 £38,000
Costume designer £25,000 £45,000

Find out what type of career is right for you

If you're unsure about the type of careers that are right for you, you can take a skills assessment. There are no right or wrong answers when doing a skills assessment. It’s a way to understand yourself better and help you think about your next step.

Take a skills assessment

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