Exhibition designer: Career development

Before the 2008-2009 recession, exhibition and display design was a growth area with strong demand for qualified and experienced designers, driven by the growth in corporate events and in the heritage industry. These trends are likely to continue as the economy recovers.

Career progression will depend on whether or not you are self-employed and on the nature and size of your employer:

• If you are freelance or working for a particularly large company, you are more likely to work purely on exhibition design.
• If you are employed in a medium-sized or larger company, you might start as a junior or a design assistant and work your way up the company's career ladder to a position such as team leader, senior designer, creative director or design manager.
• In a larger company, you may take increased responsibility for tendering for new work and finding new clients. 

Your career path will also depend on your background and training. There are likely to be more opportunities open to you, and you will have greater freedom to move into other areas and fields of work, if you have, for example:

• architectural training;
• a technical background;
• specialist knowledge and experience in areas beyond pure design.

It is a good idea to get as much experience as possible, particularly in project management, in order to maximise your desirability as an employee. This is particularly important for work in smaller companies, where roles involving purely exhibition design are few and far between. The current growth in multi-disciplinary design consultancies and broader-based degree courses offering a mix of spatial, interior and exhibition design reinforces the desirability and advisability of acquiring versatile 2D and 3D design skills.