Designers use their creativity to bring elegance and beauty to everything from everyday clothing to movie sets.
Costume and Fashion Designers create clothing for fictional characters on screen and stage, as well as for real people.
Interior Designers use their talents to enhance homes, offices and public spaces by planning use of space and colors and the design of furnishings, walls, windows and floors.
Floral Designers use plants and flowers as their medium, arranging them in pleasing and colorful ways.
Set Designers create the scenery and devise the props, backdrops and architectural settings for movies, TV and theater.

SALARY: Starting fashion designers earn in the low to mid-$20,000s. Starting interior designers in the Boston area earn from $18,000 to $27,000. A high percentage of designers is self-employed; $590 per week is the median for full-time designers.

EDUCATION: An associate's degree is sufficient for a fashion designer. The industry values experience and demands computer skills. Interior designers need a bachelor's degree and a portfolio; accreditation by a professional association is desirable. Floral design may be learned at the high school level or on the job; formal training is a boost for advancement.

Artists express their vision through a variety of media, from paints to metals to photographs. Artists work in studios, exhibiting their work in galleries, museums, banks and stores. They may also use their skills to animate films. As illustrators, they may work at companies or on a free-lance basis. They may also illustrate books.

SALARY: $25,500, median for salaried artists. At the top of this scale are film artists and animators. The wages of self-employed artists vary widely.

EDUCATION: Both college training in art and a portfolio are necessary. A master's degree in fine art may be crucial to success in the field and is required for teaching at the college level.

Graphic designers take several elements _ words, drawings, photographs, color _ and arrange them both to please the eye and send a message. They then produce the finished work, whether an advertisement or a package, using computers or mechanical means.

SALARY: Starting, between $21,000 and $24,000. Department heads, between $45,000 and $60,000. Corporate art department heads can make significantly more.

EDUCATION: College training in the graphic arts and a portfolio are the basic requirements. Employers are looking for talent combined with computer proficiency.

Industrial designers design everything from appliances and toys to the packaging in which they are sold. They must have technical and artistic skills and be keenly aware of market forces. Right now, electronic interface design is particularly promising.

SALARY: $34,904 starting in a corporation; $27,908, starting in a consulting firm; $40,078, average for staff designer in a corporation; $34,300, in a consulting firm.

EDUCATION: A bachelor's degree in industrial design is mandatory. A minor in business is helpful. A master's in design or business will enhance career prospects.

Illustrators use artistic skills to create accurate portraits of everything from machinery to chemical reactions. They may specialize in drawings of human anatomy and medical procedures and be called medical illustrators; scientific illustrators specialize in plants and animals. Illustrators may work directly with scientists, doctors or engineers. Their work may appear in manuals, medical or scientific publications or multi-media presentations.

SALARY: Starting for medical illustrators, $25,000; experienced illustrators average between $35,000 and $60,000.

EDUCATION: A bachelor's degree combining art and technical skills is necessary. Medical illustrators may find a master's in the field a necessity.

DEMAND: Very strong.