[maxwell_haus]

Im planning on moving to Hot Springs in a few weeks to finish up my associate degree in graphic design at NPCC. Can anyone give me any insight into the graphic design market there? Im also an abstract painter and the art scene sounds right up my ally, but as far as jobs for design, im not sure. And how is NPCC as a school? Im in Albuquerque right now at CNM and the teachers and curriculum are horrible.

Thanks for any help.

[northbound74]

Originally Posted by maxwell_haus

Im planning on moving to Hot Springs in a few weeks to finish up my associate degree in graphic design at NPCC. Can anyone give me any insight into the graphic design market there? Im also an abstract painter and the art scene sounds right up my ally, but as far as jobs for design, im not sure. And how is NPCC as a school? Im in Albuquerque right now at CNM and the teachers and curriculum are horrible.

Thanks for any help.

Unfortunately, there's not much in the way of graphic design jobs in central Arkansas. You might look at some of the bigger companies in Little Rock, like Dillards or Alltel. They might hire in-house people for that. I'd avoid Leisure Arts. Great benefits (last I heard), but lousy pay. It's not overly respected in the publishing community.

I have a relative in the field, and they say that the coastlines, like CA/Seattle, and New York/New Jersey, along with Dallas, Denver, Chicago, and Minneapolis, are the hotspots for such work.
Of course, graphic designers are needed just about everywhere, but those I just mentioned seem to be the places with the higher concentration of jobs to choose from.

[maxwell_haus]

Thanks northbound. I was raised in San Diego and lived in Seattle and San Francisco for a time. I dont ever need to settle into a big city again in my life. Unfortunately your right, thats where all the jobs are, is on the coasts and bigger cities. Im in Albuquerque right now and the film industry is booming out here, but I think im starting to morph into a lizard or something, and the feeling like im going to be mugged or stabbed here all the time is getting to me. Its too bad I cant handle it here anymore, because the potential for good jobs is great.

Thanks for the reply

[northbound74]

In that case, the Little Rock area is as good as any, I guess.
As far as wanting to get away from crime goes.... well... at the risk of being hounded by the Little Rock cheerleaders on here, it honestly wouldn't be an improvement from Albuquerque. Actually, the crime is much worse. Hot Springs has a lot of issues for such a small town, as well. Sorry about the bubble-burster in advance. Considering you're in graphic design, you'll probably have to put up with some of that in many of the places where those types of jobs are. As I said before, Little Rock does have a few of those types of jobs available.

[Aporkalypse]

Little Rock and Hot Springs are both just as safe as anywhere if any of the following isn't true: you have to be black, involved in either buying or selling drugs, and in one of a handful of bad areas making up less than 5% of those cities.

Hot Springs is a great place to live and offers many of the advantages of a much larger city because it's a tourist town.

[maxwell_haus]

Because it's touristy might make it better for what im going to be doing, which is graphic arts. Theres alot of festivals ive heard, so that means lots of promotional advertising which is what ill more than likely be doing, so hopefully I should be ok. As far as the crime thing goes, im not sure if Little Rock is more or just as dangerous as Albuquerque. Maybe the "feeling" like Albuquerque is more crazy dangerous is what it is and isnt really all that different than any other large city. Anyways, im still looking foward to getting out of here and being around some water and trees again.

[Stormcrow73]

Originally Posted by maxwell_haus

Because it's touristy might make it better for what im going to be doing, which is graphic arts. Theres alot of festivals ive heard, so that means lots of promotional advertising which is what ill more than likely be doing, so hopefully I should be ok. As far as the crime thing goes, im not sure if Little Rock is more or just as dangerous as Albuquerque. Maybe the "feeling" like Albuquerque is more crazy dangerous is what it is and isnt really all that different than any other large city. Anyways, im still looking foward to getting out of here and being around some water and trees again.

FWIW, I lived 7 years outside Baltimore and DC. LR is notorious for crime but both of those cities make LR seem like a cakewalk. I've seen a few panhandlers here and been approached by the odd person asking for this or that but none have been overtly threatening like I experienced there and random violent crime here is not that prevalent. It does happen, but it's easy going compared to a bigger city. Now, ABQ isn't all that big and I know nothing about the crime there so I can't make a direct comparison for you.