Artists who do not want to starve should plan on attending the College of Design Career Day.

Companies from as close as Des Moines and as far as Portland, Ore., will be attending this year’s career day, held on Friday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The theme of this year’s career day, “Drawing Together,” reflects the consolidation of the career days of the different departments into one event. Past career days at the College of Design had been sponsored by individual departments such as graphic design or architecture.

“A majority of the design departments joined together for this College Career Day,” said Michael Fries, co-chairman of the career day. “Because this is a college event, we worked very hard to make sure there was something for every single major.”

Thirty-five firms will be on-hand, said Terry Demmer, co-chairman of the career day.

Fries said the combined firms have offices in 30 states, though most of the firms are located in the Midwest.

“The firms come in all sizes from offices of 15 people to offices of 3,000 people,” said Fries, senior in architecture.

Fries said most firms do not have anything to offer for students with an art and design background, as opposed to fields such as graphic design or architecture.

“We made a large effort to invite established and professional artists to attend,” said Demmer, senior in graphic design.

“Many of these artists will be putting on workshops such as writing r‚sum‚s, presenting portfolios and surviving the job market. The graphic design industry has been hit hard because of the slow economy.”

Fries said one program, a “how to survive as an artist” forum, will include a group of nine artists with different backgrounds in art. The artists will relate their own experiences as artists and will also field questions from students.

There will also be a supplemental program on how to negotiate a job offer, including how to negotiate wages and salaries for both jobs and internships.

Another feature of the College of Design Career Day will be the exhibition of student work throughout the Design Center.

“We wanted to give them another opportunity to put their stuff on display so outside artists and professionals can see their work and offer input,” Demmer said.