Graphic designers create customer-focused designs, frequently working on projects like websites, games, product packaging, and advertising campaigns. Most graphic design work is based around marketing and visual branding, but employment opportunities can include everything from creating logos for multinational corporations to working with local governments and schools.
As a graphic designer, you’ll work account managers and creative directors to create a brief, develop concepts, and finalize a design that meets the client’s objectives. You’ll need excellent time management, the ability to collaborate well and work under pressure, and of course a hefty dose of creativity. Traditionally, graphic designer jobs ask for an undergraduate graphic design degree, but recent trends have seen the industry move away from requiring formal qualifications and toward online short courses. Either way, you’ll need hard skills with a variety of design software including Acrobat, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, and InDesign, along with an impressive portfolio to showcase your skills.
Jump to a template:
Jump to a resource:
Get advice on each section of your resume:
A graphic designer communicates ideas through visual concepts. Their role is to conceptualize and develop a layout that communicates what stakeholders need to show. Graphic design can be used for many purposes, including captivating, informing, or inspiring consumers. That’s why their work is often used in advertising, social media channels, or reports.
To become a graphic designer you should ideally have a bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design or a related field. However, it’ll depend on your potential employer’s requirements. There are many high-talented graphic designers out there with non-traditional training. Yet, you should consider one thing; highlight your technical and creative skills on your resume.
User experience (UX) is the way users interact with a particular product or design. This design should be accessible, usable, and appealing. This is particularly important when you’re working or trying to get a job in tech: recruiters want to know whether you can apply your offline skills to the online world. Even though both developers and graphic designers are not related, they can work together on integrating a design into web/software development.
Branding and identity play a huge role in graphic design. It’s a combination of visual elements that represent a company’s identity. It is the way they want to portray themselves to the consumers.
As a graphic designer, you’ll be working closely with clients to develop their brands and ensure the success of their advertising and marketing campaigns. Put your best foot forward with a resume that emphasizes your hard skills, proficiency with graphic design software, and experience contributing to the success of client projects.
Structuring your bullet points to lead with strong action verbs like “conceptualized,” “designed,” and “developed” emphasizes your role in the projects you’ve worked on. By focusing on accomplishments rather than simply listing job duties, you’re telling potential employers what they want to know and highlighting the skills you’ll need on the job.
You don’t need a long list of skills to impress a recruiter — in fact, the more concise you can be, the better. Keep your list of skills down to the ones most relevant for a graphic designer role, like design software, advertising, social media, and branding.
The role of a junior graphic designer is to assist senior colleagues in crafting designs based on their specifications. They should also report to the senior graphic designer. In this role, you should demonstrate initiative and creativity, so it’s essential to demonstrate that in your resume. You can talk about previous projects in which you came up with innovative ideas. This way, your resume will not go unnoticed.
It’s ok if you don’t have extensive experience in graphic design. However, it doesn’t mean you can’t showcase your expertise. You can also include other art-related experiences, such as photography or art assistance. This is an opportunity to showcase your transferable skills.
As a junior graphic designer, you will be constantly working with team members. This is a role that requires excellent collaborative skills. That’s why it is important to highlight them in your resume. You can mention previous experiences in which you coordinated with a varied team.
Landing a role as a junior graphic designer isn’t as hard as you might think. Most employers are looking for graphic design ability — as evidenced by your portfolio and qualifications — over extensive experience, which means emphasizing your hard skills and any relevant educational background. If you’re a recent graduate, don’t forget about university projects and internships, which can go a long way toward making up for minimal work experience.
As a recent graduate — or even if you’re a few years out and still applying for junior roles — your education section is a lot more important than it is for someone with more experience. You can use your education section to your advantage by listing any awards you’ve won, professional memberships, or specific qualifications that stress hard graphic design skills.
If you’re applying for an entry-level graphic design role, don’t worry if you don’t have a lot of experience. You can list any internships in the same way as you would regular work experience, using action verbs to emphasize what you accomplished. If you’ve completed any relevant university projects, make sure you highlight those, too.
A Senior Graphic Designer or Director of Graphic Design is no small gig. You're responsible for shaping the visual aspects of a brand and ensuring it remains consistent across all platforms. Lately, many companies require not just proficiency in design software, but also a solid understanding of digital and interactive design. When writing your resume, remember that while showcasing your design prowess is fundamental, so is demonstrating leadership skills and strategic thinking as they're crucial in steering the design team and efforts.
In today's job market, employers are looking for Senior Designers who can balance the art and science of design. That means being able to back up your design choices with data and understanding how your work fits into the bigger marketing strategy. So, as you craft your resume, think about how your design work has directly contributed to business results.
Mention instances where you've led a team or a project. This could involve coordinating with other departments, managing timelines, or mentoring junior designers. A Senior Graphic Designer or Director role often involves more responsibility and managerial tasks, so showing that you've got experience in leadership is key.
If you were instrumental in a design that led to improved website traffic or conversion rates, include this on your resume. Quantify your results where possible. This adds credibility to your work and shows you understand the link between design and business outcomes.
As a senior graphic designer or graphic design director, you’ll be taking on high-level responsibilities and overseeing an entire department. Your resume needs to show significant experience as a graphic designer, as well as the capacity to lead a team to success. Make sure you’re emphasizing past leadership roles you’ve held as well as a commitment to ensuring the overall success of a company.
If you want to land a senior role, you’ll need to show a steady pattern of career growth. If you’ve landed a promotion that represents a significant increase in responsibilities, you can list the positions separately under the same company heading. If the job title alone doesn’t make it clear that this was a promotion, your bullet points will.
It’s always a good idea to use the exact title of the job you’re applying for on your resume. If you’ve held a position with the same responsibilities but under a different name, or if the titles are often used interchangeably, you can list both job titles at the start of your resume.
As a Graphic Design Manager, you're a bridge between the creative and strategic sides of a company, bringing visual concepts to life while ensuring they align with the company's goals. In recent years, companies seek individuals who have a strong understanding of digital marketing and UI/UX design, as these components are crucial in the current market. When crafting your resume, it's important to strike a balance between showcasing your artistic capabilities and your managerial skills. Highlight your understanding of branding and digital trends, but also emphasize how well you manage team dynamics and project deadlines.
The industry is increasingly going digital, so make sure your resume reflects your skills in digital design, UX/UI, and even coding. This would be a game-changer for many hiring managers as it showcases your ability to adapt to the digital focus of modern graphic design.
As a manager, you should include instances where you led a team to success, handled challenging projects, or improved team performance. These could be under 'achievements' or 'responsibilities' in your work history section. Show hiring managers that you are not just a good designer, but also a great leader.
Graphic design managers have to juggle a lot of different roles. As well as the usual design skills, you’ll need an ability to manage a team, develop strategies, work collaboratively with other departments, and evaluate the performance of other employees. To land the role, make sure your resume reflects soft skills like leadership and conflict management on top of your graphic design experience.
When it comes to listing your achievement in bullet points, the more specific you can be, the better. If you’ve led a team, mention how many people were on it. Explain exactly how many projects you’ve created, what type of graphic design work you’ve done, and the concrete impact that had on your company’s success.
To lead a team, you’ll need a lot of soft skills as well as hard skills. The best way to emphasize these is through your accomplishments. Mentioning the size of the teams you’ve worked with shows your leadership and teamwork skills, while creating social media strategies, marketing content, or publications is a great way to highlight communication skills.
A Freelance Graphic Designer's job is a blend of creativity and technical skills, with a dash of entrepreneurial business savvy. You're not only illustrating, designing logos, and manipulating images; you're also managing your business, building client relationships, and working remotely. It's essential to keep your finger on the pulse of the industry, as design trends ebb and flow rapidly. For example, minimalist design is currently all the rage, which means your portfolio should showcase your proficiency in this field. When writing your resume, ensure it reflects the breadth of your skills and experience, as well as your ability to manage your own business.
As a Freelance Graphic Designer, your familiarity with software tools is crucial. Therefore, don’t just list them, but give context on how you’ve utilized tools like Adobe Creative Suite and Sketch to create standout designs for various clients.
You’re not just a designer, but a business owner, too. Highlight any experience you have managing client relationships, scheduling, invoicing, and marketing your services. Any evidence of your entrepreneurial spirit can make you stand out from other designers.
Freelance graphic designers work on the same kinds of projects as any other graphic designer, but as self-employed contractors. If you’re looking to pick up more freelance work, or to transition from freelance to regular employment, you’ll need a resume that emphasizes your ability to take initiative, work to a deadline, and understand your clients’ needs.
If you’ve been freelancing for a while, it might make sense to structure your work experience section according to different projects rather than clients. This lets you highlight your most impressive accomplishments in a way that is easy to follow and is clear about your specific role and achievements.
Not all employers fully understand the nature of freelance work, so the more specific you can be about your accomplishments, the better. Listing the number of projects, designs, and proposals you completed makes it clear how you were spending your time and helps emphasize soft skills like time management and work ethic.
A creative graphic designer has a strong background in art and visual design. They create visual concepts to communicate a brand’s message to its consumers. They usually work in advertising agencies, marketing companies, or independently as freelance designers.
If you want to reflect your expertise in your resume, it’s a good idea to showcase some certifications. These provide a better idea of your abilities and experience in the graphic design industry.
Creative graphic designers use multiple tools like Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, After Effects, etc. It is a good idea to mention those programs you use for developing your projects in your skills section, or intertwined into your work experiences (e.g. Designed prototypes using Figma...). It’ll give recruiters a practical view of what your tool stack looks like and if it aligns with that of their product/graphic design teams.
Prototyping is an experimental process in which graphic designers propose a design idea to evaluate how end users would react to the final result. It is essentially a 'testing' phase, which helps reduce a company's risk of spending several weeks developing something that isn't usable or doesn't achieve the company's goals. Creative graphic designers should put experimentation at the heart of their work, and it's often useful to emphasize it in your resume. You could use the action verb, "Prototyped", in an example like "Prototyped 25+ designs by rapidly iterating with the client over 8 weeks...".
The role of a creative designer can be broader than just graphic design. Creative designers need an excellent understanding of branding, marketing, and social media as well as proficiency with graphic design software. To land a role as a creative graphic designer, make sure your resume highlights your understanding of brand awareness and experience guiding products through the entire creative process.
Tailoring your resume to the exact job you’re applying for doesn’t have to take a lot of time or effort. Including job-specific keywords in your resume title and skills section are two of the easiest ways to target your resume. Make sure you’re including keywords like product design, social media marketing, and specific graphic design programs that ATS are likely to scan for.
Including a resume summary is a great way of tailoring your resume and providing additional information about your background and accomplishments. They’re especially useful for career changers or people without a lot of experience in graphic design, but can be used to great effect to highlight your particular strengths and contextualize the achievements in your bullet points.
As the name suggests, minimalist design uses only the most basic elements. These designers use limited color palettes and basic shapes to create stunning designs. Recruiters will be looking to see a bachelor’s degree in graphic design or other equally rigorous qualifications. Beyond that, previous experience and your skill set will be of great importance. Take a look at this successful resume sample.
For any graphic designer, you need to attach your portfolio to your resume when applying for a job. Recruiters need to see your designs. For this position compile your most successful and impactful minimalist designs into a portfolio.
From animations to credit sequences, moving logos, and websites, motion graphic designers create designs that can move. These designers work largely in industries like film, TV, advertising, and many other industries. Your qualifications and your tools lists will be of great importance for this position. Here is a recruiter-approved resume sample.
Recruiters need to know what you can do so they can gauge if you are the right person for them. So mention the different kinds of graphic design that you are experienced with. This applicant has mentioned that they have done animated logos, title sequences, and video edits, among others. If you know the kind of graphic design they want you to do, make sure to emphasize that experience.
Use your skills section to list the types of motion graphic design you are skilled in. This applicant has lister 3-D modeling, stretch and squash, and staging as some of their skills.
As a hiring manager, I've reviewed countless graphic designer resumes. I've seen applications from candidates vying for roles at top companies like Apple, Google, and Adobe. While the specific skills and experience required may vary depending on the company and role, there are certain elements that consistently make a graphic designer resume stand out. In this article, I'll share some tips to help you craft a compelling resume that showcases your strengths as a graphic designer.
Employers want to see that you have a diverse skill set and can handle various aspects of graphic design. Highlight your proficiency in different areas, such as:
By demonstrating your versatility, you show that you can adapt to different projects and contribute to the company in multiple ways. Remember to provide specific examples of your work in each area to give the employer a clear picture of your capabilities.
A resume summary is an optional section that highlights your most relevant experiences and skills in a few sentences. It's best used by graphic designers with several years of experience, are changing careers, or have a diverse background that needs context. Keep it concise and avoid repeating information already in your resume.
In contrast, resume objectives are outdated and should not be used, as they focus on your goals rather than how you can benefit the company. Instead, tailor your summary to the specific graphic designer position you're applying for, and consider including your target job title and relevant keywords to help your resume perform better in applicant tracking systems (ATS).
The work experience section is the heart of your graphic designer resume. It's where you showcase your relevant skills, accomplishments, and impact through previous roles. Hiring managers and recruiters look to this section to understand your career trajectory and assess if you're a good fit for the role.
Let's break down the key elements you should focus on when writing an effective work experience section:
The education section on your graphic designer resume should be concise and highlight your most relevant qualifications. You want to show the hiring manager that you have the necessary educational background and training to excel in the role. Here are some tips to help you write an effective education section:
Graphic designers need to be able to conceptualize visuals, create compelling and on-brand designs, and present their ideas to clients. Use action verbs in your resume to highlight those skills — for example, using Illustrated or Fashioned shows your ability to create and finalize a design, while Revitalized and Customized demonstrate an awareness of branding and client needs.
Always structure your work experience bullet points with the action verb first. This puts the emphasis on what you actually accomplished, rather than simply listing job duties. For even more ideas to kickstart your graphic designer resume, check out our full list of resume action verbs.
For a full list of effective resume action verbs, visit Resume Action Verbs.
Writing a resume to apply for a graphic designer role is easy if you keep a few things in mind. Let's dive in — these steps are relevant across a range of design role, including graphic design, creative leadership and web design roles.
When creating or editing any resume, putting your most recent experiences first makes it easier for recruiters to see your current skill level. They can skim the list and see which one is your most recent role (i.e. the one they are most interested in). This is often called the reverse chronological order.
As a graphic designer, you need to have a portfolio of your samples from different past work and projects. Including a portfolio link — whether that's on Behance, Dribbble, or even just LinkedIn — will make it easier for recruiters to see what you can do in a semi-professional environment and strengthens your overall resume. If you don't have a portfolio, don't feel the need to include a link at all — it's an optional part of your resume header.
To land a mid- to senior-level roles like a Senior Graphic Designer or Creative Head, you need to show leadership and initiative. Pointing out promotions at past jobs shows that you are a leader as well as an exemplary employee who is committed to their professional growth. If you have held promotions in the design field, mention them. Bold your job titles so your promotion is more prominent.
Unsurprisingly, the most important hard skills for graphic designers are design software skills. Developing proficiency with a few key design programs — whether that’s self-taught or through formal qualifications — is essential to landing a role as a graphic designer. Make sure to list these skills somewhere in your resume, either in your bullet points or a separate skills section, to bypass any Applicant Tracking Systems and impress recruiters.
The exact skills you need may depend on the exact job you’re applying for, so always read the job description thoroughly to find out which skills are the most important and tailor your resume accordingly. Our Targeted Resume tool will point out any important skills or keywords you’re missing and give you personalized advice on how to improve your resume.
You can include the above skills in a dedicated Skills section on your resume, or weave them in your experience. Here's how you might create your dedicated skills section:
This word cloud highlights the important keywords that appear on Graphic Designer job descriptions and resumes. The bigger the word, the more frequently it appears on job postings, and the more 'important' it is.
You should use bullet points to describe your achievements in your Graphic Designer resume. Here are sample bullet points to help you get started:
Conducted 25+ user-testing focus groups leading to 3 new product features in 6 months
Redesigned company's homepage and lead generation forms using only existing site components; reduced bounce rates by 40% and increased leads by 15%
Analyzed impact and effectiveness of in-app UI changes on customer retention; identified features of customer behavior and recommended additional menu modifications [R, MySQL, Chart JS]
Led application design sessions with client teams on 20+ projects to develop functional and technical requirements
Decreased uninstallation rate by 40% by introducing an interactive tutorial at app launch
For more sample bullet points and details on how to write effective bullet points, see our articles on resume bullet points, how to quantify your resume and resume accomplishments.
After you finish writing your resume, upload it to Score My Resume, a free tool that will detect errors and recruiter red flags.The tool uses AI to offer suggestions on how to improve graphic design resumes.Designed logos for 40 companies in the first six months (against a target of 25) thus growing the division’s revenue by 30%.
Thank you for the checklist! I realized I was making so many mistakes on my resume that I've now fixed. I'm much more confident in my resume now.
