If the first impression is the last, then getting the resume right is extremely crucial. It is the first source of information your potential employers get about you and its impact can make all the difference when it comes to landing a job.
If you are a graphic designer on a job hunt and are trying to find all about drafting a graphic designer resume, your search ends here. In this blog, we shall discuss some CV tips for graphic designers, followed by a deep dive into what a graphic designer’s resume must include, CV tips to format it, and samples.
What to include in a graphic designer resume?
Some elements are common across resumes while others are specific to your field of interest. While writing a resume specific to an industry, it is important to remember to make everything suitable to the same. Here is a list of things a good graphic designer resume must include:
- Your details- Name, address, contact number, and email ID
- Summary/ career objective focused on graphic design
- Work Experience (Both freelance and permanent gigs)
- Qualifications relevant to graphic designing
- Hard skills and soft skills
- A section for online portfolio
- Certifications, achievements, and awards received for graphic designing
Let us learn more about each of these in detail.
1. Summary/ objective for a graphic designer resume
A study suggests that a recruiter looks at a resume for about 7 seconds , making it tricky to get selected even before you have appeared for the interview. This is where the summary/objective can help you.
Since it is the first thing on your resume, a well-drafted The career summary/resume objective can help you impress the recruiters and make them want to know more about you.
For a resume objective of a graphic designer, start with a brief introduction about yourself along with a little about your work experience/achievements and career goals. Make sure your career objective is crisp and concise and no longer than 2 sentences.
You can include these things in your graphic designer resume objective
- Relevant adjectives that define your work as a graphic designer
- Total years of experience
- Your level of expertise for the job in question
- Your career goal in the big picture
Sample summary for graphic designer resume
Passionate, creative, and patient graphic designer with 5 years experience in freelance and full-time projects for companies like ABC Corp., QPR, STQ. Seeking an opportunity to utilize and hone my skills in different design areas like print ads, logo and web design, and illustrations.
2. Work experience in a graphic designer resume
Now that we have understood how to write a graphic designer resume summary, let’s take a look at how to list your work experience as a graphic designer to make a lasting impression on the recruiters.
- Use reverse chronology to list jobs
- Only include jobs relevant to graphic design
- To list a job, add the designation, company name, and your start and end date of your with them
- Discuss your KRAs, responsibilities, achievements, and learnings from each job in 4-6 points
- Highlight relevant skills that worked for you
- Use active power verbs
3. List your educational qualification
A good graphic designer has an in-depth understanding of tools like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel Draw, etc, but there’s a lot more than that. An eye for design, color theory, typography, etc., plays a crucial role too.
While a portfolio can define your skillset, range, and versatility, your educational background is a testament to your qualifications.
Experienced professionals can choose the qualifications that are most relevant to the job in question and freshers can dive deep into their academic achievements and flaunt their GPAs. Your graphic designer resume must include:
- Bachelor’s/Master’s degrees or diploma
- Courses & certifications
- Your GPA or score (if impressive)
4. List hard and soft skills on your graphic designer resume
Recruiters assess your fit for the role based on skills, making it a significant part of a graphic designer’s resume.
So, identify the most relevant skills and list them in the order you find best fit to impress your recruiters.
Lead with the most important hard skills, followed by ones that seem a little less important, and so on. However, make sure to add relevant hard and soft skills only.
To make your job easy, here are a few steps to find the most relevant skills:
- Read the job description thoroughly to identify the key skills recruiters are looking for
- List your hard and soft skills
- Gauge both the lists and eliminate irrelevant skills. List the remaining skills with respect to the emphasis they have in the JD.
- Make a final list and include skills that you can justify with experiences and instances
Hard skills for graphic designer’s resume
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe InDesign
- Interactive Media
- Corel Draw
- Branding
- Typography
Soft skills for graphic designer’s resume
- Creativity
- Verbal and written communication skills
- People skills
- Ability to take feedback
- Critical thinking
- Time management
- Team spirit
Additional aspects of a graphic designer resume
Your resume is a brief description of your skills and personality, which means it should have a little more than just your skills, qualifications, and experience. Here are some additional headings you may add to your graphic design resume to make it more effective:
- Interests/hobbies
- Professional references
- Online link to the portfolio
- Achievements & accolades (If any)
- Special Skills section (E.g.: Adobe skills, Corel Draw skills, Interpersonal skills)
CV tips to format a graphic designer resume
Now that we know what goes into a good graphic designer resume, it’s time to understand how to write it. Here are some simple CV tips you can follow while drafting your resume.
- Double-space between two sections on the resume
- Use clear, easy to read fonts like Garamond, Arial, Calibri, and Cambria
- Set the text size to 12 and heading size to 14
- Maintain uniformity in style, tone, and color throughout the resume
- Set the margin for borders at 1.15 inch
- Save your document in PDF format
- Proofread and edit to match the job description of the job in question.
Graphic designer resume sample
Let’s take a look at this graphic designer resume sample.
OBJECTIVE
Experienced and creative graphic designer with 6+ years of experience in the holistic design process. A team player with expertise in Adobe Creative Suite, and web design apps. Seeking a challenging role to leverage and utilize my skills.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
DTF Multimedia, Chandigarh
Senior graphic designer, December 2018 – Present
- Co-ordinate with clients, and the inter-department teams to ideate, conceptualize and design a variety of marketing collaterals.
- Oversee a team of 5 in-house and 3 freelance graphic designers and ensure the quality and accuracy across all design projects
- Manage workflow and prioritize projects to ensure timely completion
- Overlook budgetary decisions to help clients cut costs effectively
TBD Agency, New Delhi
Graphic designer, January 2016 – October 2018
- Ideate weekly print layout for the CNFJK Magazine and finalize imaging, spacing, color theme, and typography
- Develop logos, letterheads, social media posts, etc., for health and fitness brands
- Communicate the brand tone and voice by establishing the aesthetic, color concept, and typography for logos and other collateral
EDUCATION
PGD, Design,
FRV Institute of Design
2014-2016
B.A. Fine Arts
BGU University
2010-12
Graphic design resume skills
- CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
- HTML/CSS
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe Photoshop
- Typography
- Time management
- Creativity
With this blog, we hope that you now have a clear understanding of how to draft a Graphic designer resume to find relevant jobs and make smart career choices.
So, go ahead and tailor your resume to match the profile you are applying for and include a cover letter to seal the deal. Also, read these graphic design interview questions to land your dream job!
All the best!
