Top 12 Graphic Design Skills You Need to Succeed

The design industry never stands still—are you keeping up?

Visual content captures attention more effectively than any other promotional tool, making graphic design a crucial pillar of content marketing.

But in an industry that’s constantly evolving, standing out is tougher than ever. To stay ahead, you need to continuously upskill. 

Every graphic designer must possess a blend of technical and soft skills, from knowing the ins and outs of the latest vector graphics and drawing software to communicating and solving client problems.

Graphic design technical skills

Technical skills are easy to prove. A graphic designer’s technical skills should relate to their ability to complete the task. It could involve understanding design software, mastering hand lettering, or explaining your knowledge of color psychology. Technical skills can be verified through examples in print or a portfolio, as well as through certifications.

Adobe Creative Suite

It goes without question that knowledge of working with design software is a must. Today, most companies hiring graphic designers require familiarity with the Adobe Suite, which comprises Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, and Sketch.

Of course, it's not mandatory for you to be trained in all of them at once, but gaining proficiency in most of these tools can help you apply for job postings that require an understanding of Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator.

HTML and CSS

In this day and age, it’s common for employers to lump graphic designers and web designers into the same category. Because of this, you must learn how to code. 

Even though a full-blown understanding of coding is not essential for every graphic designer, understanding HTML and CSS can help those who design digital media understand what goes into building the front end of a website.

Related: Check out our tips for coding websites if you’re a beginner!

Typography

Typography can enormously impact your design, which is why it’s another essential technical skill for a graphic designer. Whether you’re designing for print or the web, a graphic designer should know what typography is, the difference it can make in a design, and the terminology that surrounds it.

Font pairing is another skill that, if gone without, could ruin an entire composition. Furthermore, understanding the difference between a typeface and a font is important, especially if you’re interviewing for a position in web design.

Digital design

The demand for digital designers is off the roof as the world becomes more digital. Digital design is mainly classified into user interface (UI) and user experience (UX). While UI design focuses on a design's visual appeal, UX focuses on the usability of the design—the kind of experience it offers users.

Many employers looking for graphic designers don’t list UI/UX as a mandatory skill. But this can be what you need to set yourself apart from other applications. Besides, learning digital design's functionality is crucial to landing a higher-paying gig and more enormous opportunities. 

Ideation

Ideation is the creative act of bringing ideas to life. It's one of the first things a graphic designer has to focus on when starting a project. Ideation involves a series of sub-processes, such as analysis, expansion, evaluation, and application.

Analysis and expansion involve researching and finding feasible ideas. The latter two stages of evaluation and application involve assessing the viability of those ideas and applying what works best.

Graphic design often involves creating mood boards and thumbnails to visualize ideas. Mood boards are a collection of visual elements that help communicate a brand's vision and are used in several types of graphic design projects. In contrast, thumbnails are rough sketches that outline a design's critical elements, such as headers, copy, and images.

Design principles

Irrespective of whether you work for an agency or do a freelance gig, design principles will lay at the heart of every design project that comes your way. So, new graphic designers need to familiarize themselves with the principles.

Designers need to strategically use these elements to convey the message of their client’s brand. There are 12 principles of design that a designer must juggle depending on what they're creating. These include contrast, balance, emphasis, proportion, hierarchy, repetition, rhythm, pattern, white space, movement, variety, and unity.

Graphic design soft skills

Similar to technical skills, soft skills are pretty easy to prove. But they need to be verified differently. For instance, you can draw examples from your experiences or share incidents where you used those skills. While soft skills can come off as generic, they're vital for the success of both the designer and the people around them.

Communication

Whether it's communicating an idea through a picture, explaining details with an infographic, or translating a company's values into a logo, communication is an essential skill for any designer.

Designers communicate with developers, marketers, and—most importantly—clients. Good communication means briefs should be clear, meetings should have agendas, and emails should make sense. One little misunderstanding could result in a completely different project outcome. Be thorough, ask questions, and make sure you're checking all the boxes.

Problem-solving

A graphic designer's problem-solving ability goes hand-in-hand with their communication skills. You can only understand and solve complex problems when you communicate well.

Regardless of how big or small the challenge is, remember to stay calm, open-minded, and creative. While this skill may be difficult to prove on a resume, interviewers may ask a question begging you to brag about it. We know the "Tell me about a time when…" prompt very well. Take advantage of it to share the best experiences.

Strategy

Strategic thinking is an essential skill for graphic designers. They must always plan and conceptualize briefs and devise effective ways to communicate their designs while adhering to a set of design standards. Coming up with an effective strategy can require any number of steps, like conducting market research, brainstorming solutions, and developing unique ideas. 

Learning to capture an audience with visual branding takes work, especially in the initial stages of your career. Strategic thinking can help in the practical understanding of a brief and help designers look past it and draw connections between the audience and the brand itself.

Creativity 

This one may seem slightly obvious, but it embodies your entire career. As a graphic designer, you must develop original ideas, think critically, and have a creative eye. You might have to make multiple versions of the same thing or work on something you've never tried before.

Being innovative and creative in your thinking and execution will help you refine concepts, brainstorm ideas, and develop a visual eye for identifying new things.  

Time management

As a graphic designer, you must juggle many different things simultaneously. Whether working with multiple clients or handling several projects simultaneously for one client - time management is crucial to staying on top of your game. 

Of course, the judgment of prioritizing tasks and projects comes easier with experience. But having the skill of being in control of your time goes a long way in this profession. Many professionals tap into time-tracking software to log their day and the time spent on distinct deliverables. 

Collaboration

With juggling multiple tasks comes the task of collaborating with different people. Be it clients, peers, superiors, or subordinates, collaboration is a part of your job as a designer. A good collaborator must be able to listen actively to what a client expects, communicate how they can deliver the desired results, and be able to own up to their mistakes.

Being a good collaborator will ease working with other people and performing well towards achieving the same goals together.

Polish off that resume!

Of course, these are not the only skills a graphic designer needs, but they're essential in building a robust foundation. You should be able to use soft skills like creativity, ease of problem-solving, and good communication to create gorgeous designs with technical skills that you've acquired over time as a designer.

And if you've got the right blend of these skills, you're already on your way to incredible things!

Looking to showcase your new skill set? Start building an impressive graphic design portfolio to make your application stand out.

This article was originally published in 2019. It has been updated with new information.