What does a Graphic Designer do?
Companies hire a Graphic Designer to solve the problem of how to stimulate a consumer to go from reading an advertisement to making a purchase. They create designs and logos and develop layouts for everything from annual reports to magazines. A Graphic Designer is not necessarily an artist even though they arrange imagery or language into a finished product for advertising. The role of the graphic artist is to perform client intake and learn about the client’s desires and expectations for the end product, create artwork in a variety of formats and layouts that may appeal to the client, have a cultural sensitivity in order to avoid inadvertently offending audiences and review the final work with the client for final adjustments and approval.
Graphic Designer skills and qualifications
A successful Graphic Designer candidate will possess skills that include the ability to manage time, produce artwork in a variety of styles, understand font design and have excellent communication skills. Some of the skills and qualifications a Graphic Designer needs are:
- Ability to work as part of a team and independently
- Artistic skills
- Proficiency in graphic illustration software
- Capable of planning a strategy in relation to client needs
- Maintain a portfolio of prior work and maintain a client archive
- Analytical skills
Graphic Designer experience requirements
Most Graphic Designer roles require a qualified candidate to have experience in editing or creating illustrations using illustration software, building multi-layer compositions digitally or by hand, creating final artwork with lettering suitable for advertising and editing photographic images to suit the needs of the client.
Graphic Designer education and training requirements
There are no defined entry requirements for the role of a Graphic Designer, but a majority of Graphic Designers have earned a degree in graphic design, fine art, illustration or product design. Educational requirements for a Graphic Designer include a bachelor’s degree or completion of an equivalent apprenticeship. Training for a Graphic Designer includes familiarity with a variety of photo editing and illustration software products, ability to write in HTML and CSS for web pages and the ability to do work by hand when necessary.
Graphic Designer salary expectations
According to Indeed Salaries, the average salary for a Graphic Designer is £25,359. Starting salary for this role may be dependent on experience, location and company.
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