If you are searching for types of graphic design jobs, you should know already that Graphic Design is in demand. And the demand is increasing year by year.
Starting salary for any designer can vary from the range of $30,000/yr to $56,000/yr.
And that’s just the beginning.
Content
You are creative enough and have the zeal to excel, you will land the job of your choice and satisfaction.
Thus looking to start fresh as a graphic designer or struggling to get the right graphic design job, then keep reading. We will cover the jobs and their structure in detail today.
It is a vast field and getting confused to know all the things in it can be overwhelming. That’s the reason why we discussed about the types of graphic design earlier that will keep trending in 2022. So dive in, take a quick look.
Pick the area you want to make your career and let’s see Graphic Design Jobs.
Graphic Design Jobs #1
Brand Design
Visual Identity Jobs
Brand design is the visual identity of any company. So the company would want to hire a person who will keep the brand in mind while creating designs for it.
To know more about brand design, check out our types of graphic design blog.
Beginner Level
This is when you have either done graduation or a design course or even if you have just thought about pursuing it as a career.
Beginner’s level can be both good or bad while picking the career path. If you picked the right path, you can keep growing with that ladder.
If not, well you will still end up at your final goal but the journey will be long.
Let’s make it short.
Job Titles
Visual Designer
Graphic Designer
Responsibilities & Skill Set
Responsibilities
Brand designer job description usually contains the below responsibilities:
- Basic understanding of designing all kinds of platform designs like emails, flyers, banners, logos, infographics, mobile app designs, website designs, HTML/display ads, social media.
- Strong conceptualization ability, strong visual communication ability, drawing skills and sketchbook techniques
- Creating layouts, functionality, visual appearance & guidelines for a brand
- Basic understanding of HTML to design responsive content
- Design Landing pages and templates
Skills
- A firm knowledge of all the design tools in the market.
- Preferably, Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, Premier, After effects.
- HTML basics
- Visualization
Brand Designer Salary varies as you grow your level but this job is a whole package for people who want to be creative and stay in strategic side of the marketing team.
Mid/ Intermediate level
If you started on the correct path, then the intermediate level and the mid-level jobs would be easy to get without any roadblocks.
However, if the job you landed at on your beginner’s level was shifted away from your final goal, then you might have to invest some of your time in learning the curving path back to your goal.
This will be a bit of hard work but not impossible to do.
Becoming a senior level designer changes a few things and adds more responsibilities.
Not only do you have to be skilled at the above mentioned tools but you need to learn a few management skills.
We will cover below how to avoid this scenario though.
Job Titles
Brand Designer
Sr. Graphic Designer
Sr. Visual Designer
Responsibilities & Skill Set
- Collaborate with the design teams and senior leadership
- Communicate with the marketing team to understand market environment for building strategies
- Lead or facilitate design thinking workshops
- Visual designs, brand manuals, mockups, posters and brand design extending into digital and print
- Client Interaction/handling, communication and presentation
- Lead Projects and teams
- Lead POC’s, project pitches and estimations
- Mentor and groom designers
- Be an ambassador for the company and design
- Creative direction and visual storytelling techniques
- Concepts, storyboards, visual hierarchies, branding, typography, colour theories, layouts and grids, imagery and iconography, video editing, 2D/3D graphics, prototypes etc.
Expert Level
Expert level people do not need guidance on which job to pick but what else to learn to keep being an expert.
However, if you want to lay down your entire path to reach your end goal, you should go through the expert level as well.
Once you have the industry experience of 7-8 years, you are ready to be an art director and then a creative director.
This position is one of the topmost positions in graphic designing where you will you be collaborating with various teams like marketing, development, clients, PR and big leaderships.
Each team has their set of responsibilities to create the brand’s identity among their customers.
Let’s dive in without wasting any other second.
Job Titles
Art Director
Creative Director
Responsibilities & Skill Set
- Client briefing and generating ideas for the advertisements
- Working with several teams like creative, design, content curators to launch successful campaigns
- Commissioning specialists, such as artists and photographers, to work on projects
- Budget allocation and deliverables
- Final approval on the designs based on the market value
Creative directors work above the art directors and mainly monitor the projects from above.
Just like CreativePool says, most art directors work under the supervision of a creative director, and usually work on a project from its earliest stages through to the launch. They are likely to work on several projects at once, and the work is fast paced and demanding.
In order to stay on top, art/creative directors have to keep them updated with the changing market trends to avail the opportunity & outshine their competitors by keep on wowing their customers.
Package Design
Another great pick from graphic design jobs is Package Design.
Publication design is the practice for print designs. The designers normally create the layouts and graphics for printed designs such as books, magazines, e-books, illustrations etc.
In our types of graphic design blog, we talk about the publication design in detail as to how it is going to trend in 2022.
Sophia explains different types of publication designs in a very short video. Check it out!
In similar design terms, package designing is done for the outside container or box which holds the product in it. The appearance of the container should be attractive enough for the customers to make a purchase.
And that’s the goal for package designers. Look at the great example by Sam.
Let’s see what the workflow for these designers look like at all levels.
Starting Job Titles
Illustrator
Artist
Responsibilities & Skill Set
Responsibilities
Publication and Packaging designers job description usually contains the below responsibilities:
- Basic understanding of structural design, printing, materials and manufacturing processes
- 3D visual design skills as most designers in this field would create an outstanding appearance and functionality of a product.
- Ability to sketch out the ideas and wireframes
- Must have an entrepreneurial mindset and a relentless passion for beautiful crafted design, change, and innovation
- Capable of working on all packaging touchpoints including core product packaging, shipping boxes, printed collateral, etc.
Skills
- Creative mindset and sketching techniques
- Should be able to develop structural designs for foldable materials and alternate materials
- Strong skills for presentation of 3D renderings of packages and prototypes
- Some knowledge of Adobe CC and Artios CAD
- Well updated about design, fashion/beauty, retail, social media and lifestyle trends
- Should be able to create illustrations for the products
Publication & Packaging Designers Salary varies among the levels. However, if you want the excitement and thrill in your everyday work life, this job brings the challenge with every new project.
As an idea for a beverage company might not work in similar fashion for a tech company.
Thus every business requirements are different and so do their designs.
Mid/Intermediate Job Titles
Publication designer
Package Designer
Layout Artists
Responsibilities & Skill Set
- Interpreting creative briefs from customers, sales and design management teams
- Must be proficient in Artios CAD software & Adobe CC
- Research trends to deliver top notch, customer-centric design solutions
- Effectively communicate across a broad spectrum of teams
- Comprehensive knowledge of concept development, design and all phases of production
- Creation and monitoring style guide or branding guidelines
Expert Job Titles
Art Director
Creative Director
Responsibilities & Skill Set
- Work with production team to pick apart campaign briefs, understand requirements, develop a creative strategy, and push back when necessary
- Partner with copy team to develop disruptive campaign concepts and establish strong visual tone for campaigns
- Help cater brand vision to a variety of global markets, understanding their specific needs and delivering solutions that balance localisation with the need to accrue to the larger company brand narrative
- Work closely with the design team, the brand team, and the marketing team to develop strategy, understand market and business needs, and create effective solutions.
- Create consistent visual designs across all digital, print and video materials
- Take a role in guiding best practice, inspiring a desire for great design, and raising the bar on visual craft, narrative strength and conceptual thinking both in the design team and in all our global markets
Quick Read:
Career Explorer has showcased all about Art Directors in their short and sweet blog. If you want to become an art director one day, check it out!
Animation Design Jobs
Animation is the technique where artists use sequential images of drawings, illustrations or people to make a short film for advertisements, games, music videos or even websites.
Let’s see what the workflow for animators look like and how it adds up in the best graphic design jobs list.
Starting Job Titles
Animator (gifs, animations, short videos)
Animation Designer
Responsibilities & Skill Set
Responsibilities
Animation designers have the basic knowledge of designing on different tools but the freshers would have the below responsibilities as a whole:
- Collaborating with different teams to understand requirements, create and edit animations.
- Using creativity and artistic techniques to tell a story or provide information in visual form.
- Understand scripts and storyboards, conceptualize, visualize, and develop animations.
- Ability to multitask and handle multiple projects at once.
- Staying up to date on the latest trends and development in motion graphics and video editing.
Skills
- Freshers with an aptitude for animation
- Sound knowledge of Adobe After Effects, Photoshop, Adobe Premiere, Illustrator & Adobe Audition
The average salary for animators is $76,718/yr. However being a fresher, a decent start can be done from $50,000/yr easily.
Tip: Having a portfolio with some animation projects, yours or any freelance clients, would help you make a better case in interviews.
If you can make few animations and have a strong skill set of creating animations, you can ask the interview to give you a test scenario. Hence grabbing the opportunity to show your skills live.
Mid/Intermediate Level
Every Animator works on 100s of designs and animations before going to the mid level in his/her career.
You can reach here with two ways:
- Make thousands of animations like everyone else
- Create animations that are new and unique based on the target audience
Although the first point is easy but with practice on few animations, you can try out your creativity for the latter and try to create something unique which can be followed as a trend.
Job Title
Motion Graphic Designer
Mid/Intermediate Job Titles
Animator (gifs, animations, short videos)
Animation Designer
Responsibilities & Skill Set
- Ability to create great storyboards & whiteboard animation techniques
- Highly skilled on Adobe Premiere, Adobe After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator, Adobe Audition, Audacity, Sound Forge and other sound editing tools
- Sound knowledge of the plug-ins
- Proficiency in producing motion graphics from concept to delivery
- Sound understanding of various technical specifications like CODEC’s, encoding etc
- Experience on various media like web, mobile, social media etc. across different platforms and devices
- Ability to ensure compliance with company guidelines, deadlines and design standards
- Good presentation skills
- A keen eye for style and fast turn-around on tasks with attention to detail
Expert Job Titles
Art Director
Creative Director
Responsibilities & Skill Set
- Work with production team to pick apart campaign briefs, understand requirements, develop a creative strategy, and push back when necessary
- Partner with copy team to develop disruptive campaign concepts and establish strong visual tone for campaigns
- Help cater brand vision to a variety of global markets, understanding their specific needs and delivering solutions that balance localisation with the need to accrue to the larger company brand narrative
- Work closely with the design team, the brand team, and the marketing team to develop strategy, understand market and business needs, and create effective solutions.
- Create consistent visual designs across all digital, print and video materials
- Take a role in guiding best practice, inspiring a desire for great design, and raising the bar on visual craft, narrative strength and conceptual thinking both in the design team and in all our global markets
Quick Read:
Snagajob explains the Creative Director position in detail. So you might want to check it out!
Web Design
Web design is designing every single page you see on the internet. Even this page.
A designer is responsible to create a design which is user friendly and easy to understand so as to navigate. Just this example below for NetGuru.
Let’s take a look. Web designers not only designs the webpages but also the mobile app designs and a lot more.
Starting Job Titles
UI Designer/Web Designer
Responsibilities & Skill Set
Responsibilities
The freshers need to have the following:
- Design Apps/Website/Dashboards
- Regularly talk to users to get feedback on both early-stage prototypes and live designs along with the user research team
- Look at data along with the product team to understand how well the product is working and iterate on it
- Explore a wide range of ideas with prototypes in various forms
- Optimize existing user interface designs
- Test for usability and experience
- Communicate with all stakeholders to understand goals and objectives
- Combine creativity with an awareness of the design elements
- Test new ideas before implementing
Skills
- Detail-oriented and critical thinker
- Problem solver and customer-centered
- Knowledge of Adobe range of products including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, along with XD/Figma/Sketch
For a fresher, a decent start can be done from $40,000/yr. But if you keep adding more creativity and amazing designs, this figure goes up to $105,000/yr.
Tip: Create a Behance or Dribbble profile and keep on adding your UI designs in there. Share with community and keep improving.
Once you have a set of good designs, keep those on top (at least 5 projects) and these projects should be based on unique styles.
Now you have a good portfolio created for free. Showcase this in your resume or in front of interviewer. Gives a good impression of you!
Mid/Intermediate Job Titles
Sr. Web Designer or UI Designer
Responsibilities & Skill Set
In addition to the above, UI designer will also have the following:
- Defining innovative solutions for the product direction, visuals and experience
- Creating storyboards, user flows, process flows and site maps to effectively communicate interaction and design ideas
- Developing visualisation of screens within a prototype framework and maintaining documentation regarding style guidelines
- Designing well thought-out user experience flows
- Presenting ideas, concepts and design solutions to various stakeholders
- Identifying design problems and devising elegant solutions
Expert Job Titles
Art Director
Creative Director
Responsibilities & Skill Set
Mostly all directors have more than 6+ years of experience and in that span of time, they work on every single tool along with discussing and planning out strategies to achieve higher goals for a brand.
Let’s take a look at the additional responsibilities for Web Art Director.
- Lead product design & be responsible for the vision, strategy & instituting product design process
- Work closely with product teams to deeply understanding the WHY and WHAT of every product & then work with your team to define the IA, UX, UI & VD
- Create, groom & communicate the design task pipeline to all stakeholders in the company to ensure utmost clarity & ownership within the team
- Focus on delivering a reliable and simple experience which delights the end consumer every time.
- Responsible for hiring and grooming the best design and research talent in the industry.
- Improve thinking, approach and processes for the entire product and design team not just your reports.
Career Switch?
Tip: If you wanted to pursue as brand manager but got into packaging design, you simply need to work on a few freelance projects of brand identity design and can apply for your choice of job.
Afterall, you are creative and it’s all about designing. So the best way to get back on your path is to work on some freelance projects.
Conclusion
Thank you for reading the article!
In conclusion, to summarize the above topics:
There are 4 major Graphic Design jobs that will trend in 2022.
- Firstly, Brand Designer who mainly works on branding guidelines, logos, icons and illustrations to maintain a brand image
- Secondly, Product Designer who is responsible to showcase a product in a fashion that it appeals to users for buying the product
- Thirdly, Animation Designer focuses on creating amazing animations that can be used as a short clip for a product or a film
- And lastly, Web Designer monitors the latest trends and create a user interface that will engage users to stay more on your platform. Hence, increasing the brand’s growth.
Above all, Each category has three levels: Beginner, Mid and Expert level. Now I can tell you the end goal should always be the Art or Creative Director.
But to reach their, you need to work on some tools and get the experience you need to lead a team.
Check out the responsibilities in detail above and land the right job.
And that’s a wrap.
Do you think there is any other type missing here?
Comment Down Below!