15 Graphic Design Resume Examples & Templates (New Data)

Graphic designer resume template (text format)

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The most in-demand graphic designer skills

Hiring managers look for graphic designers whose resumes align with the skills emphasized in their job ads.

To help you identify the most relevant graphic design skills to highlight on your resume, we analyzed graphic designer job listings from multiple job search platforms.

Our research reveals that these words and phrases appear most often in graphic designer job descriptions:

Graphic design resume examples by specific role

Here are some more resume examples to help you get started when writing your graphic design resume:

Illustrator resume

This is a strong example of an illustrator resume:

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Why this example works: 

• Clean and easy-to-read layout: This resume template is uncluttered, making the applicant’s professional summary, skills, and experience stand out.

Web designer resume

A good web designer resume should showcase your proficiency with web design software, as well as basic visual coding languages like HTML, CSS, and Javascript:

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Why this example works

• Includes hard numbers: The candidate quantifies the achievements on their resume to provide employers with a sense of the scope of their contributions to previous workplaces.

UX designer resume

Use our UX designer resume sample as a guide when writing your own resume:

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Why this example works

• Strong action verbs: Each work experience bullet point starts with a strong action verb that makes the resume more engaging to read.

Freelance graphic designer resume

As a freelance graphic designer, you are a creative entrepreneur, combining your artistic talents with business acumen to deliver exceptional visual solutions to clients.

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Why this example works

• Eye-catching design: The color blocking stands out and is sure to grab the reader’s attention
• Emphasis on teamwork: The applicant highlights their collaborative skills, one of the top skills employers look for, throughout the experience section
• Technical skills: The candidate highlights their technical skills in both the skills and work experience sections

Graphic design student resume

As a graphic design student, your resume serves as a crucial tool to showcase your talents, skills, and creative potential to prospective employers.

While you may have limited professional experience, your resume should highlight your relevant coursework, design projects, or freelance work you’ve undertaken.

Here’s an example:

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Why this example works

• Complements the portfolio: While this template doesn’t replace a traditional resume, it highlights specific projects and makes a nice addition to a portfolio website
• Highlights skills: Students have limited work experience, so it’s important to emphasize sought-after skills such as printing and bindery and interpersonal skills
• Attention-grabbing graphics: The graphic elements add a visual flair while showcasing key skills

Graphic design intern resume

Whether you’re a graphic design student or a recent graduate seeking an internship, your resume should showcase your relevant coursework, projects, and any experience you may have, even if it’s limited:

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Why this example works

• Clean layout: The simple layout makes sure the focus is on the candidate’s experience
• Strong resume objective: The introduction outlines the candidate’s key skills and eagerness to succeed in their next role
• Emphasis on projects: The candidate has limited work experience, so elaborating on past projects helps showcase their skills

Brand designer resume

In the competitive world of marketing, a well-crafted resume is essential for demonstrating your expertise:

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Why this example works

• Striking design: The unconventional layout and pops of color make the resume stand out without being distracting
• Graphic elements: The timeline graphic draws the eye to the work experience section
• In-depth work experience: The candidate explains their past achievements in great detail and uses quantifiable metrics where possible

Motion graphic designer resume

A motion graphic designer’s resume needs to capture the essence of their creativity, technical expertise, and ability to bring stories and ideas to life through captivating animations and motion graphics, like this example:

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Why this example works

• Crisp design: There is a clean layout and graphic elements that add visual interest without being distracting
• Quantifiable metrics: The candidate backs up their achievements with numbers
• Strong summary: The resume summary mentions key skills and achievements

Visual designer resume

A compelling visual designer resume is essential for showcasing your talent in creating aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly designs:

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Why this example works

• Clean layout: The two-column format allows both skills and work experience to stand out
• Detailed work experience: The candidate provides a lot of context around their professional achievements
• Highlights skills throughout: The candidate not only lists their technical skills in the skills section, but also mentions them in context when detailing their work experience

Logo designer resume

Creating a memorable and impactful logo is a true test of a designer’s ability to capture the essence of a brand. Learn how to showcase your skills and expertise in this highly specialized field with our logo designer resume example:

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Why this example works

• Starts with a compelling introduction: The candidate’s introduction is concise yet memorable
• Mentions quantifiable achievements: The candidate provides metrics to show how they contributed in previous roles
• Lists relevant skills: The candidate includes the skills most relevant to their specialization

Creative graphic designer resume

Graphic designers need to be able to think outside the box and craft impactful designs that resonate with audiences. Show off your artistic flair with our creative graphic designer resume example:

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Why this example works

• Creative design: The graphic elements add pops of color without detracting from the resume’s content
• Two-column layout: This format emphasizes both the skills and work experience sections
• Emphasis on technical skills: The candidate highlights their proficiency with different design and composition software

Professional graphic designer resume

If you work in a more formal industry, our professional graphic designer resume example will show you how to highlight your expertise in a no-frills way.

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Why this example works

• Clean layout: The understated layout is perfect for more formal industries
• Stand-out summary: The candidate introduces themself in a concise yet impactful way
• Demonstrates experience: The work experience section includes key achievements backed up by numbers

The resume of Resume Genius’s design manager

This is the resume that secured our skilled design manager, Lou Arroyave, a job at Resume Genius:

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Why this resume works

• Showcases technical proficiency: During her 12+ years of experience, Lou has developed expertise with a range of design tools which she lists in her skills section. She also mentions her experience with usability testing, creating wireframes, and making user interface mockups, abilities that helped her land a job at Resume Genius.
• Emphasizes leadership skills: If you’re applying for a managerial position, highlight your leadership skills, like Lou does in her resume. Specify the size of the team and what type of leadership you provided, for example, giving feedback and coordinating with other departments.
• A relevant degree: Highlight your education on your resume, especially if you’re a recent graduate or have an advanced degree in your field. This helps employers better understand your background and gives them an idea of where your expertise lies.

Average graphic designer salaries in the US

The following table includes information from O*NET Resource Center by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license, this data is pulled from the most recent US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment & Earnings report (as of 10/16/2024), featuring the top states by use.

How to write a graphic design resume

As a graphic designer, you probably already know how to choose an eye-catching design for your resume, but here we’ll show you how to make a resume that impresses potential employers.

Start your resume with a strong introduction

If you’re just starting out, try writing a resume objective to outline your key skills and career goals. Here are some examples:

If you already have a decent amount of work experience, start with a resume summary that provides a concise overview of your relevant experience, achievements, and skills. For example:

Describe your work experience in detail

You might think that potential employers are just going to look at your portfolio to learn about your past work, but don’t neglect your work experience section.

Make sure to provide further context about what you did in past roles and back up your achievements with numbers wherever possible.

Here are some areas where your impact as a graphic designer can be measured:

• User engagement
• Conversions
• A/B test results
• Sales
• Customer reviews and comments
• Social media activity

Here’s an example of how you can use metrics in the experience section of your resume:

To give you an idea of what a successful, job-winning resume looks like, here are the bullet points from our team’s UI/UX designer, Lulu Chang (action verbs bolded):

UI/UX Designer | 20 March 20XX–Present
Resume Genius | Taipei, Taiwan

• Supported SEO efforts and cross-functional teams with ongoing design strategy
• Redesigned responsive web and mobile interfaces for Resume Genius’s UK and France brands
• Maintained design system to ensure top-quality user interfaces, collaborating with developers
• Implemented X micro-animations to increase user engagement by X% and enhance the user experience
• Created 32+ job application document templates, including CVs, resumes, and cover letters as well as digital infographics

What to do if you don’t have work experience

If you’re writing a resume for your first job as a graphic designer, focus on the skills and qualifications you do have. Instead of a traditional work experience section, you can include information about independent design projects, university projects, or freelance work that you’ve done.

For example:

Feature your portfolio prominently

Ultimately, the most important thing an employer considers when hiring a graphic designer is the quality of their work.

It’s great to be able to describe your past work in your work experience section, but potential employers are going to want to see it for themselves. That’s why it’s essential to provide a link to your portfolio on your resume.

You can either put it in its own section, like this:

If you’ve included a Projects section, you can add links to the projects you want to show off the most, like this:

Fill in your education section

Though employers will ultimately place the most weight on your portfolio and work experience, it’s still important to fill in your resume’s education section correctly.

You should start with your highest level of education achieved, and include the following for each degree you have:

• Name and location of the school
• Degree name/major (and minor, if applicable)
• Graduation date (or anticipated graduation date)

For example:

If you’re a recent graduate, you can also include relevant coursework on your resume, like this:

Additional resources

Want to break into the graphic design field but not sure where to start? Sara Sun shares her path to becoming a freelance graphic designer in the video below:

@sara.and.misc This is how i became a freelance graphic designer 🫶🏻 #fyp #foryou #graphicdesign #design #creativeprocess ♬ The Latter Teens – Vansire

Resume examples for different industries

Not sure what your resume should look like? The best way to learn is by taking inspiration from resume examples written by other candidates in your industry.

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