Graphic designers are often overlooked, but your work makes the visual world go round. From traditional media to billboards to humble posters, your artistic touch helps brands communicate effectively with their target audience.
In the same way you can’t put a price on art, there’s no compromising when it comes to snagging your dream job. Let our junior graphic designer resume examples do the talking; we’ll have you ready to accept your next role in no time. And while you’re at it, try out our AI cover letter generator for the complete job application.
What Matters: Your Skills & Work Experience
Recruiters look for junior graphic designers who are adept at conveying a message through visual media, helping consumers connect the dots in understanding the information shown.
In the skills section of your resume, show the reader how you’ll contribute to your next role using your creative skills and design know-how. Certain employers look for proficiency in specific software, such as Blender or Canva. Make sure you have the right ones listed so you don’t miss out on your next big role.
Here are some of the best junior graphic designer skills to include in your resume.
9 Best Junior Graphic Designer Skills
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe InDesign
- Adobe Photoshop
- Aesthetic sense
- Balsamiq
- Blender proficiency
- Print design
- Illustration design
- Typography
Sample Junior Graphic Designer Work Experience Bullet Points
Junior graphic designers are expected to have zero to two years of experience as they work on building their portfolios.
While you’re not expected to have formal work experience in this role, other kinds of work experience like personal projects, volunteer work, internships, and academic enrichment programs can help you get a leg up.
Your work experience section will demonstrate how you used the skills listed in your resume. Adding quantifiable metrics makes it easier to grasp how your efforts were put into practice.
Here are a few bullet points we snagged from some of our top resume samples:
- Created a new in-store display sheet and a large window display that increased sales by 21%, which was then rolled out to 300+ stores across California
- Worked with the senior designer and social media manager to brainstorm, ideate, and produce engaging, on-brand content across Instagram and TikTok, which increased engagement across platforms by 33%
- Designed three direct-mail flyers to send to 150+ warehouses, and increased response rate by 12%
- Created data analytics reports to analyze the successes and failures of 9 different marketing campaigns, which was then used to refine the creative process to reduce revision requests by 3%
Top 5 Tips for Your Junior Graphic Designer Resume
- Keep your junior graphic designer resume to one page
- Unless you have more than 10 years of experience as a graphic designer, your resume should remain at one page. You might have trouble filling out your resume, so try adding academic or personal projects where you can show how you put your skills to use. For example, you could have been part of the volunteer graphic design team responsible for your university’s marketing material.
- On the other hand, running out of room is a sign you should save those details for when it’s time to generate a cover letter.
- Try adding a career objective to help focus your resume
- Your canvas may be blank, but that’s just a sign of endless potential. Make the first mark on your resume a good one by adding a career objective to provide direction and purpose.
- Here’s an example to get you started: “As a driven and ambitious recent graduate with an abiding love for creative design, I would love to apply my visual communication skills to creating media solutions and overcoming new obstacles. Ready to leverage my visual arts background and proficiency in the Adobe Creative Suite to contribute to Red Stone Creative’s client needs.”
- Use a reverse-chronological resume format
- A reverse-chronological format lists work experience (including project experience) in order of most recent to least recent. This way, you can quickly show how you’ve grown your design skills in academic or personal projects.
- It’s okay if you don’t have every skill required in the job description
- Job descriptions usually list skills in order of priority. Some skills are optional, especially at the junior level. For example, some employers are happy for you to learn the ins and outs of Squarespace while you’re on the job, as it’s not a core requirement for graphic design.
- Transferable skills are just as important in your resume
- Generic skills like attention to detail and adaptability are as valuable as technical skills like Adobe Photoshop proficiency, as they show that you can deliver quality work when it counts. Showcase these skills in your work experience bullet points like this: “Worked with a team of 8 design staff to create an average of 3 print media advertising campaigns per month”.
Your job application will go to the hiring manager or the recruiter in charge of the role, but you can also do some research to find out who you’ll be reporting to, such as the creative team lead or a senior graphic designer.
Yes, you should! Perhaps you even started this job hunt by putting out feelers with a letter of interest. Don’t lose momentum now. Just like how you would structure visual media design to emphasize key points and create drip marketing material to keep attention on a product, you can check in with the organization by calling or sending an email to keep you top of mind.
If you completed an undergraduate degree in visual arts or a related field, put it in the education section of your resume. You can also include any certificates or courses you took to expand your skills, such as Blender proficiency if you’re applying for a role that requires motion graphics and animation skills.
