Graphic Designer Skills:

The most crucial part of applying for a graphic design career is demonstrating to prospective employers that you have the skills required to work on the projects you are assigned. This will mean knowing how to utilize the critical tools essential to the projects your employer will regularly ask you to work with. This will vary from position to position. Magazine editors will need you to know InDesign, print advertisers will want you to learn Photoshop, and companies working on branded merchandise will need employees who know how to use vector graphics tools like Illustrator. Beyond this, many fields will require their Graphic Designers to know some or all of these tools, since only knowing how to use one will greatly restrict your career options. Having an education in graphic design won’t be enough. You’ll need to be able to demonstrate that you know how to use these tools and that you understand how to apply them to your daily work.

While every position will require different technical and soft skills, it doesn’t matter what position you apply to; you’ll have to demonstrate proficiency in the practical use of these skills.

What is a Graphic Designer?

A Graphic Designer is a creative professional who combines text and visually appealing imagery to share a message with an audience. This could be through advertising, social media, or product packaging, to name a few. They are well-versed in design principles like color and typography and are committed to staying up-to-date on the latest trends. Whether they work for an agency or freelancer, they collaborate with clients and other team members to create high-quality designs that appeal to new and existing customers. 

In addition to proficiency in professional design programs like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, a successful Graphic Designer must also work well with others. Graphic Designers rarely work alone, and since their job is to create a product that matches a client's vision, they must be willing to accept feedback and suggestions from others. Time management skills are also crucial for a Graphic Designer; since most of them work freelance, they often work on multiple projects for many clients simultaneously. 

Read more about what a Graphic Designer does. 

Hard Skills

Adobe In Design

Adobe InDesign is a layout and page design application used to create page layouts for magazines, brochures, print media like books and newspapers, as well as single-page advertisements and posters. It is a vital tool used in the publishing industry since it allows designers to easily create and build vibrant page layouts, and it allows professionals to easily change or alter the layouts as necessary. This skill is often paired with another Creative Cloud tool like Photoshop, but many publishers and editors will use InDesign as their primary graphic design tool.

To learn more about Adobe InDesign, please visit Noble’s Learn page on the topic.

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is an image manipulation and photo editing tool that is used across both print and digital media. This tool lets users make minute and significant changes to digital photographs, with features ranging from color correction and red-eye removal to more complex features like digital erasers and full-scale digital modifications using layering tools. This is a vital tool in the advertising industry, since it ensures that static images look perfect, and it is an important part of the digital design process since Photoshopped images are often an important part of stable webpages.

Students interested in learning more about Photoshop should consult Noble’s Learn Photoshop page.

Adobe Illustrator

The last crucial Creative Cloud design tool is Adobe Illustrator, a vector graphics design tool built for creating digital illustrations that can be resized to fit any need. This tool is most commonly used to design simple but evocative illustrations, such as logos, that can be placed on branded merchandise, product packaging, or business cards. This graphic design tool is most commonly used in digital spaces since the resizability of the illustrations is such an important feature. Illustrator is also used across most industries since product packaging is usually designed using Illustrator.

To learn more about how to learn Illustrator, please consider visiting Noble’s Learn Illustrator articles.

Figma

Many Graphic Designers leverage their skills to work in the field of digital design since tools like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign translate seamlessly to online design spaces. Since these programs are so tightly integrated, many designers learn all three programs and then pair those skills together with digital design training in skills like Figma, an interactive webpage layout tool that lets users build wireframe prototypes of webpages. Then, they can populate those pages with the designs they are building in tools like Photoshop and Illustrator to create working prototypes of web layouts and user interfaces that can be tested and iterated upon.

Students hoping to learn Figma can take a look at the learning resources available on Noble’s Learn Figma hub.

Soft Skills

In addition to the technical skills you will need to build graphic design projects, there are a few other soft skills that most professional Graphic Designers will need to master.

Creative Skills

While learning graphic design careers will require you to learn how to use several different design programs, it is equally important to learn the techniques and practices associated with those design tools. It isn’t enough to know how to use Photoshop. You’ll also need to know how to use the features of Photoshop to apply theories of design and composition to produce the kind of manipulation your project calls for. You’ll need to know what certain Illustrator designs resonate in the ways they do, and you’ll need to be able to do this with minimal guidance from your clients.

Iterative Design

Speaking of clients, one of the skills required of Graphic Designers is the ability to respond to a client’s desires and iterate upon the design. You’ll have to be able to listen to what it is that your employer wants from you and produce that design, rather than the design you think you should be producing. Professional Graphic Designers will need to know how to interpret the desires of their clients and iterate on their designs until they are ready to be handed off.

Deadline Management

Graphic Designers will need to learn how to turn projects around fairly quickly, since clients are going to want to ensure that their designs are delivered on time. It is one thing to be a proficient or even prolific designer, but if you can’t turn a project around in a reasonable amount of time, you’ll find that very few firms are willing to employ you. Thus, talented designers will need to learn how to manage their time around the project deadlines set out by their clients.

What Other Jobs Require These Skills?

There are several exciting career options that are related to graphic design. One option is to become a User Experience (UX) Designer. These professionals identify where users of a product, website, or mobile app encounter challenges and work to improve the design. They use several Adobe products to achieve these goals, the most common being Adobe XD. User Interface (UI) Designers also utilize similar programs, but their responsibilities are focused on the appearance of a website or app rather than the experience of navigating it. UI Designers earn an average annual salary of roughly $84,000, but this will increase with more experience; a Senior UI Designer earns an annual salary closer to $114,000 per year. 

Motion Graphics Designers are professionals who skillfully combine text, sound, and animation to create animations that quickly grab an audience’s attention. This animation technique is used in areas like social media, television, and movies. You’ve probably seen their work in iconic opening sequences for popular television shows like Westworld or Game of Thrones. Motion Graphics Designers use many of the same programs required for graphic design, including programs specifically for animation, like Adobe After Effects. 

Learn the Skills to Become a Graphic Designer at Noble Desktop

If you want to start a career in graphic design, the graphic design classes offered by Noble Desktop are an excellent place to start. Students can take all their classes remotely or in-person at their Manhattan campus. For students who want to start slow by just learning one popular design program, Noble offers an Adobe Photoshop Bootcamp, an Adobe InDesign Bootcamp, and an Adobe Illustrator Bootcamp. These beginner-friendly courses take just a few days to complete and will provide students with foundational design skills.

For those who feel ready to dive into a more comprehensive program, Noble Desktop’s Graphic Design Certificate might be a better fit. Students will complete hands-on assignments using popular design programs, including Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign. This program is ideal for those hoping to start a career as a Graphic Designer. Certificate students at Noble Desktop receive individual career mentorship, where experts in the design industry help craft resumes and portfolios and provide helpful tips for finding lucrative employment. 

If a class isn’t feasible for your current schedule, Noble Desktop has a host of resources on its website to help start your graphic design career. You can browse their collection of articles about Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign if you’re curious about how each program works. You can also review information about other design tools to see if another field might interest you more.

Key Takeaways

• There are a number of different skills and talents professional Graphic Designers will need to learn. While these will vary from field to field, all Graphic Designers will need some degree to professional skills training.
• Most Graphic Designers will need to know some design tools, such as Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, or Illustrator. Many Graphic Designers will need to learn multiple of these tools and many will need to learn other, less commonly used tools.
• Graphic Designers will also need to learn critical soft skills, like deadline management and the interpersonal skills required to work directly with clients.
• Students interested in learning these technical skills may want to consider enrolling in a comprehensive graphic design training program with Noble Desktop. These courses are available to students through in-person and live online training.