Graphic designer CV example (mid-weight to senior)

What a design lead is checking

The person shortlisting is usually a senior designer, head of design or creative lead, and they read with a practical question: where would this person fit in my team? They look for your specialism (brand identity, packaging, digital and UI, campaign, editorial, motion or print production), your level, the kind of clients or products you have worked on, and whether your portfolio backs all of it up. The CV sets up the portfolio. If the CV says you lead identity projects and the portfolio shows mostly social posts, the mismatch costs more than either would alone.

Say your specialism in the headline under your name, in plain words: "Graphic designer, brand identity and digital" is clearer than "Creative thinker and visual storyteller". Recruiters search on the same terms, so this line also helps you get found.

Write projects as brief, your part and the result

Most graphic designer CVs list outputs: logos, brochures, social assets. A design lead wants to see how you think. For your two or three strongest projects in each role, write one bullet that covers the brief or problem, what you personally did, and what happened next. The result does not have to be a sales figure. It can be adoption ("the guidelines are now used by 40 local groups"), reach, time saved for the client, or simply that the work launched and is still in use.

Be exact about your part. On studio work, the creative director set the direction and you may have built the system, so say "developed" or "built" rather than "led" unless you did. Design leads know how studios work and will ask at interview.

Junior, mid-weight or senior: show the level you want

Studios and in-house teams hire by level, and each level is read for different evidence. A junior designer CV shows craft and reliability: clean artwork, following guidelines, turning around amends quickly, preparing files for print. A mid-weight CV shows ownership: running projects from brief to delivery with light supervision, presenting to clients, and working across print and digital. A senior designer CV adds judgement and people: setting the creative direction on smaller projects, briefing and checking the work of juniors or freelancers, working with marketing teams and suppliers, and keeping a brand consistent over time.

If you are mid-weight and applying for senior, as in the example, pull the senior evidence forward in each role even if it was occasional. Mentoring a placement student, presenting first concepts to a client yourself, or taking over a project while the lead was away all belong near the top of your bullets.

Tools and production skills

List software by what you use it for rather than rating yourself: Illustrator and InDesign for identity and print, Photoshop for image editing and retouching, Figma for UI, design systems and templates, After Effects for motion. Then add the production knowledge that many designers leave out and in-house teams value, because they often have no studio manager to check files:

• Print: preparing artwork with bleed and crop marks, colour management, Pantone matching, preflight checks and press proofs.
• Digital: web and social formats, HTML email templates, accessible colour contrast and type sizes.
• Brand systems: writing guidelines, building template libraries and training non-designers to use them.
• Working with suppliers: printers, sign makers, photographers and web developers.

Studio and freelance work on one page

If you freelance alongside a studio job, give it its own entry with dates, but keep it short: one line on the kind of clients, then your best one or two projects. Clients are often small businesses, charities or events, which is fine. What matters is that the work is in your portfolio and that the bullet explains the brief. If you went freelance full time for a period, treat it like a job, with a title such as "Freelance graphic designer" and a spread of clients by type.

Keep a plainer version for large employers

A studio creative director will usually open your PDF and look at it as a piece of design, so a careful two-column layout with good type is a fair choice there. Large in-house teams at universities, public bodies, retailers and charities often recruit through an online system that reads text before a person sees it. Keep the same content in a single-column version with standard headings, and send that one when the advert points to an online form. You can run either version through the free ATS CV checker to see how the text is read.

Qualifications and courses

Many designers have a degree in graphic design, graphic communication or illustration, but a strong portfolio and experience count for more after your first job. List your degree with the classification and one line on your final project if it is relevant. Add short courses that fill a real gap for the role, such as UX, motion or accessibility, and leave out ones that only repeat what your work already shows.

Graphic designer pay

The National Careers Service gives average pay for graphic designers of about £25,000 a year when starting and £40,000 with experience. Freelance day rates vary widely by specialism and client, so if you quote one, check it against the work you are asking to do.