Graphic design is a competitive space. To help you navigate the waters, we chatted with a seasoned graphic designer with over ten years of experience to get his best tips on landing an internship and breaking into the field!
γπ Degree(s)
γπ« School
γπ
°οΈ Grades
γπ¨ Skills & qualities
γπ Certifications
2. What companies you can apply for
γπ¨ Portfolio
γπ Resumes
γπ Cover letters
γπ΄οΈInterviews
4. How to secure a return offer
At first glance, graphic design seems like one of those fields you don't need a college degree for, since many great designers are self-taught. However, given how competitive the field is, it generally helps to have a relevant degree.
A degree in graphic design is not always needed, but most employers will only consider applicants with degrees or certifications for entry-level positions.
This is because:
- They want to make sure you can perform the work. You might think "My portfolio shows I can perform the work," but it can be pretty easy for somebody to steal the work of another to use in their portfolio.
- Graphic design is a competitive field. If there are 500 applicants for a single position, those that have degrees have more credibility to get further consideration and have their portfolios viewed.
So having a degree will significantly improve your chances of finding work in the field.
And by degree, I'd recommend at least a four-year bachelor's degree. I originally did a two-year associate's degree and was a highly-rated designer then but there always seemed to be an invisible wall β like you need to have a bachelor's degree to get good jobs.
I think that's too bad because there are lots of people with two-year degrees who can do the job, especially since two-year degrees tend to be more technical. But it seems to be something employers still care about, even today.
β Senior graphic designer
Going to a reputable art & design school definitely helps! But it's not everything.
School is something that can make you stand out from the crowd. If you go to a prestigious school and got good grades, that speaks volumes. We know you've worked with great professors, for instance, and that makes a difference.
These professors can also connect you to companies that are looking for graphic design interns, which can help get your foot in the door.
But there are also young people with associate's degrees who are amazing designers too!
β Senior graphic designer
I do check students' GPA, but the difference between a 3.0 and 4.0 is minimal. If someone had below a 3.0 though, I would have reservations.
I'm not saying I wouldn't give them a chance. When I was an intern, I had below that, because I was an irresponsible 23 year-old. I have to consider maybe the candidate has a learning disability or something they can't control.
But if you have below a 3.0, it does make me wonder "Why?" It would be helpful to have great work in your portfolio to make up for this.
β Senior graphic designer
- Software skills: Knowledge of Adobe Creative Cloud programs is essential as they are industry-standard tools for graphic designers. Programs like InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop are essential. Additional knowledge in Adobe After Effects and premier will increase your marketability as more and more companies desire motion graphics and video as part of the duties of a graphic designer. Finally, as generative AI becomes a more powerful and widely-used tool for designers, having knowledge of image generating applications will become increasingly important.
- Technical skills: See the portfolio section.
- Mastery of whatever language you design in: Working in graphic design also requires that you have a mastery of English or whatever language you design in because you are often required to proofread your work product for errors. You are the last line of defense before your work goes public, so employers will want to know that you can do quality control on other aspects of your work product as well.
By the way, software skills are a really great area for you to add value as an intern. I often learn new things about the technical software we use from interns, since it's always changing these days. (When I started graphic design, you had to wait Adobe to update programs. Now it's 2-3 times a year!)
β Senior graphic designer
- Communication: In the design world, you're always presenting your ideas, so you need to be able to be clear and sell what you do to others. It's going to be what makes you money and what makes your company money. For example, if you're able to sell an advertising project, you're basically convincing them that to spend millions of dollars on your company!
- Time management skills: I'm not looking for perfectionists. In fact, perfectionists drive me crazy! I'm looking for people who seek excellence in the time they have. This means people who manage their time properly and give themselves time to get things right and fine-tuned so it's presentable and ready for a client to look at.
β Senior graphic designer
- Humility: Students can be pretty cocky about their work. It's great to have confidence but not too much confidence. Realize you're there to learn and not everything you do is going to go right. Sometimes, that can be heart-breaking when you get a project back and someone doesn't like it.
- Being able to take criticism: I've had some interns who were terrible at this. Even if you've gotten A's at everything at school, there's always more things for you to learn. Sometimes criticism doesn't always come constructively, but learning how to not take it seriously is important. You're always going to work for someone who doesn't know how to give criticism properly for whatever reason.
I remember the first internship I did for an agency, I had done a bunch of logo designs. My manager printed out my designs and said "What you're giving me is fucking crap." It made me question my choice of career!
It turned out he did it on purpose to give me a taste of reality. And I can't tell you how much this has happened to me. It's very rare for someone to just see your work and be like "I love it!"
So if you have a professor who's terrible at giving you feedback, treat it as practice for the real world.
β Senior graphic designer
- Adobe has several certifications that you can be proctored for. They are not easy to pass, but they can demonstrate proficiency.
- LinkedIn has certifications too, but these aren't proctored, so they carry less weight.
- There are also some certificates that you can obtain from colleges that are similar but not a degree. They are equal to about one year of study.
- Coursera also has some certificates that they offer. Many of these are self-paced so they can be an alternative for people who have busy lives.
If a student does not have a degree, I think having the Adobe certifications will offer some good credibility for a production designer role. This way I know that they have an acceptable skill level to do that type of work.
Otherwise, for those who have degrees, obtaining certificates or certifications that compliment their degree is wise. Examples would be the UX designer certification offered on Coursera and taught by Google. This is good compliment to Graphic Design since many designers will have the opportunity to dabble in user experience.
β Senior graphic designer
According to our graphic designer, about half of graphic design internships are paid. Here are some employers they recommend checking out!
Typically larger advertising & marketing agencies always hire interns since it's a part of their talent pipeline. Agencies are also great, because they may have big name clients. So if you get to work on a project with, say, Apple, you can list them on your resume and that looks really good.
β Senior graphic designer
Real estate company might have a marketing department of 4-5 people and may bring in 1-2 interns a year to help out. It's a win-win since real estate companies tend to need more help during the summer (when more people are buying houses), which works out well for interns looking for summer internships.
β Senior graphic designer
Non-profits can help you figure out what you really want to do. You're not going to become rich as a graphic designer, but you'll figure out how you want to make a difference and what's really really important to you. Try it out when you're young and don't have a family to take care of!
β Senior graphic designer
Hint: You can find plenty of internships on Prosple!
The portfolio is what I look at first. A college student's resume isn't going to be that impressive, but their work will tell a story.
Having a website with your portfolio on it is almost mandatory these days. At the very least have some sort of digital portfolio like on Behance - it's another way for you to get noticed too!
β Senior graphic designer
Personally, I like to see a variety in their work.
I see people who just do really good sports marketing pieces, but if you work for a company that does agricultural marketing that's not going to translate as well.
So having someone who can work in lots of different types of styles is very appealing, since I know they'll be able to do work for any type of client.
β Senior graphic designer
As a young designer, the type of work you're going to be doing is a lot less creative than technical. You're going to be doing a lot of mundane things like full newspaper or magazine ads and you probably won't be part of the team that comes up with the creative parts of the ad like the slogan. Instead, you'll need to translate someone else's thoughts into a design. A lot of the work you get in the beginning will make you question why you chose this line of work.
All this is to say that your portfolio needs to show you've mastered technical things like typography and colors. When you've been in this field for a long time, you can easily spot flaws in typography or colors, and if there are any glaring technical mistakes, that's an immediate red flag.
Here are a few examples of what sorts of technical things to pay attention to.
- Kerning: When you type out a word in a program, it may not be kerned perfectly. There's always some adjustments that can be made, and a designer that has an eye for detail will be able to perfectly space out those letters. As a manager, I shouldn't have to tell you to go back and change kerning or something which might add another 8 hours to the process. These small details things should be done right to leave more time for senior designers to focus on the creative aspects of the work.
- Typography choice: Typefaces tell a story. The feeling that people get just from reading text in a certain font β there's power in that. So having a sophisticated sense of typography is important. It's better to spend 1-2 hours choosing the correct font vs coming in and just deciding "This is the font I'll use!" These are not easy choices to make.
- Visual hierarchy: When I look at a poster, what do I see first? Am I supposed to be seeing this first? This is the most basic skill that a designer should have. You need to draw the person's attention. Think of a poster advertising an event. The first thing you see should catch your attention and make you want to read more of the poster, maybe to find out when and where the event will be. That's visual hierarchy. (And ideally, you don't just make them read it but also help them retain the information.)
β Senior graphic designer
I want to see that you can take feedback, so it's helpful if in your portfolio, you include one piece where you don't just show the finished product but also the versions leading up to it.
When designers show how a piece of work evolved, you can usually see a shift at some point. That shift usually comes from an outside force saying "Why don't you try this?" So have at least one project where you show the different stages it went through, from a sketch to the final product.
β Senior graphic designer
I look at the resume after the portfolio. When I check a resume, I'm not so much looking for where you've worked and what you've done. I'm seeing whether your resume works for me.
Of course, you should still keep it easy to read and understand. But you don't want to follow a typical resume format that other people would use. You need to be creative. Think of your resume as a part of your portfolio.
Just keep in mind that not all file types are compatible with the applications companies use to read resumes β especially the kinds that big companies use.
So I'd suggest having two copies of your resume: a simple one that is compatible with whatever program the company uses and a creative one. You'd upload the simple, reader-friendly version to the field for resumes. Then you'd attach your creative resume to your cover letter and upload that in the cover letter field.
β Senior graphic designer
For our best tips on writing resumes, check out How to craft a winning resume as a college student.
I've personally never received a cover letter, but that's because my interns generally have been referred to me from professors. If you go to a school with good internships, those professors will have those connections and they'll put in a word for you, which is takes the place of a cover letter.
However, every job I've gotten, I've gotten through a good cover letter.
β Senior graphic designer
For entry-level jobs, three interviews is pretty typical. For interns, I usually just do two rounds. By the 2nd round, I'm already pretty sure who I'm going to hire.
But at larger companies, you may have to do an additional third round or an HR screening call.
β Senior graphic designer
#1 Tell me about yourself
A lot of people start telling you their life story. As an employer, that's not what we want to hear. We want to hear how you're going to be a fit for the role. We can talk about things like your three cats later.
If you answer this question properly, it shows you were prepared for the interview. You had an elevator pitch ready. And let's face it, you pretty much know you're going to get this question, so why not be prepared for it?
Don't memorize an answer, because we can tell if you're reciting it. But you should have an outline in your head about why you're a good fit for the position.
β Senior graphic designer
#2 Why did you make this (design) choice?
I always try to find something in the portfolio, point at a color, font or image, and ask "Why did you make this choice?"
I'm not trying to be critical but I'm trying to see if you can take criticism. Weaker candidates will take this as a threat or say something like, "Why? You don't like it?"
Good candidates will take this as an opportunity and explain their thinking. This shows me that you're able to defend your work. I don't have to agree with why you made this choice but it shows that you have a process and won't take criticism personally.
β Senior graphic designer
Here are our best tips for answering the most common interview questions:
Candidates who are unsure of themselves. I know that everybody has a bit of imposter syndrome, especially when you're starting out. But that's one of the things you need to work on when you start interviewing. Be proud of who you are or at least fake it.
β Senior graphic designer
I always expect candidates to have questions, either questions you prepared beforehand or off-the-cuff questions related to what we talked about. That's another way to show you're prepared. In fact, I'd say the 2nd most important part of the interview after telling me about yourself is having those questions ready.
You don't need to wait until the end to ask these questions. You can ask them during the interview. Then when the interviewer asks you, "Do you have any questions?", you can respond "I had prepared questions but we talked about them. So I think my questions have already been answered." This shows that you're paying attention and remember what we've been talking about.
Though ideally you still save a question for the very end so it's not awkward!
β Senior graphic designer
For more tips, see Smart questions to ask at your next internship interview.
Assuming you like a company and would want to come back as a full-time employee, what should you do?
It never hurts to ask! When you approach the end of your internship, and you think you might want to stay, a lot of places aren't going to readily offer the position. They want to know that you're interested in the position. I've heard employers say, "Why didn't they ask to stay?"
During your internship, be easy to get along with. Nobody wants to be around someone who's a drag everyday. You're spending half your waking hours with people in your company. It's gotta be a good fit.
Given two interns β one who does perfect work but has no social skills and another who has social skills and an acceptable level of work β I'd take the one with social skills. You can't teach the skills that makes them fun to work with but you can teach them those other things.
β Senior graphic designer