Looking for a job in graphic design?
It’s not easy – the design job market is saturated with talented candidates, making it competitive. Plus, with the advent of generative AI, it seems like there are fewer roles available.
Don’t worry. There are still great opportunities for both new and experienced designers, and we’re going to show you exactly how to land your next designer job interview.
Your resume and portfolio should blend creativity and professionalism in a unique way.
Whether you’re a seasoned graphic designer or just starting out, knowing how to showcase your skills the right way can be your ticket to a new role.
So how can you make sure your resume and portfolio don’t just blend in with the crowd but instead, stand out to creative directors, hiring managers, or potential clients?
Here are 11 practical, actionable tips that will help you craft a graphic designer resume and portfolio that get noticed.
Why Your Resume and Portfolio Matter in Graphic Design
Your resume and portfolio are often the first points of contact you have with a potential employer or client.
They are not just a list of jobs, skills, and projects—they’re a reflection of your personal brand, problem-solving abilities, and approach to creative challenges.
For roles like UX Designer, Creative Director, or Senior Graphic Designer, your resume and portfolio need to tell the story of what you can do, how you think, and the value you bring to a team.
1. Tailor Your Resume to the Job Description
One-size-fits-all doesn’t work in design.
Every role has specific requirements, and so should your resume. If you’re applying for a UI Designer role, highlight your UI-related projects and skills and get specific about the applications of your work. For example, if your desired role is focused on design for a SaaS product such as a data tool or a CRM, be sure to include those particular keywords on your resume.
For a Creative Director position, emphasize leadership, brand strategy, and high-level creative decision-making. Processes and tools you’ve implemented that saved time, reduced costs, or resulted in noticeable improvements in work quality are absolutely critical for roles like this.
For those just starting out or transitioning into a new design field (like UX), create personal projects that mirror the kind of work you want to do. If you don’t have any client work, build mock projects that showcase your skills—everything from concept to execution. Be transparent and disclose which projects were personal exercises and which ones were paid client or salaried role work.
2. Showcase Your Unique Design Aesthetic
Hiring managers are looking for professionals who not only understand design principles but also have a distinct style.
Your graphic designer resume and portfolio should reflect this.
Be intentional with your font choices, color palette, and layout—show your understanding of visual hierarchy and design theory. When using icons or stock photos, be consistent and approach your design style as a brand of its own.
But don’t misunderstand us here: For most roles, your resume is not to be confused for a design project. Focus on a clean, understandable format and build your design resume in Word or Google Docs. It’s a red flag if a hiring manager for a design role has trouble navigating through your resume and portfolio. Focus on clarity over creativity.
This tip is especially important if you lack professional experience. Show that even without a list of clients, you’ve mastered the basics of what makes functional design, and your resume is your first project.
3. Use a Clean and Professional Design Resume Template
Simple is best. Many resumes need to pass initial ATS scans (Applicant Tracking Systems), or require a familiar format to be easily discoverable. A poorly formatted resume can disqualify you from even a screener call for a role you’re actually qualified to do well.
Use a clean, professional graphic designer resume template to make sure your content takes center stage. Do not use images, symbols, or emojis that might distract or confuse software your hiring manager is using to sift through hundreds of resumes.
Not only does this show maturity as a designer, it illustrates an understanding that function matters as much as form. Remember: Most design roles are not looking for an artist; they are hiring a functional designer that can translate a brief to a usable design product.
For those new to the field, this also helps show that you understand the balance between creativity and usability—two things every design employer values.
4. Keep Your Resume Concise and Impactful
It’s tempting to throw everything you’ve ever done onto your resume, especially for more experienced designers.
Don’t overdo it. Keep your resume concise—ideally one page—unless you have over a decade of experience. Highlight the most impactful projects or skills that are directly relevant to the job you’re applying for.
If you don’t have a deep history of professional projects, focus on your technical skills, software proficiency (Adobe, Figma, Sketch), and any personal projects that demonstrate your abilities.
Write your resume in a simple, understandable way that connects your skills and achievements to tangible results and problems you’ve solved. Target around five or so key bullets for each prior role or work experience.
5. Incorporate Keywords and Action Verbs
As we mentioned before, many companies use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to scan resumes for relevant keywords.
That’s why it’s important to tailor your graphic design CV with specific terms like UX Designer, Graphic Artist, Creative Director, and Senior Graphic Designer. These should be worded exactly as you see them in the job description you’re applying for. In fact, the job description is the best place to pull relevant keywords for your resume.
Pair these keywords with strong action verbs like “achieved,” “strategized,” “led,” or “implemented.”
If possible, pair these action verbs with quantitative or qualitative results.
For example:
“Strategized and executed a full rebrand campaign that resulted in 28% lift in sales and 167% increase in customer engagement.”
Do the best you can here – no one has all the numbers they need, but think about the impact of your projects in a way that a future employer can gain insights into how meaningful your work was.
New designers can take advantage of this too—highlighting design skills you’ve developed in personal or school projects can still make a big impression when the right keywords are used.
6. Link Directly to Your Portfolio
Your portfolio is just as crucial as your resume, if not more so.
Make sure there’s a prominent link to your graphic designer portfolio on your resume. And make sure that your portfolio is mobile-friendly—hiring managers are increasingly reviewing applications on their phones.
Some great options for hosting your design portfolio include: Behance, Squarespace, Wix, Format, Dribbble, and Issuu are all options for creating good design portfolios. Never link to a google drive full of project folders – it’s unprofessional, messy, and cumbersome to digest.
If you don’t have any formal work, this is where mock projects or collaborations with other designers can really help flesh out your portfolio. Even personal projects count as long as they demonstrate your design thinking. You can get extra points here if you’ve created a personal brand on social media and gained the benefit of social proof on your work quality in the form of likes and followers.
7. Share Your Best Projects and Tell a Story
When it comes to your portfolio, select only your best work. Choose projects that showcase a range of your skills but also tell a story about you as a designer.
Each project should include a short and clear description of the problem you solved, your process, and the final result—whether quantitative (e.g., increased social media engagement by 30%) or qualitative (e.g., improved user experience and buyer sentiment).
Think about your design portfolio as if it were a children’s book. A hiring manager should be able to consume, understand, and make a good judgment about your abilities in the same amount of time they would spend with a picture book for a six-year-old.
For new designers, this is where you can shine by detailing the thinking behind your designs. Explain what inspired you, what constraints you worked under, and what you learned. Show how your designs weren’t just aesthetically pleasing but solved real problems.
8. Tailor Projects to the Role You’re Applying For
Just as you should tailor your resume to the job description, your graphic design portfolio should be tailored as well for the industry and specialty you’re looking to work in.
For instance, if you’re applying for UX Designer roles, feature UX/UI-focused projects that demonstrate wireframing, prototyping, and user testing. Don’t throw in a bunch of projects that aren’t relevant – this creates noise for your viewer.
If you’re going for an Art Director position, showcase more concept-driven, high-level work that demonstrates your leadership in creative direction. You can showcase before and after content that describes the problems you solved and the resulting improvements in quality, quantity, team satisfaction, customer sentiment, etc. For example, you might highlight that you were able to save money and improve design quality by implementing a new icon and stock image provider into your workflow.
For those without professional experience, this could mean creating targeted portfolio pieces designed for the role you want to step into. If you’re aiming for UX, create a case study around improving the usability of a website you admire, and explain this is how you’d approach a dedicated role in the field.
9. Show Your Process, Not Just the Final Product
Hiring managers are just as interested in how you got to the final design as they are in the design itself.
Include sketches, mood boards, or early-stage wireframes in your portfolio for graphic designers. If possible, include the original brief or problem you set out to solve. A great way to approach this is by using the STAR interview format (STAR is an acronym for Situation, Task, Action, and Result).
This shows your problem-solving process, gives insight into how you think as a designer, but most importantly illustrates that you are a results-oriented person.
Even if you’re new to the field, sharing your process can demonstrate your understanding of design principles and your commitment to creating thoughtful, intentional work.
10. Demonstrate Versatility in Tools and Techniques
Being proficient in multiple design tools is a huge advantage in today’s market.
Your portfolio should highlight work created in a variety of tools like Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, and any other tools mentioned in the job description you’re applying to. Demonstrating versatility with these tools will show potential employers that you can adapt to their workflow.
It’s also important to acknowledge that AI is an inevitable part of design now. You might mention that AI plays a role in your creative process, makes your workflow more efficient, or enables you to achieve a higher capacity of output within a specific set of variables.
Finally, make sure you mention your use of stock graphics. In most design roles, it’s expected that your design processes and systems will include a reputable provider of high quality, affordable stock photos and icons.
For beginners, make sure to include projects that feature a range of tools and techniques. Even if your experience is self-taught, showcasing proficiency in industry-standard tools will give you an edge.
11. Use Social Proof Like Testimonials or Case Studies
If you’ve worked with clients or been part of a design team, include short testimonials, endorsements, or case studies that highlight the impact of your work.
Testimonials lend credibility to your portfolio and give hiring managers confidence in your ability to deliver.
Likewise, if you’ve done work for notable brands or agencies (and you have no other privacy restrictions around disclosing that work such as an NDA), you should mention them.
If you’re just starting out, consider getting feedback from teachers, mentors, or even peers from collaborative projects.
Case studies can still be valuable even for school or personal projects, especially if you can clearly articulate how your design solved a specific problem.
Bonus Tips: Network, Build Your Brand, and Keep Your Portfolio Active
Landing your first design job (or your next one) isn’t just about sending out resumes. Networking plays a huge role.
Attend design events, participate in online design communities, and engage with others on platforms like Behance, Dribbble, Reddit, and LinkedIn.
If you have the ability, work on building up a personal brand by posting regularly on social media. You would be surprised how effective this method is for building social proof in your abilities and your soft skills – which are often hugely important in design roles.
Your portfolio should also be a living document—update it regularly with new projects, skills, and designs.
For those just starting out, this is a way to gain visibility and even collaborate with more experienced designers, which can help boost your credibility and add to your portfolio.
Conclusion
This guide should give you the tools you need to craft a resume and portfolio that don’t just get you noticed—they get you hired. Remember: creativity and professionalism go hand in hand. Keep it simple, keep it clean, and above all, keep it authentic to your design journey.
