Graphic Designer resume example
By Bhagirath Sheela, founder of JobCatch ·
Graphic designers in India work across agencies, brands, publishing and social media teams. Employers decide on the portfolio, so the resume must point to it clearly and list the tools, the kinds of work you have done, the clients or brands, and the volume you handle.
What recruiters look for
- A portfolio link (Behance, Dribbble or your own site) at the top
- Tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Figma, Canva
- Kinds of work: branding, packaging, social media, print, motion
- Clients or brands and the campaigns you worked on
Section order
With experience
- Summary
- Portfolio link
- Experience
- Skills
- Education
As a fresher
- Summary
- Portfolio link
- Projects
- Education
- Skills
- Internships
Summary examples
Fresher
Graphic designer with a BFA in Applied Art, a Behance portfolio of 14 projects, and an internship designing social media posts for two D2C brands.
Experienced
Graphic designer with four years at a branding agency. Designed identities for 20 brands and led packaging for a snack range now sold in 3,000 stores.
Skills, spelled the way postings spell them
An applicant tracking system matches the words in the job posting, and it does not reliably treat two spellings as one skill. The left column is the form most postings use; the right, other spellings people type. Use the posting's own spelling for each application, and list only what you can discuss in an interview.
| Skill | Also written as |
|---|---|
| Adobe Photoshop | Photoshop, PS |
| Adobe Illustrator | Illustrator |
| Figma | — |
| Canva | — |
| UI design | User interface design |
| Content writing | Copywriting, Content creation |
| Digital marketing | Online marketing |
Also worth listing if you have them: Adobe InDesign, Brand identity, Print production.
Bullet examples
Each bullet says what you did and what changed because of it. Change the numbers to your own; a recruiter will ask about every one.
- Designed brand identities for 20 clients, from logo and type to guidelines.
- Led packaging design for a snack range of 12 products now sold in 3,000 stores.
- Produced 60 social media creatives a month for four D2C brands with a two-person team.
- Prepared print-ready files for hoardings, catalogues and packaging with zero reprints last year.
- Created a Canva template kit so a client's marketing team could make on-brand posts themselves.
For freshers: projects and internships
- Internship: designed social media posts and two campaign banners for two D2C brands.
- Behance portfolio of 14 projects, including a rebrand for a local bakery that is now in use.
- Designed the posters and brochure for my college's annual festival.
Mistakes to avoid
- A two-column, image-heavy resume for a job that goes through a portal. Keep it simple and let the portfolio carry the style.
- No link to your work. Without it, the resume is almost impossible to judge.
- Listing software only. Say what kinds of design you have done and for whom.
What an ATS reads from this sample
An applicant tracking system turns the PDF into plain text before anyone reads it. This is that text for the sample above, extracted by the same code as "What the ATS reads" in the app. Everything is in reading order, under the right heading, with the name and email intact — which is what a single-column template is for.
Rhea D'Souza Graphic Designer [email protected] +91 98765 43210 Goa linkedin.com/in/rheadsouza Summary Graphic designer with four years at a branding agency. Designed identities for 20 brands and led packaging for a snack range now sold in 3,000 stores. Selected Work Bakery rebrand Logo, packaging and signage for a local bakery, now in use. Skills Adobe Photoshop · Adobe Illustrator · Figma · Canva · UI design · Content writing · Digital marketing · Adobe InDesign · Brand identity · Print production Experience Senior Graphic Designer, Monsoon Brand Studio Jan 2022 – Present Goa Designed brand identities for 20 clients, from logo and type to guidelines. Led packaging design for a snack range of 12 products now sold in 3,000 stores. Produced 60 social media creatives a month for four D2C brands with a two-person team. Graphic Designer, Brightline Media Jul 2020 – Dec 2021 Goa Prepared print-ready files for hoardings, catalogues and packaging with zero reprints last year. Created a Canva template kit so a client's marketing team could make on-brand posts themselves. Education BFA, Applied Art 2016 – 2020 Goa College of Art · First class Languages English · Hindi
Interview questions to prepare
The app's interview prep for this sample and a plain Graphic Designer posting. It works from the resume and the posting only, and tells you how to prepare, never what to say.
Questions every interview has
- Tell me about yourself. Two minutes: what you do now (Senior Graphic Designer at Monsoon Brand Studio), one result you are proud of, and why this role is next.
- Why do you want this job? Read their website and one recent piece of news before the call. Name something specific.
- Why are you leaving your current job? Say what you are moving towards. Do not criticise your employer.
- What is your notice period, and what salary are you expecting? Decide your number before the interview, so you are not deciding it on the call.
About the skills the job asks for
- Tell me about a time you used Figma. Pick one real example: what the problem was, what you did, and what changed.
- Tell me about a time you used Adobe Photoshop. Pick one real example: what the problem was, what you did, and what changed.
- Tell me about a time you used Adobe Illustrator. Pick one real example: what the problem was, what you did, and what changed.
- Tell me about a time you used Canva. Pick one real example: what the problem was, what you did, and what changed.
- Tell me about a time you used UI design. Pick one real example: what the problem was, what you did, and what changed.
- Tell me about a time you used Content writing. Pick one real example: what the problem was, what you did, and what changed.
About what the resume claims
- You wrote: "Designed brand identities for 20 clients, from logo and type to guidelines." Expect three follow-ups: how exactly, what was your own part, and how you know it worked.
- You wrote: "Led packaging design for a snack range of 12 products now sold in 3,000 stores." Expect three follow-ups: how exactly, what was your own part, and how you know it worked.
- You wrote: "Produced 60 social media creatives a month for four D2C brands with a two-person team." Expect three follow-ups: how exactly, what was your own part, and how you know it worked.
Questions to ask them
- What would a good first three months in this role look like?
- Who would I work with most closely?
- What are the next steps, and when should I expect to hear back?
Templates that suit this role
All of these are single-column and read cleanly by an applicant tracking system. Classic is free, with no watermark.
Questions
Should a graphic designer make a creative resume?
For an agency that reads resumes by hand, a designed resume can show taste. For a company that uses a job portal, a clean single-column resume is safer. JobCatch's Portfolio template puts work samples first while staying parser-friendly.
Behance, Dribbble or a personal site?
Any of them works if it is up to date and loads fast on a phone. A personal site looks more established; Behance is the most common among Indian agencies.
Next: the Graphic Designer cover letter the app drafts from this resume, and how to show Figma on a resume.
More product & design resume examples: Product Manager · Product Analyst · UI/UX Designer · Technical Writer