What is sought from graphic designers? A first thematic analysis of job offers for graphic design positions in the United Kingdom

Abstract

An empirically grounded understanding about which knowledge and skills that are sought from designers is missing for a number of professional subfields of design. This gap in research challenges i) design educators in planning their educational offerings and ii) design practitioners and students in articulating their contribution to clients and future employers. In this paper, we study the references that are made to knowledge and skills in job offers for graphic designers in UK. Based on a first thematic analysis of 1,406 job offers, we distinguish four main knowledge areas for graphic designers in terms of i) operational design skills, ii) process management skills, iii) technical design skills and iv) software skills. We note that expertise in 2D software, teamwork, project planning and administration, creativity and aesthetic as well as detailing and production emerge as the most frequently mentioned skills across the offers.

Preparing design students for the market: an initial investigation on the required knowledge and skills for graphic designers in Brazil

“…As the companies in this study are recruiting design for their internship programs, these results corroborate with the operational role played by graphic design professionals in the beginning of their careers. Previous studies in the requested skills for graphic designers pointed that 2D software, teamwork and project planning were the most mentioned skills in job advertisements in the United Kingdom (Dziobczenski and Person, 2016). In our study, the highly rated skill from companies' perspective was 'Layout skills (Mean companies = 4.50) and '2D software skills' (Mean = 4.50), followed by 'Briefing skills' (Mean = 4.40).…”

“…For analysing the relevance of skills for graphic design professionals, we conducted a survey to unveil how students, teachers and companies evaluate the necessary skills for a graphic design professional. We relied on a study in the requested skills for graphic designers (Dziobczenski and Person, 2016) to select the skills to be evaluated in our survey: 25 skills under four groups: 1) Conceptual Design skills, referring to the that support and build the foundation for the design project; (2) Project Management skills, referring to how designers manage their projects and deadlines; (3) Software skills, referring to the digital tools necessary to perform design work and lastly (4) Technical Design skills, which are skills carried by graphic design professionals and are directly related to design projects.…”

“…Conley, 2008;McKoy, 1998;Prestholt, 2013;Heller, 2005;Wilson, 2014). In addition, there are few studies investigating the relevant skills for graphic designers (as an exception, see Dziobczenski and Person, 2016). Most of studies (e.g.…”

Perfil laboral del diseñador gráfico de hoy: un estado de la cuestión

“…De tal suerte que, mientras en la literatura se identifica la necesidad de potenciar las habilidades y demanda del diseñador gráfico, la industria mira la profesión de manera expectante, reconociendo en ella su potencial estratégico, pero asimilando los retos de la actualidad con las herramientas y posibilidades que le quedan a la mano, aspecto por el cual -quizás-se piensa que para ejercer un cargo en diseño no se requiere un título de diseñador gráfico. Lo que, en consecuencia, genera de forma inevitable una precarización de la profesión, buscando darle peso a la experiencia en el campo, más que a la formación profesional (Nicoletti & Person, 2017).…”