Graphic Designer Competencies
These competencies outline the expectations and growth path for Graphic Designers at each level. Use this framework to understand your current level and what’s needed to advance to the next level.
Jr Designer (L1)
| Area | Competencies |
|---|---|
| Skill (Individual) | • Developing an understanding of core visual design skills and beginning to apply these skills to small or medium-sized brand design projects • Beginning to utilize our existing design system to craft visual designs • Beginning to create designs that reflect our brand and clearly communicate our story • Exploring and developing additional skills for visual design work |
| Influence (Team) | • Developing your ability to present visual design decisions clearly • Beginning to influence decision-making for brand design projects among your core team |
| Thinking (Team) | • Spending time fully understanding project needs and partnering with your manager to contribute to coordination and organization of assigned projects • Starting to propose improvements to existing processes • Contributing to project planning and coordination • Learning to create clear timelines and ownership responsibilities, and communicating clearly with project partners |
Graphic Designer (L2)
| Area | Competencies |
|---|---|
| Skill (Individual) | • Solid understanding of core visual design skills and confidently applying these skills to small to medium-sized brand design projects • Utilizing our existing design system to create designs with strong layout, hierarchy, typography, and color decisions • Creating designs that reflect our brand and clearly communicate our story |
| Influence (Team) | • Clearly and effectively presenting visual design decisions • Beginning to build compelling arguments that consider brand design, business, and organizational needs • Influencing decisions among your core team and beginning to drive broader stakeholder alignment |
| Thinking (Team) | • Spending time fully understanding project needs and contributing to the project planning process • Proposing improvements to existing processes, prioritizing your work, and tracking project goals and progress • Leading steps in the project planning process, such as ownership assignments, crafting budgets, and tracking deliverables |
Sr Designer (L3)
| Area | Competencies |
|---|---|
| Skill (Individual) | • Strong understanding of core visual design skills and confidently applying these skills to large brand design projects • Consistently creating designs with strong layout, hierarchy, typography, and color decisions • Beginning to push our existing design system to new places and concept new visual directions and overarching narratives for projects |
| Influence (Team) | • Proactively developing the approach, design stages, processes, and timeline to deliver on brand design projects • Effectively presenting visual design decisions and building compelling arguments • Proactively influencing decisions and working with leaders from other teams to drive broader alignment |
| Thinking (Team) | • Spending time fully understanding organizational needs and establishing clear processes with multiple stakeholders or teams • Prioritizing work effectively based on business and customer needs and documenting your thinking with minimal guidance • Comfortable working with project tools to document your work and defining new tools, templates, or systems to recommend better ways of working |
Art Director (L4)
| Area | Competencies |
|---|---|
| Skill (Individual) | • Expert understanding of core visual design skills and improving the quality of overall visual systems • Confidently applying expertise to extra-large brand design projects • Consistently creating designs with strong layout, hierarchy, typography, and color decisions • Proactively concepting new visual directions and overarching narratives for projects |
| Influence (Team) | • Clearly providing direction to others to execute your vision • Presenting visual design decisions expertly and building compelling arguments • Proactively working with leaders from other teams to drive alignment • Teaching others the art of storytelling, influence, and presentation skills |
| Thinking (Team) | • Proactively developing the approach, design stages, brand research plans, and timeline to deliver on brand design projects and new opportunities • Pushing the brief to new places at early stages of work and driving strategic ideation with cross-functional teams |
Associate Creative Director (L5)
| Area | Competencies |
|---|---|
| Skill (Individual) | • Expert understanding of core visual design skills and investing in improving the quality of overall visual systems • Confidently applying expertise to extra-large brand design projects • Consistently creating designs with strong layout, hierarchy, typography, and color decisions • Proactively concepting new visual directions and overarching narratives for projects • Mentoring others in your areas of expertise |
| Influence (Team) | • Bringing a strong voice and established design leadership to the company • Articulating a strategic vision that drives stakeholder buy-in and inspires teams and leaders • Proactively influencing brand decisions among VP-level and executive stakeholders • Training others in storytelling, influence, and presentation skills |
| Thinking (Team) | • Proactively identifying new brand opportunities and developing the approach, design stages, brand research plans, and timeline to deliver on them • Actively shaping the initial creative brief for main projects and confidently identifying and driving new brand initiatives |
Creative Director (L6)
| Area | Competencies |
|---|---|
| Skill (Individual) | • Expert understanding of core visual design skills and investing in improving the quality of overall visual systems • Confidently applying expertise to extra-large brand design projects • Consistently creating designs with strong layout, hierarchy, typography, and color decisions • Proactively concepting new visual directions and overarching narratives for projects • Mentoring others in your areas of expertise |
| Influence (Team) | • Influencing the C-suite and regularly influencing brand design decisions at the highest level • Sharing work with the external design community via blog posts, conferences, etc. |
| Thinking (Team) | • Proactively identifying and implementing new approaches to the brand design process and exploring previously undefined problem spaces • Actively shaping the initial creative brief for main projects and confidently identifying and driving new brand initiatives |