What does an associate graphic designer do?
Associate graphic designers are entry-level graphic designers. They may be fresh graduates or new to the field. Associate graphic designers should be creative and innovative. They should be able to think outside the box and bring fresh ideas to the company. They must also be trainable and willing to learn. Associate graphic designers may be asked to assist senior graphic designers in fulfilling orders or tasks. They may assist in creating drafts, rendering finished products, and reviewing orders. Once they have proven their skills, they may be assigned to do bigger tasks, create and fulfill orders, or even lead projects.
Associate graphic designer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real associate graphic designer resumes:
- Manage an in-house advertisement/mailer for a vendor.
- Design and print business cards, flyers, banners, booklets and other printing materials.
- Create slide show presentations using PowerPoint.
- Design print and web advertisements, twitter page, and iPhone wallpaper.
- Maintain office computer systems (mac and pc), and digital press equipment.
- Work closely with web design team to create HTML coding for 120 web pages.
- Design and create sales promotional brochures and fliers for mailings to potential and existing customers.
- Modify and create ads, promotional postcards, brochures, and billboards supporting the campaign theme.
- Create page layout design for flyers, data sheets, CD covers and other print materials.
- Assist designer with marketing brand to media outlets such as Facebook, local colleges and businesses.
- Create scale models , 3D cad models & renderings, and build & ship final models.
- Facilitate updates to company's multimedia presence, consisting of a web blog and a Facebook page.
- Train with the web developer to increase understanding of web standards and best practices for HTML emails.
- Work with copywriting resource where appropriate to ensure approve copy is accurately translates into mac visuals and artwork.
- Update social media and social media progress daily; create content for Instagram (flat-lays and still-life).
Associate graphic designer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 24% of Associate Graphic Designers are proficient in Graphic Design, Adobe Creative Suite, and PowerPoint. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Artistic ability, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Associate Graphic Designers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Graphic Design, 24%
Have designed Graphic Designer - ReEstablish Richmond
- Adobe Creative Suite, 6%
Designed and measured store fronts for 150+ Dots stores through the use of the Adobe Creative Suite.
- PowerPoint, 6%
Created PowerPoint templates and administration documents for staff.
- Photography, 6%
Cleaned, color-corrected product photography; designed advertisements
- Adobe Illustrator, 5%
Commissioned by label artists to design album covers for upcoming releases implementing Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop CS6.
- Adobe Photoshop, 5%
Designed templates for Facebook advertisements by editing photographs in Adobe Photoshop.
Common skills that an associate graphic designer uses to do their job include "graphic design," "adobe creative suite," and "powerpoint." You can find details on the most important associate graphic designer responsibilities below.
Analytical skills. One of the key soft skills for an associate graphic designer to have is analytical skills. You can see how this relates to what associate graphic designers do because "graphic designers must be able to perceive their work from their consumers’ point of view to ensure that the designs convey the client’s message." Additionally, an associate graphic designer resume shows how associate graphic designers use analytical skills: "generated product descriptions, photography, data entry for e-commerce website. "
Artistic ability. Another essential skill to perform associate graphic designer duties is artistic ability. Associate graphic designers responsibilities require that "graphic designers must be able to create designs that are artistically interesting and appealing to clients and consumers." Associate graphic designers also use artistic ability in their role according to a real resume snippet: "photographed and gave artistic opinion during photo shoots. "
Communication skills. associate graphic designers are also known for communication skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to associate graphic designer responsibilities, because "graphic designers must communicate with clients, customers, and other designers to ensure that their designs accurately and effectively convey information." An associate graphic designer resume example shows how communication skills is used in the workplace: "assist senior graphic designer in advocating communications strategies across internal and external marketing. "
Computer skills. associate graphic designer responsibilities often require "computer skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "most graphic designers use specialized graphic design software to prepare their designs." This resume example shows what associate graphic designers do with computer skills on a typical day: "created drawings for electrical substation construction company on computer programs auto cad, microstation and cad overlay. "
Creativity. Another crucial skill for an associate graphic designer to carry out their responsibilities is "creativity." A big part of what associate graphic designers relies on this skill, since "graphic designers must be able to think of new approaches to communicating ideas to consumers." How this skill relates to associate graphic designer duties can be seen in an example from an associate graphic designer resume snippet: "open for creative feedback with senior graphic designers for approval of designs within the design team. "
Time-management skills. Lastly, "time-management skills" is an important element of what an associate graphic designer does. Associate graphic designer responsibilities require this skill because "graphic designers often work simultaneously on multiple projects, each with a different deadline." This resume example highlights how associate graphic designer duties rely on this skill: "create promotional materials to market msmu business office services and events throughout community.-managing multiple projects in a deadline-driven environment. "
The three companies that hire the most associate graphic designers are:
- The Walt Disney Company5 associate graphic designers jobs
- Mattel2 associate graphic designers jobs
- PVH2 associate graphic designers jobs
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Compare different associate graphic designers
Associate graphic designer vs. Production artist
A production artist is responsible for managing digital content, meeting clients' standard specifications and requests for successful project completion. Production artists must have computer proficiency, especially on utilizing various software tools and applications to create illustrations and layouts. They also work closely with the creative team, cooperating in brainstorming sessions to ensure the consistency for each assigned task. A production artist should be keen on details, adjusting outputs as needed to maintain the highest quality for the actual presentation.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, associate graphic designer responsibilities require skills like "animation," "brochures," "digital marketing," and "html css." Meanwhile a typical production artist has skills in areas such as "production art," "color correction," "digital assets," and "production process." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
On average, production artists reach similar levels of education than associate graphic designers. Production artists are 0.3% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Associate graphic designer vs. Graphic artist
A graphic artist is either an illustrator or an animator who creates art work that will be used in graphic projects such as advertisements, posters, or even book covers. Although a graphic artist has his/her own style of artwork, he/she may be often commissioned to create art specifically for a particular project. A graphic artist may work with a graphic designer in order to convey the overall message of a project. The portfolio of a graphic artist includes cartoons, illustrations, and graphic novels.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that associate graphic designer responsibilities requires skills like "sketch," "animation," "digital marketing," and "html css." But a graphic artist might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "posters," "design concepts," "sample layouts," and "web design."
Graphic artists earn a higher average salary than associate graphic designers. But graphic artists earn the highest pay in the non profits industry, with an average salary of $68,382. Additionally, associate graphic designers earn the highest salaries in the technology with average pay of $64,129 annually.graphic artists earn similar levels of education than associate graphic designers in general. They're 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for associate graphic designers in the next 3-5 years?
Michelle Lockwood
Associate Professor, Graphic Design Art, Mansfield University of Pennsylvania
Associate graphic designer vs. Designer
A designer is someone who creates a master plan of the look or workings of something before it will be made. It could be tangible or intangible objects, products, procedures, laws, events, games, graphics, services, and even experiences. Designers are creative thinkers with a great eye to configure the skeletal and structural properties of the targeted output. They work in several fields, such as fashion, architecture, web graphics, and user experience. In spite of the variety of professionals in the design industry, all of them are artistic, passionate, inspiring, and emotionally connected to their projects and brands.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, associate graphic designers are more likely to have skills like "photography," "animation," "brochures," and "digital marketing." But a designer is more likely to have skills like "customer service," "javascript," "revit," and "design concepts."
Designers earn the best pay in the technology industry, where they command an average salary of $87,754. Associate graphic designers earn the highest pay from the technology industry, with an average salary of $64,129.designers typically earn similar educational levels compared to associate graphic designers. Specifically, they're 3.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Associate graphic designer vs. Freelance designer
Freelance designers are creative, independent contractors who create visual and graphic designs for their clients. They develop text and illustrated versions of brands, messages, and communications with strong visible influence with their clients. Typical activities include networking, seeking projects, and negotiating prices to their customers. They manage client proposals, develop concepts, present solutions, and ensure the timely completion of projects. Freelance visual and graphic designers are creative, self-motivated as well as result and deadline oriented.
Types of associate graphic designer
Updated January 8, 2025
