What does a color and materials designer do?
Color and materials designers are skilled professionals who are responsible for conceiving and executing designs related to colors and materials used to produce the finished products. These designers must create graphics such as icons and logos by using programs like Photoshop and Illustrator. In the apparel industry, color, and materials, designers must learn the technical aspects of construction techniques and fabrications for all types of apparel. They must also work with various vendors to perform screen printing on t-shirts and produce textile designs for sales representatives.
Color and materials designer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real color and materials designer resumes:
- Manage graphic design projects from concept through production, including corporate logos, product catalogs, brochures, and sales flyers.
- Conceptualize and design brochures, quarterly mail-outs, announcements, advertisements and individually tailor reports and packages.
- Create unique typography images to accompany photographs.
Color and materials designer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 39% of Color And Materials Designers are proficient in Photoshop, Apparel, and CMF. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Artistic ability, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Color And Materials Designers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Photoshop, 39%
Worked specifically in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
- Apparel, 24%
Collaborate with Apparel Design on seasonal color palette, color direction & initiatives.
- CMF, 10%
Established T-Mobile's CMF process: winning over cross-functional team members + OEM partners which resulted in efficient CMF sign offs.
- Consumer Trends, 8%
COLOR DESIGNER Lead research on consumer trends & competitors for focused market category.
- Color Direction, 6%
Provide Color direction for category prints and graphics.
- CAD, 4%
Completed on-site measurements and utilized design related computer programs including 20/20 Design and Auto CAD.
Common skills that a color and materials designer uses to do their job include "photoshop," "apparel," and "cmf." You can find details on the most important color and materials designer responsibilities below.
Analytical skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a color and materials designer to have is analytical skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "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." Color and materials designers often use analytical skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "support clients with web hosting, design, digital cyber-security analysis and forensics during hipaa investigations. "
Artistic ability. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling color and materials designer duties is artistic ability. The role rewards competence in this skill because "graphic designers must be able to create designs that are artistically interesting and appealing to clients and consumers." According to a color and materials designer resume, here's how color and materials designers can utilize artistic ability in their job responsibilities: "designed all motion graphics, artistic displays and powerpoint presentations for worship and music programs. "
Communication skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of color and materials designers is communication skills. This skill is critical to many everyday color and materials designer duties, as "graphic designers must communicate with clients, customers, and other designers to ensure that their designs accurately and effectively convey information." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "prepare technical design packages and sourced fabrics and trim daily communication with sample room, and domestic and overseas vendors. "
Computer skills. A big part of what color and materials designers do relies on "computer skills." You can see how essential it is to color and materials designer responsibilities because "most graphic designers use specialized graphic design software to prepare their designs." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical color and materials designer tasks: "transformed initial rough product designs using computer aided design (cad) into working documents. "
Creativity. A commonly-found skill in color and materials designer job descriptions, "creativity" is essential to what color and materials designers do. Color and materials designer responsibilities rely on this skill because "graphic designers must be able to think of new approaches to communicating ideas to consumers." You can also see how color and materials designer duties rely on creativity in this resume example: "collaborated with local fashion designers, photographers and other creatives within the community. "
Time-management skills. While "time-management skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to color and materials designer responsibilities. Much of what a color and materials designer does relies on this skill, seeing as "graphic designers often work simultaneously on multiple projects, each with a different deadline." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of color and materials designers: "collaborated with a creative design partner to complete projects on tight deadlines. "
The three companies that hire the most color and materials designers are:
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Compare different color and materials designers
Color and materials designer vs. Freelancer
A freelancer is a self-employed individual that provides services for multiple clients at one time and usually earns money on a per-job basis. Often known as independent contractors, freelancers usually set their schedules while running their own business and have a flexible lifestyle. They have the liberty to choose their clients that may be less confined to specific markets or sectors. Freelancers usually find work within the creative industries such as graphic design, copywriting, or photography.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, color and materials designer responsibilities require skills like "photoshop," "apparel," "cmf," and "consumer trends." Meanwhile a typical freelancer has skills in areas such as "customer service," "web content," "video production," and "adobe photoshop." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
On average, freelancers reach similar levels of education than color and materials designers. Freelancers are 1.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 1.8% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Color and materials 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.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real color and materials designer resumes. While color and materials designer responsibilities can utilize skills like "photoshop," "apparel," "cmf," and "consumer trends," graphic artists use skills like "graphic design," "adobe photoshop," "adobe illustrator," and "art direction."
Graphic artists earn lower levels of education than color and materials designers in general. They're 6.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.8% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for color and materials designers in the next 3-5 years?
Michelle Lockwood
Associate Professor, Graphic Design Art, Mansfield University of Pennsylvania
Color and materials 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 many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a color and materials designer is likely to be skilled in "photoshop," "apparel," "cmf," and "consumer trends," while a typical production artist is skilled in "graphic design," "adobe photoshop," "adobe creative suite," and "adobe illustrator."
When it comes to education, production artists tend to earn lower degree levels compared to color and materials designers. In fact, they're 6.0% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 2.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Color and materials designer vs. Design internship
As the name entails, graphic design interns learn about the career in graphic design in a hands-on setting. They have varied tasks and duties, including taking part in every meeting of the design team, conducting client research, assisting with social media and design projects, and working closely with experienced designers. They are often paid little or nothing at all for their service, but the experience that they acquire from their field can be dispensable.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between color and materials designers and design interns, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a color and materials designer might have more use for skills like "photoshop," "apparel," "cmf," and "consumer trends." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of design interns require skills like "design intern," "sketch," "graphic design," and "user experience. "
The average resume of design interns showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to color and materials designers. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 1.7% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 2.1%.Types of color and materials designer
Updated January 8, 2025
