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Contract designer skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

5 min read

Quoted experts

Dr. Jennifer Jorgensen Ph.D.,

Bennie F. Johnson

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical contract designer skills. We ranked the top skills for contract designers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 12.2% of contract designer resumes contained assembly drawings as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a contract designer needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 contract designer skills for your resume and career

1. Assembly Drawings

Here's how contract designers use assembly drawings:

Updated existing installation and assembly drawings as specified by engineering change requests.
Created all component and complex assembly, as well as exploded view assembly drawings with applied GD&T.

2. Sketch

Here's how contract designers use sketch:

Sketch on multiple projects - Used Alias Studio Tools CAD software to design wheels and components for CNC and Rapid Prototyping.
Worked on variations of the app's information architecture, then graduated to designing high-fidelity mockups in sketch.app.

3. Web Banners

A web banner is used on websites as a form of advertisement to showcase products and services via images situated at strategic positions on the web page. They are mostly rectangular and can be situated at the bottom, top, right, middle or left part of any given web page or online content. A web banner is a popular form of online advertising and doesn't obstruct the viewing process of web visitors like pop-up ads.

Here's how contract designers use web banners:

Design web banners and upload to site.
Created Soundhawk landing page layouts and visual design, email newsletter templates and web banners.

4. Auto CAD

Here's how contract designers use auto cad:

Transferred cable mapping from drafting sheets to digital form through auto cad
Created machinery designs per customer specifications or needs and as-built drawings for existing equipment modifications using Auto CAD.

5. Graphic Design

Graphic design is the art of making visual content to communicate messages. Designers apply different page layout methods and visual hierarchy by using letters and pictures to meet the need of end-users. Most companies use graphic design to sell their product or services and to convey complicated information by using infographics.

Here's how contract designers use graphic design:

Utilized multiple disciplines to incorporate new concept ideas, calculate dimensions, oversee graphic design details, and 3D prototypes.
Assisted South Cal Media, Aug. 2002 to Aug. 2006, with all their graphic design and photographic needs.

6. Design Concepts

Here's how contract designers use design concepts:

Designed UI and visual design concepts for the online Applications and websites.
Build design concepts into standards compliant markup.

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7. Product Development

Product development is the complete procedure of creating a product from concept until release of the final product. Product development has many stages after which a product is released into the market. Identifying the need, creating the opportunity, conceptualizing a product, and providing a solution, all are different stages of product development.

Here's how contract designers use product development:

Consulted for various companies on incorporating 3D design and digital fabrication techniques into custom product development pipelines.
Worked with marketing and preliminary design in product development.

8. R

R is a free software environment and a language used by programmers for statistical computing. The R programming language is famously used for data analysis by data scientists.

Here's how contract designers use r:

Generalized mixed model with random effects was utilized in R for modeling and prediction.
Reviewed all B and R lines, vision lines, blackout lines and clearances.

9. Adobe Illustrator

Here's how contract designers use adobe illustrator:

Worked with client to design logo through Adobe Illustrator.
Use of industry standard Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Bridge and InDesign.

10. HTML

Here's how contract designers use html:

Maintained landing pages to display Flash banners using HTML.
Coded using the languages HTML and CSS4.

11. CSS

Here's how contract designers use css:

Related Skills: XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, CFML, Adobe Photoshop and MySQL.
Designed and coded front end web interfaces for our Ruby on Rails app, employing CSS, JavaScript, and HAML.

12. Design Development

Design development is used to refer to a number of positions and skills in a number of different industries. In the architectural world, Design Development is used to refer to an architectural plan that is already halfway or more done but needs further development, alteration, and testing. In the automotive industry, it refers to the skills necessary to create and develop new car, engine, and other designs, as well as to ensure that all designs are safe and effective.

Here's how contract designers use design development:

Assisted the business owner and operator with program development, schematic design, and design development on residential projects
Produced design development documentation for 15-story condominium using AutoCAD 2000i.

13. Web Design

Here's how contract designers use web design:

Participated in user experience design and web design for customer facing website applications
Contract web design (iconography + landing page) for web browser start up company acquired by Yahoo.

14. Adobe Photoshop

Here's how contract designers use adobe photoshop:

Presented during weekly on-site client meetings with CAD, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.
Reduce production loads for web development team by slicing various website in Adobe Photoshop

15. Design Layouts

Here's how contract designers use design layouts:

Design layouts and provide original artwork for customer-facing emails and online catalogs.
Developed design layouts of in-plant processing equipment.

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What skills help Contract Designers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on contract designer resumes?

Dr. Jennifer Jorgensen Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

The retail industry is robust and requires many skills. Content and industry-related knowledge are essential, including comfort with computer applications like Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Excel. Beyond knowledge of the industry, job candidates need excellent communication skills in written and oral forms. It's also highly recommended that job candidates have work experience in their area of interest, which could include an internship, job shadow, or part-time position.

What type of skills will young contract designers need?

Bennie F. Johnson

Executive Director, AIGA, the professional association for design

Our Design Futures research from 2018 covered this topic in some detail. Some highlights of needed skills include an understanding of business models, complex systems, and data. One of the seven Design Futures trends is "Bridging Physical and Digital Experiences," which has become even more important in a COVID world. Of course, mastering craft and specific tools remain important, especially for entry-level work, but so is a general ability to "learn how to learn," as the rate of technical change (and obsolescence) is only getting faster.

In May of 2020, AIGA conducted an industry pulse check survey around the impact of COVID-19 on the design community and found, not surprisingly, that adaptability skills continue to be the most critical for design professionals, and collaboration made the list of top five skills for the first time.

What hard/technical skills are most important for contract designers?

Bill Morgan

Coordinator, Undergraduate Program — Interior Design, Lecturer, Interior Design, University of North Texas

-Drawing Proficiency (drawing of all types, includes 3D visualization)
-Technical Proficiency (detailing)
-Project Management

Do you want to know more?

List of contract designer skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a contract designer resume and required skills for a contract designer to have include:

Assembly Drawings
Sketch
Web Banners
Auto CAD
Graphic Design
Design Concepts
Product Development
R
Adobe Illustrator
HTML
CSS
Design Development
Web Design
Adobe Photoshop
Design Layouts
Invision
Adobe Creative Suite

User Experience
Industrial Design
PowerPoint
Mechanical Design
PCB
Design Projects
Catia V5
Windchill
Space Planning
Design Process
Web Pages
User Interface
Revit
PDM
Healthcare
JavaScript
HVAC

Logo Design
Print Materials
BOM
RF
Installation Drawings
Product Design
CMOS
Unigraphics
Design Services
ECN
Business Cards
P Id
CMS
PC
ECO
Promotional Materials

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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