How To Become A Design Volunteer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a design volunteer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Michelle Lockwood

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a design volunteer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $25.94 an hour? That's $53,952 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 6,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a design volunteer?

Michelle Lockwood

Associate Professor, Graphic Design Art, Mansfield University of Pennsylvania

Flexibility, adaptability, and problem-solving. I would say that these three characteristics will be essential to all recent and upcoming graduates' survival and success, obtaining degrees in design and applied arts. Flexibility is their willingness to look at all situations, projects, and job opportunities through a lens that considers multiple approaches, solutions, and out-of-the-box thinking. Adaptability -- in their understanding that the ground beneath them will continuously change, and they need to move with that change and balance themselves amid a career, which will likely look nothing like it does today, a year, or two years from now. Problem-solving -- in their use of intelligence and intuition to look carefully, listen actively, and continuously learn about the tools, technologies, and issues from which their projects and areas of focus will arise.

ScoreDesign VolunteerUS Average

Salary

4.2

Avg. Salary $53,952

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.2

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.37%

Asian 10.42%

Black or African American 3.42%

Hispanic or Latino 10.63%

Unknown 4.99%

White 70.17%

Gender

female 60.85%

male 39.15%

Age - 37

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 37

Stress level

4.2

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.5

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.9

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a design volunteer

Explore design volunteer education requirements

Most common design volunteer degrees

Bachelor's

74.1 %

Associate

13.8 %

Master's

7.7 %

Start to develop specific design volunteer skills

Skills	Percentages
Adobe Photoshop	15.16%
Adobe Indesign	13.46%
Graphic Design	9.07%
CSS	8.19%
Promotional Materials	5.46%

Complete relevant design volunteer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New design volunteers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a design volunteer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real design volunteer resumes.

Research design volunteer duties and responsibilities

Manage data migrations and SharePoint integration for corporate Intranet with external consultants.
Develop a website using PHP, AJAX, HTML, and CSS running Linux CentOS.
Assist in the creation of a custom website using WordPress software, HTML coding, and CSS coding.
Used PowerPoint and Navisworks to ensure proper proposal and presentation with animate visualizations.

Prepare your design volunteer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your design volunteer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a design volunteer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable design volunteer resume templates

Build a professional design volunteer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your design volunteer resume.