Designer cover letter

Designer Cover Letter Sample (With Examples)

Your portfolio may be your strongest asset as a designer, but potential clients and employers will still want to assess your qualifications via your resume first. Including a cover letter with your resume will increase your chances of landing that coveted interview.

As a creative person with an eye for design, you are much more comfortable delivering your message through visual media. Writing a cover letter may fall well outside your comfort zone. It can be challenging and time-consuming, but it is a worthwhile effort to make.

Less than half of applicants include a cover letter with their resume, but more than half of hiring managers expect one. By including a cover letter with your application, you garner more attention for your resume and portfolio.

This is your opportunity to appeal to the hiring manager and show that you can combine your creative skills with your technical skills to produce results for your clients. Use your words to paint yourself as the ideal candidate for the position and earn yourself an interview.

Think of it as another opportunity to showcase your design skills.

Parts of a DesignerCover Letter

Like the assets you design, a cover letter has specific elements and formatting that should be adhered to.

The inclusion of a cover letter alone will grab the attention of the hiring manager, but it is a well-written and properly formatted cover letter that will earn you the interview.

1. Header

   • Your first and last name, your title/associations (ex: AIGA)

   • Your contact information: current address (optional), phone number, professional email address, LinkedIn (optional), website (optional), online portfolio (optional)

   • Date (ex: August 12, 2017)

   • Hiring manager contact information: name, title, company name, company address (optional)

2. Greeting (salutation)

   • “Dear [Hiring Manager]”

   • If you can’t find the hiring manager's information, “Dear Hiring Manager” will work

   • Avoid “To Whom It May Concern” or “Dear Sir or Madam”

3. Opening Lines

   • What. Which position are you applying for?

   • Why. Tell them why you want this job in particular. Is there something about the company or the position that appeals to you specifically?

   • Your hook. Capture the attention of your potential employer. What makes you stand out from the crowd? Appeal to their needs, not yours.

4. Body paragraph(s)

   • First paragraph. Typically, this is your only body paragraph, but some will include a second or a bulleted list of achievements. Highlight your qualifications and show that you are a good fit for this role and this company.

   • Second paragraph. This is an optional paragraph. If included, this paragraph will usually focus on the company itself. The employer wants to know that you adhere to their values and can drive their mission forward.

   • Bulleted qualifications list. This is, again, optional. This is your opportunity to list your qualifications and achievements that are most relevant for this particular job. Use numbers to quantify your achievements and utilize the job description.

5. Closing Lines

   • Reiterate that you are their ideal candidate

   • Convey your enthusiasm for the position

   • Thank them for their time

   • Close with a clear call-to-action: give them a reason to reach out

6. Sign-Off

   • “Sincerely,” “Best regards,” “Respectfully”

   • Your name

   • Your phone number and/or email (optional)

   • A “PS” with an additional achievement that acts as a CTA (optional)

Designer Cover Letter Opening

The goal of your opening paragraph is to capture the employer’s attention and entice them to read the rest of your letter (and your resume). Those first few lines are critical.

Frame yourself as their ideal candidate and leave them wanting to know more.

Remember, the hiring manager is interested in how you can help them, not how they can help you. So, focus your attention on how your skills and experience can help them achieve their goals.

Designer Cover Letter Body

It might feel strange, and maybe a little uncomfortable, using your words to market and sell. As a designer, you are likely more comfortable using your designs to do that for you.

The body of your cover letter should be written to do exactly that, though. The paragraphs should be used to market your talents to the hiring manager and sell you as the right person for the job.

The job description will list the hard skills and soft skills they are specifically looking for in this role. You will likely see more hard skills and technical skills mentioned in the job listing as these are often what matters most to companies in search of designers.

Are you comfortable working with HTML, HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, etc.? Are you proficient in Adobe Creative Suite? What other design software do you use? Are you comfortable working with presentation software? Does your portfolio include multimedia designs, audiovisual work, or animations in addition to your static images?

If it is relevant to the position — especially if it is mentioned in the job description — you want to find a way to include it in your cover letter.

Even if the job description fails to mention the soft skills they are looking for, you should find a way to highlight them. Skills like the ones below are essential for designers:

• Communication skills

• Attention-to-detail

• Interpersonal skills

• Customer service skills

• Decision-making skills

• Problem-solving skills

• Multitasking skills

• Communication skills

• Teamwork/collaboration skills

• Time management skills

• Organizational skills

Remember that potential clients and employers want to know that you can use your creative skills and technical skills together to produce design work that has a good ROI. Including a bulleted list of your most relevant qualifications and achievements will provide the hiring manager with a quick visual of your skills being put to use.

Make sure you use numbers to quantify your achievements. Show them that you can get the results they’re looking for.

Designer Cover Letter Closing Lines

The closing paragraph of your cover letter will only be a few lines. It is important, though, that you use those lines to close your letter strong. Just like with the CTA button you design for each web page, your closing paragraph needs to entice them to take the next step: an interview.

You should not use this space to repeat and regurgitate the information included in the rest of your cover letter or your resume. Summarize your most attention-getting qualification or achievement. Remind them what you bring to the table.

Be sure to thank them for their time and then give them a reason to reach out and schedule the interview. You want to be a little subtle here with your language, but your meaning should be clear: you want an interview.

Example of a Designer Cover Letter