How To Become A Principal Graphic Designer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a principal graphic designer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Sarah Satterfield Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a principal graphic designer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $48.18 an hour? That's $100,224 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 principal graphic designer?

Dr. Sarah Satterfield Ph.D.

Department Chair Visual and Performing Arts, Professor of Music and Humanities, College of Central Florida

I was once told, if you do what you love, you will never "work" a day in your life. I have found this true in my own career and hope our VPA graduates will find it true in theirs as well. The arts offer such a unique means of engaging and we, as arts educators, have an ability to "reach" those we have contact with, in a unique way.

ScorePrincipal Graphic DesignerUS Average

Salary

7.6

Avg. Salary $100,224

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 45.45%

male 54.55%

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 principal graphic designer

Explore principal graphic designer education requirements

Most common principal graphic designer degrees

Bachelor's

72.8 %

Associate

15.5 %

Master's

9.7 %

Start to develop specific principal graphic designer skills

Skills	Percentages
Web Design	22.77%
CSS	16.15%
Web Site	9.08%
Animation	8.77%
CMS	7.28%

Complete relevant principal graphic designer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New principal graphic designers 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 principal graphic designer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real principal graphic designer resumes.

Research principal graphic designer duties and responsibilities

Create ads, manage copywriting, respond to customer inquiries, generate brand unity, establish clear company identity.
Programme HTML and CSS code using Dreamweaver to incorporate creative elements and dictate a webpage s functionality through a plan layout.
Perform photography and photo editing.
Receive recognition from senior management for contributing to accelerate revenue growth as a result of developing and implementing comprehensive design strategy.

Get principal graphic designer experience

Generally, it takes 6-12 months to become a principal graphic designer. The most common roles before becoming a principal graphic designer include graphic designer, art director team lead and senior graphic designer.

Prepare your principal graphic designer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your principal graphic designer 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 principal graphic designer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable principal graphic designer resume templates

Build a professional principal graphic designer 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 principal graphic designer resume.

Apply for principal graphic designer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a principal graphic designer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do principal graphic designers rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Principal graphic designer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2022

Pros

There is so much to like about working as Graphic Designer ... the seeing how all the elements of words, space, colors, visuals (photos, graphics, charts,...) come together on a page...sharing info with others to learn and use

A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2019