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

What is a student graphic designer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Sarah Satterfield Ph.D.

If you want to pursue a career in graphic design, becoming a student graphic designer is often the best first step. Student graphic designers are graphic-designers-in-training, gaining the skills and experience that they need from formal programs or self-study. But whether you are going to school for graphic design or teaching yourself the ropes, the duties of a student graphic designer are the same for both set-ups.

The main responsibilities of a student graphic designer include attending classes, accomplishing assigned tasks, and building their graphic design portfolio, among other academic requirements. They work closely with other students, professors, and any mentors that they may have to accomplish both their academic and personal goals as a graphic designer.

For many graphic design schools, a high school diploma or GED is the basic educational requirement. Tools needed in graphic design are a laptop or PC, a drawing pad, and design programs.

Since a student graphic designer is still in school, they earn no income from their academic work. However, they have plenty of opportunities for freelance work. Entry-level graphic design freelance jobs usually have pay ranges of $25 to $35 an hour. As student graphic designers develop their skills, they can raise their hourly or project prices.

What general advice would you give to a student 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.

ScoreStudent Graphic DesignerUS Average

Salary

2.1

Avg. Salary $27,337

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 51.01%

male 48.99%

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 student graphic designer

Explore student graphic designer education requirements

Most common student graphic designer degrees

Bachelor's

75.8 %

Associate

12.2 %

Master's

5.9 %

Start to develop specific student graphic designer skills

Skills	Percentages
Graphic Design	12.74%
Event Posters	7.50%
GPA	7.20%
Web Banners	6.35%
Adobe Illustrator	5.46%

Complete relevant student graphic designer training and internships

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

Research student graphic designer duties and responsibilities

Research lead to sketch iteration, which lead to full scale prototypes.
Create and manage digital media content for department and resource center websites, Facebook, and Instagram pages.
Manage data migrations and SharePoint integration for corporate Intranet with external consultants.
Design closet units and formations in 2D and 3D using SolidEdge, AutoCAD, TeamCenter.

Prepare your student graphic designer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your student 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 student 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 student graphic designer resume templates

Build a professional student 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 student graphic designer resume.

Apply for student graphic designer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a student 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 student graphic designers rate their job?

-/5

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Student 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

Cons

When working with others who can not make up their minds as deadline approaches nor take responsibility and blames others for their own "misdoings".

A zippia user wrote a review on Sep 2019