Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Graduate Designer

🎯 Role Definition

Are you a recent design graduate with a passion for creating beautiful, intuitive, and user-centered experiences? This role requires a highly motivated Graduate Designer to join our dynamic and forward-thinking team. In this role, you will be a key contributor to our design projects, working across a variety of digital products and marketing initiatives. You will not just be executing tasks; you will be learning, growing, and helping to shape the visual and interactive landscape of our brand. This is a hands-on position where you will collaborate closely with senior designers, product managers, and engineers, gaining invaluable experience in a fast-paced, supportive, and creative environment. If you have a strong portfolio, a hunger to learn, and a collaborative spirit, we want to hear from you!

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

University Graduate (Bachelor's or Master's)
Design Intern or Co-op Placement
Self-Taught Designer with a strong portfolio

Advancement To:

Junior Designer / Designer
Product Designer
UI/UX Designer

Lateral Moves:

Brand and Marketing Designer
Visual Designer
User Researcher

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Translate concepts and requirements into user flows, wireframes, mockups, and interactive prototypes that lead to intuitive user experiences.
Design and deliver pixel-perfect UI components, screen layouts, and visual elements for our web and mobile applications.
Collaborate with product managers, engineers, and other stakeholders to understand detailed requirements and design solutions that meet user needs and business goals.
Participate actively in the entire product development lifecycle, including brainstorming, ideation, user research, and usability testing.
Create compelling visual assets for marketing campaigns, social media, websites, and other brand communications.
Contribute to the development and maintenance of our design system and brand guidelines to ensure consistency across all platforms.
Assist in conducting user research, interviews, and surveys to gather insights that will inform design decisions.
Prepare and present design concepts and deliverables to internal teams and key stakeholders, clearly articulating design rationale.
Iterate on designs based on feedback from peers, stakeholders, and user testing results in a constructive and agile manner.
Develop high-fidelity prototypes to effectively communicate interaction models and user flows for testing and development handover.
Work within an agile development environment, collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure designs are implemented as intended.
Produce brand-compliant presentations, one-pagers, and other collateral to support sales and marketing efforts.
Stay current with the latest UI/UX trends, design principles, and technologies to bring fresh ideas and innovation to the team.
Support senior designers on larger, more complex projects, taking ownership of specific features or components.
Conduct competitive analysis and heuristic evaluations to identify areas for improvement in our existing products.

Secondary Functions

Assist with ad-hoc design requests and quick visual explorations for various internal teams.
Contribute to the organization's design culture by sharing knowledge and participating in design critiques and workshops.
Work closely with product managers and engineers to translate business and user requirements into intuitive and impactful design solutions.
Participate in sprint planning, retrospectives, and other agile ceremonies within the product and engineering teams.
Help create and manage a library of design assets, icons, and illustrations for team-wide use.
Document design specifications, user flows, and processes to ensure clarity and consistency for the development team.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Proficiency in modern design and prototyping tools such as Figma, Sketch, or Adobe XD.
Strong knowledge of the Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign).
A solid understanding of user-centered design principles, typography, color theory, and layout composition.
Basic understanding of front-end technologies (HTML, CSS) and how designs are translated into code.
Experience in creating wireframes, user flows, and interactive prototypes.
A compelling portfolio that showcases a range of design projects and demonstrates your design process and problem-solving skills.
Knowledge of responsive design principles for web and mobile applications.

Soft Skills

Excellent verbal and written communication skills to articulate design decisions.
Strong collaboration and teamwork abilities.
A proactive and curious mindset with a strong desire to learn and grow.
High attention to detail and a commitment to delivering quality work.
The ability to receive and provide constructive feedback gracefully.
Effective time management and organizational skills to handle multiple projects simultaneously.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in a design-related discipline.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Graphic Design, Interaction Design, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
Product Design, Visual Communication, Fine Arts

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

0-2 years of relevant experience, including internships, co-ops, or freelance projects.

Preferred:

A strong and well-presented online portfolio is essential and will be heavily weighted. It should showcase your design thinking, process, and final outcomes across multiple projects.