Graphic designer resume template
See the finished document, where its evidence is, and the plain text a parser pulls out. Then put your own story in it.
- Review score
- 95
- Evidence
- 100%
- Words
- 280
Scored by the same rules the Studio uses. How scoring works
Why it works
- One page in all six layouts280 words, so switching designs never pushes it to a second page.
- 3 of 10 bullets name a resultThe rest show the scale of the work, which a recruiter reads as proof too. Counted by the same Review the Studio runs.
- Headings an ATS already knowsSummary, Experience, Education, Certifications, Skills, in that order.
- The credential has its own lineAdobe Certified Professional in Print & Digital Media Publication, each with issuer and year.
- Reads back as plain textOne column with no tables or icons. The ATS text tab shows what a parser gets.
Graphic designer with seven years in brand identity, packaging and social campaigns for consumer brands. Takes work from client brief to print-ready files and builds templates that keep a brand consistent.
- Lead packaging design for a snacks brand with 64 SKUs, taking each from brief to press check, and cut reprints from six a year to one.
- Design brand identities, logos and guidelines for 11 clients, from food startups to a hospital group.
- Maintain a Canva and Figma template library the client teams use for about 120 social posts a month.
- Mentor two junior designers and review their files before anything goes to print.
- Created social media graphics and digital ads for 14 retail campaigns in Photoshop and Illustrator.
- Laid out 30 brochures and annual reports in InDesign, preparing CMYK files with bleed for print.
- Redesigned a bank's festive campaign banners; click-through rose 22% over the previous year.
- Prepared prepress files for about 40 print jobs a week, from business cards to large-format hoardings.
- Matched Pantone colours on press for 18 packaging clients and logged each approval.
- Rebuilt 60 low-resolution client logos as clean vector files in CorelDRAW and Illustrator.
Opens in the Studio on this device, in the Executive layout. Replace the sample details with your own before you export.
Try it with your name
A preview only. Nothing is saved.
A designer's resume gets read by a parser before anyone opens the portfolio. If the PDF is a two-column poster with the tools drawn as progress bars, the parser reads half of it and the art director never sees the rest. The template above is plain on purpose, it points to the portfolio, and the score on this page is the actual output of the Review.
Graphic designer resume summary example
- brand identity
- packaging
The candidate is fictional, so swap in your own numbers. Stuck? The resume summary generator drafts one from your title and results.
Why most graphic designers don't get the call
The portfolio link, in the header
Nobody hires a designer from a resume alone. The resume's job is to get the portfolio opened, so the link sits next to your email where a recruiter's eye lands first, not in a footer. Behance, Dribbble or your own site all work; a link that 404s ends the application.
What you designed, for whom, and how much of it
"Designed marketing materials" could be one flyer or a year of campaigns. Name the output (packaging, social ads, a brand identity, a 40-page report) and the volume or the client. Agencies screen for range of clients; in-house teams screen for how much you shipped on deadline.
Tools spelled the way postings spell them
Postings ask for Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign by name, and increasingly Figma and Canva for social teams. In Kenya and India CorelDRAW still shows up in print shops. Write each one out; "Adobe Suite" alone can miss a search for InDesign.
Print and production know-how
Print jobs cost money when they go wrong. CMYK, bleed, Pantone matching and press checks tell a print or packaging employer you won't send them a file that has to be reprinted. If you have done it, say it once, plainly.
Skills and keywords for a graphic designer resume
Applicant tracking systems match on literal strings. Spell each term the way the job posting spells it, and group related skills so people and parsers can both follow it.
Design tools
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe InDesign
- Figma
- Canva
- CorelDRAW
- After Effects
Brand & identity
- brand identity
- logo design
- brand guidelines
- typography
- colour theory
- visual design
Print & production
- print design
- packaging
- brochures
- CMYK
- prepress
- Pantone
- large format
Digital
- social media graphics
- digital ads
- banners
- email templates
- presentation design
- motion graphics
Have the real job posting? Paste it into the keyword scanner to see the skills it asks for most, and which ones your resume is missing.
Why each choice was made
Why the layout is a single column
It is tempting to make the resume itself a design sample. Parsers read text columns left to right and drop text inside shapes and images, so a creative layout often reaches the recruiter as a jumbled skills list. Let the portfolio show the craft; let the resume pass the filter.
Why bullets count deliverables, not adjectives
"Creative" and "eye for detail" appear on every designer's resume and prove nothing. A count of packaging SKUs, campaigns or reprints avoided is what a creative lead can't get from the portfolio, so it is what the resume should carry.
Why Canva sits next to Illustrator
Plenty of in-house and social roles now ask for Canva as well as Adobe, because the designer builds templates the rest of the team uses. If you have built those, list both. It reads as range, not as a step down.
Graphic designer resume questions
What skills should I put on a graphic designer resume?
The skills the job posting names, spelled the way it spells them. For a graphic designer that often includes Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, brand identity, logo design, print design and packaging. Show each one in a bullet with a result, then list the core ones again in a short skills section.
How do I write a graphic designer resume summary?
Keep it to two or three sentences: your years of experience and where, the scale of your work, and one result with a number. Leave out words a recruiter cannot check, like hardworking or passionate. The example summary on this page shows the pattern.
Is this graphic designer resume template free?
Yes. Open it in the Studio, replace the example with your own work and download it as a PDF in a free design (Clean, Signal, Editorial and Minimal). Word files and the other designs come with ATSPrep Pro. There is no watermark; downloading needs a free account.
Is this graphic designer resume template ATS friendly?
Yes. It is one column of real text with standard section headings, and no tables, text boxes or text inside images, so parsers read it in order. Run your finished file through the free ATS resume checker to see the text it gives back.
Keep the pattern. Tell your story.
The Studio opens with this graphic designer example loaded. Edit any bullet and the Review score updates as you type. Editing needs no account; downloading needs a free one.
- Keep the hierarchy. Same section order, plain-text contact details.
- Replace every claim. Your scope, your numbers, your tools. Never borrowed achievements.
- Run the Review again. Watch the score respond to the evidence in your version.
$0 forever · No watermark · No card · No account to start
Other role examples scored the same way
What each system will do to this file.
What each applicant tracking system accepts, read from the vendor's own documentation.
- GreenhouseAccepts PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, TXT · parses up to 2.5 MB.
- Oracle TaleoAccepts PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, TXT, HTML, ODT, WPD · up to 5 MB · Varies by employer engine.
- SmartRecruitersAccepts PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, JPG, PNG · up to 2 MB · Textkernel engine.
- AshbyAccepts PDF, DOC, DOCX · up to 50 MB.
- WorkableAccepts PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, HTML, ODT · up to 5 MB.
- ManatalAccepts PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF · Manatal (in-house) engine.
- SAP SuccessFactorsAccepts DOCX, PDF, TXT, TIFF, JPG, BMP, GIF · up to 5 MB · Textkernel engine.
- BambooHRAccepts PDF, DOC, DOCX, BMP, XLS, XLSX, CSV, TXT, JPG, JPEG, TIF, RTF, TIFF, GIF, PNG, ZIP · up to 20 MB.
- JobviteAccepts PDF, DOC, DOCX, TXT, RTF, HTML, HTM, PNG, JPEG, JPG, GIF, XLSX.
- RecruiteeAccepts PDF, DOC, DOCX, ODT, RTF, TXT, JPG, PNG.
- WorkdayAccepts PDF, DOC, DOCX, HTML, TXT · up to 5 MB.
- LeverAccepts PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, TXT · up to 10 MB.
- iCIMSAccepts PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, TXT, ODT, WPD, WRI, HTM, HTML.
- JazzHRAccepts PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, ODT, TXT · up to 5 MB.
- Breezy HRAccepts DOC, DOCX, PAGES, PDF, RTF, TXT.
- PersonioAccepts PDF, DOCX · Textkernel engine.
- DayforceAccepts DOC, DOCX, PDF, RTF · up to 5 MB.
- PinpointAccepts PDF, DOCX.
- ComeetAccepts PDF, DOC, DOCX.