5 Graphic Design Soft Skills To Hone
Soft skills are more like your personal attributes and interpersonal skills. Beyond your raw talent, they’re the aspects of your personality that make people want to work with you. Even if you’re a new designer, you can harness soft skills from your past life experiences and roles. Others might not come as naturally, but they can—and should—be worked on if you want to develop both professionally and personally.
To be a great designer, you need to be creative. But did you know that along with the slew of
technical design skills you might already possess (like composition, color theory, and software proficiencies) you need something called ‘soft skills? Yep, they’re a thing! And just like knowing your way around Photoshop, they’re critical to your success. Remember soft skills are an essential part of design careers because we are ultimately problem solvers and communicators.
Soft skills are the traits and behaviors that make a job candidate a well-rounded employee. Soft skills include characteristics that can be hard to measure, like creativity, good communication, and critical thinking. Because these skills apply to careers in many different industries, they’re sometimes referred to as transferable skills.
5 skills will take you beyond the eyes of your clients, and they are:
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Creativity and innovation
This one may seem a little obvious, but it also illustrates your entire career. As a graphic designer, you’re expected to come up with original ideas, think critically, and have a creative eye. They must think outside the box to develop innovative ideas and design concepts. You’ll be asked to make various versions of the same thing, to finish something quicker than you anticipated, and to create something you’ve never tried before. It sounds like a lot of squeezes because it is. But if you can be innovative in your thinking and your execution, it lessens the weight you might be feeling on your shoulders. All of this involves creativity, as well as creative problem-solving skills.
- Aesthetics
- Attention to Detail
- Balancing Artistry with Audience Appeal
- Perceptivity
- Visually Representing Ideas
- Sketching
- Brainstorming
- Communication
As a designer, it’s your job to communicate your client’s perception in a graphic that’s aesthetically attractive and functional. While that sounds straightforward, you’ll find a lot of hiccups along the way despite your expertise. The design is not the only thing that should be communicating clearly but you should know how to communicate efficiently with others. This is a soft skill that is becoming just as essential as many technical skills in the designer’s toolbox and a vital part of getting ahead in design.
A graphic designer’s skill set would be incomplete without the ability to communicate well. Stay ahead of the curve by hone your pitch or conveying an idea for a design with a friend.
- Confidence
- Consultation
- Customer Service
- Establishing Rapport
- Interpreting Artwork for the General Public
- Understanding Clients’ Artistic Preferences
- Interpersonal
- Active Listening
- Receiving Constructive Criticism about Artwork
- Sales
- Verbal Communication
- Collaboration
- Written Communication
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Problem-solving
One of the key soft skills a graphic designer must possess is the art of problem-solving. Problem-solving doesn’t always take comprehensive brainpower. It may be as simple as changing a shade of green to make it a little lighter. Most of the issues while dealing with a stubborn client can be resolved simply by being open-minded to accommodate their requests. Regardless of how big or small the challenge is, remember to stay calm, open-minded, and creative.
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Time Management
The designers who work as part of a team need to have excellent time management skills to ensure that the different design projects they are tasked with are all completed in good time. This also includes problem-solving skills allowing you to respond quickly to urgent requests or tasks that might come up mid-project. This is where good time management comes in. After all, even if your portfolio promises great things, great design requires some time.
- Critical Thinking
- Deadline Management
- Decisive
- Design Strategy
- Organizational Skills
- Multitasking
- Prioritizing
- Problem-solving
- Flexibility
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Technology
Graphic designers have to master assorted forms of technology in today’s world. Firstly, they need to be comfortable with design software, such as Quark, InDesign, and Adobe. The skills mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg. These skills are the basic stepping stones you need to capture as you climb the ladder of a professional graphic designer. A graphic designer’s technical skills should relate to their ability to physically complete the task at hand.
Conclusion
Of course, these are not the only skills a graphic designer needs, but they’re a good foundation. Essentially, you should be able to use your creativity, problem-solving skills, and communication to create gorgeous designs with the technical skills that you’ve acquired over time as a designer. If you’ve got these skills down, you’re definitely on your way! So are you looking for a graphic designer who has all these soft skills, then just drop a line and will provide you the best graphic designer within 24hrs of business days.
