WHAT DOES A GRAPHIC DESIGNER DO?

Published: Jun 10, 2025 - The Graphic Designer creates visual materials such as packaging, point-of-sale displays, digital campaigns, and custom emails to support brand and marketing initiatives. This role ensures print accuracy by coordinating with local and international printers, preparing compliant print-ready files, and producing original illustrations and retouched photography. The designer also contributes to presentation design and maintains consistent brand aesthetics across digital and retail assets.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Graphic Designer

1. Graphic Designer Duties

  • Graphic Design: Designing graphic content, illustrations, infographics, etc
  • Full-Cycle Design: Responsible for graphic designs from A to Z
  • Creative Concepting: Creating smart, fresh and creative concepts and ideas
  • Marketing Coordination: Coordinating with the Marketing Manager concerning concepts, image, branding, and projects
  • Image Retouching: Retouching designs, posting on social media, etc
  • Creative Support: Support the marketing team with creative solutions
  • Layout Design: Create layouts using established style guides, templates and branding guidelines
  • Brand Management: Maintain brand standards and style
  • Marketing Collateral: Design marketing materials such as brochures, flyers, posters, emails, and campaigns
  • Web Graphics: Maintain and improve web graphics
  • Social Media Design: Design, build and maintain a social media presence
  • Time Management: Prioritize and organize work to meet deadlines

2. Graphic Designer Details

  • Content Creation: Create content for a variety of platforms, including social/digital media, web, in-venue, print collateral, large-scale facility graphics, signage and various logoed promotional materials
  • Campaign Design: Execute creative concepts and designs for various campaigns for all 19 Northwestern Athletics programs
  • Ad Development: Assist the Assistant Director of Design and Branding with the ideation and creation of advertising for all appropriate media (print, digital, outdoor, transit, other) under the guidance of the Associate Athletic Director for Marketing
  • Brand Consistency: Maintaining Northwestern Athletics’ look and brand identity
  • Email Marketing: Assist in the creation used for email marketing campaigns
  • Sponsorship Activation: Responsible for activation of digital sponsorship elements sold by Northwestern Sports Properties for football, men’s basketball and select nonrevenue sport properties
  • Event Support: Assist with special promotional events and special creative projects, as assigned by the Assistant Director of Design and Branding
  • Photography Direction: Assist in the creative direction of the photo shoot as well as some photography
  • Intern Collaboration: Work closely with design interns on assigned projects

3. Graphic Designer Responsibilities

  • Creative Strategy: Work with the team to understand the brief, target audience, customer insights and experiences to ensure delivery of innovative and creative solutions
  • Campaign Optimization: Leverage learnings from past campaigns to ensure the creative is optimised for performance
  • Team Leadership: Provide leadership, creative inspiration, direction, mentorship, coaching and guidance of creative team members
  • Idea Generation: Generate original ideas and visual concepts for campaigns
  • Concept Execution: Conceive and implement concepts and guidelines and oversee the execution of the graphics team
  • Creative Facilitation: Lead brainstorming and creative sessions to generate ideas
  • Design Management: Manage and further develop the entire process of graphic design
  • Visual Communication: Ideate, conceptualize and create versatile visual materials that communicate in an inspiring and engaging way the desired message in multiple formats and for various channels and purposes
  • Brand Development: Further develop visual concepts and guidelines for the brand
  • Asset Optimization: Ensure that branded visual assets meet the changing needs, are easy to use, and evoke desired feelings in line with commercial goals and strategy

4. Graphic Designer Job Summary

  • Project Execution: Understand and execute on project requirements and ideas
  • Marketing Design: Design a full array of marketing and branding materials such as emails, flyers, social images, and banners
  • Adobe Proficiency: Work in the Adobe Creative Suite primarily using InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator
  • Team Collaboration: Collaborate and communicate with project teams including Strategists, Content Writers, and Project Managers, from concept to completion
  • Feedback Integration: Implement feedback from clients and team members with quality, accuracy, and efficiency in mind
  • Deadline Management: Meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment
  • Trade Marketing: Provide trade marketing support to the Foodservice and sales teams by creating engaging and considered concepts and designs that are industry-leading and best-in-class
  • Project Support: Support Senior Graphic Designer on various projects
  • Business Development: Develop concepts and designs to assist with new business acquisitions
  • Branding Decks: Create engaging branding decks which include mood boards, logo development, typography and colour schemes, signage assets and mockups
  • Asset Production: Support designers and senior designers in the creation and production of assets for digital and print communications
  • Quality Delivery: Deliver high-quality, meticulously crafted work in a fast-paced, iterative environment
  • Problem Solving: Embrace daily challenges and be resourceful in solving problems
  • Creative Collaboration: Collaborate effectively with the internal creative team and internal stakeholders
  • Task Management: Handle multiple assignments and meet all deadlines
  • Time Organization: Manage working time and stay organized

5. Graphic Designer Accountabilities

  • Graphic Assets: Create graphical assets for all needs of the business such as banners, ads, Landing pages, internal marketing, video, and Social media content
  • Promotional Design: Work with the marketing team on promotional delivery concepts and produce high-quality designs
  • Team Collaboration: Collaborate with tech and product teams on-site and feature design
  • Content Development: Develop the company’s graphic content (in all formats) across all channels and brands
  • Workload Prioritization: Prioritise workload in line with the company’s objectives and ensure deadlines are met
  • Brand Implementation: Help implement brand style as well as design branding material such as presentation and email templates, company logos, signatures etc
  • Brand Quality: Be the gatekeeper of the brand and brand quality
  • Creative Concepts: Develop creative concepts and execute effective designs that best convey the company’s image
  • Game Promotion: Creatively use game assets to create unique and engaging game promo packs that are suitable and aligned with different markets’ advertising regulations
  • Brief Analysis: Read and understand design briefs made by the Marketing team or other stakeholders and collaborate effectively to suggest and create the best design solutions possible
  • Image Library: Create and maintain an organised image library, making sure all images saved follow a standard naming convention
  • Visual Language: Contribute to the constant evolution of the look and feel of brands and ensure consistency by developing and maintaining a strong visual language across all channels

6. Graphic Designer Functions

  • Mind Effectiveness: Help people use their minds more effectively at work and in life
  • Behavioral Design: Using the power of design to change behaviors and improve the world
  • Psychology Application: Use psychology principles to develop strong, goal-oriented design executions
  • Client Experience: Gain experience with top clients across industries, using design to take on big problems like diversity and inclusion, personal effectiveness, and well-being in the workplace
  • Team Contribution: Work with a hardworking, growing team, helping to define what Design means at MindGym

7. Graphic Designer Job Description

  • Graphic Management: Creating and managing graphics for several different brands
  • Social Content: Creating content for and managing several social media accounts (Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, etc)
  • Marketing Materials: Creating marketing materials (Flyers, Ads, Social Posts)
  • Social Writing: Writing social media and posting on various social media accounts
  • Video Content: Creating video thumbnails, headlines, descriptions, and posting
  • Platform Optimization: Creating (and optimizing) content for each different social media platform
  • Copywriting Tasks: Copywriting such as Calls to action, Headlines, Descriptions, Facebook ads, etc
  • Calendar Management: Creating and managing the company training calendar and social events
  • Company Newsletter: Creating a quarterly company newsletter
  • Blog Posting: Creating images for and posting 2x per month blog posts
  • Management Projects: Projects assigned by the management team

8. Graphic Designer Overview

  • Graphics Library: Develop a library of graphics and templates to be used for acquisition, nurture and retention campaigns
  • Digital Design: Produce all designs for the website and digital ads
  • Video Production: Produce videos and/or animations
  • Client Communication: Design for various types of client communications including presentation decks, emails, sales sheets and other forms of client engagement
  • Vendor Coordination: Coordinate with outside agencies, art services, printers, etc.
  • Team Collaboration: Work collaboratively with the content writer, digital marketer, sales and other stakeholders
  • Request Management: Build and manage the intake process for internal design requests
  • Material Audit: Audit all existing product materials and provide recommendations on design/style

9. Graphic Designer Details and Accountabilities

  • Visual Development: Developing concepts, graphics, photography, for product illustrations, company graphics, banners and websites
  • Image Planning: Plan and design images
  • Photo Retouching: Expert in Post Editing / Retouching of models
  • Packaging Design: Plan and Execute Packaging Designs
  • Multimedia Creation: Utilise art, sound and design skills to create audio and animated images
  • Social Visuals: Create attention-grabbing visuals and multimedia presentations on Social Media platforms
  • Concept Translation: Translate ideas into concepts
  • Creative Collaboration: Collaborate with the marketing team and think out of the box in producing new concepts to portray the brand
  • Task Management: Manage workflow, prioritize tasks, and meet deadlines on single/multiple projects with minimum supervision

10. Graphic Designer Tasks

  • Brand Support: Design materials to support the growth of the Lakanto brand
  • Retail Design: Work with the marketing and sales teams on retailer-specific design requests
  • Packaging Assets: Retail packaging, point of sale, shelf-talkers, shipper displays, and end-cap headers
  • Print Proofing: Assure print proofs are accurate with local and international printers
  • Creative Assets: Develop graphics and creative assets for website, digital ad campaigns, and custom emails
  • Custom Illustration: Create custom illustrations or other graphic elements
  • Print Preparation: Prepare and deliver print-ready materials for printing or publication
  • Label Compliance: Prep and submit the necessary labels and files to ensure compliance
  • Photo Editing: Retouch and edit photography for marketing materials
  • Presentation Design: Assist with presentation design and layout
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