How do I become a designer? What qualifications and skills you need
DO YOU have designs on a new job?
The UK has a rich heritage of producing top designers from Habitat founder Terence Conran to fashion designers including Paul Smith, Stella McCartney and Vivienne Westwood.
While there are almost 81,000 specialist design businesses nationally, 77% of the designers don’t work in design firms.
Instead many are part of other organisations, such as digital designers working for banks or product designers creating everything from phones to food packaging.
Named by the Government as a key growth sector alongside Digital Technology and Green Industries, the design industry grew at twice the rate of the UK economy as a whole between 2010 and 2019, and now there are currently more than 140,000 design vacancies nationwide.
So if you want to design a new future, here’s how with Sun Jobs.
What does a designer do?
Look around you – almost everything you see is designed.
From the chair you sit in every day, to the morning coffee cups you use and apps you look at daily, designers curated them all.
Put very simply, the designer is the person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans.
This can cover products, games, services, graphics or even processes and laws.
The design sector has a place for everyone.
What types of design can I work in?
The main areas are product design, graphic design, systems and IT design, industrial design, fashion design, landscape and architecture design.
The fastest areas of expansion include sustainable design, as 80 per cent of a product’s environmental impact is determined at the design stage.
What is the average salary for a designer?
As a job which requires creativity and innovation, design is well-paid. The average salary is £46,000 but it can vary from sector to sector and the specialist knowledge required.
How can I qualify as a designer?
Most budding designers choose a design course or design degree.
Consider courses which offer work experience or a placement year with live projects as this will help you build contacts and a network.
However, you don’t have to go to Uni. You can take an apprenticeship or a bootcamp, such as the Creative Alliance’s Skills for Life Digital Design Bootcamp, or the King’s UX Design Career Accelerator.
More careers stories
Could you be the right type to be a designer? Here are the best design jobs on offer with Sun Jobs this week.
Adobe Designer, Aviva, Norwich
Be a brilliant brand ambassador with this exciting Aviva role.
The Job: Aviva is hiring an Adobe Designer to join its Marketing Platform team, which is based in three locations: Norwich, Bristol and Perth.
What You’ll Do: As Adobe Designer you will support a wide range of applications and technologies/databases which enable Aviva Marketers to utilise customer data to improve their experience with Aviva, while approaching them at the most appropriate times. This includes contact focuses such as email, SMS, interactions within the MyAviva app, and tracking and logging contact history, while ensuring critical data is kept safe.
You’ll Need: The successful candidate will have experience managing and operating products within the Marketing/Adobe toolset, but this is not mandatory. More important are excellent communication skills; being comfortable creating visual, technical designs that both teams and stakeholders can understand; and the ability to take accountability for certain products or features within the Adobe ecosystem, and driving those forward.
Apply Now: See further details of this role, along with other opportunities at Aviva.
Digital Designer, Pharmacy2U Ltd, Leeds
You won’t want to pharm out your work to anyone else…
The Job: Pharmacy2U, the UK’s largest online pharmacy, is looking for an experienced Digital Designer to join the growing entrepreneurial team.
What You’ll Do: As Digital Designer, you’ll create compelling and consistent customer experiences, turning business requirements into innovative and inspiring creative concepts, working across digital channels (email, web, social and performance).
You’ll Need: The ideal candidate for this position will have an outstanding portfolio of design work, collated from their proven experience working in a creative industry. Proficiency in graphic design (such as Adobe Creative Suite products), knowledge of Figma and motion graphics using Adobe Animate and/or After Effects are a must. You will have the ability to meet deadlines in a high-pressured environment, and a strong understanding of best practices with knowledge of HTML/CSS for email design.
Apply Now: Find out more, or discover more opportunities with Pharmacy2U.
Designer, Design Systems, BBC, London
UX expert? This top job at the BBC will suit you.
The Job: BBC is hiring a Designer, Design Systems, to join its News Design Team within BBC News.
What You’ll Do: This Designer role will report to the Creative Director – Storytelling & Formats, working closely with the team on maintaining and evolving a design system that ensures a consistent and high-quality user experience across all of the BBC’s editorial-focused content outputs: web, app, and broadcast. You will define and enforce design guidelines, patterns, and components, all while infusing the power of editorial storytelling into the design system.
You’ll Need: The ideal candidate for this position will have a Bachelor’s degree in UX design, product design, HCI, or a related field; experience in design systems or UI/UX design, proficiency in design tools such as Figma and Sketch, and a strong portfolio of digital design and design systems work and/or case studies, demonstrating principles, methodologies and approaches. A good understanding of design principles and user-centred design methodologies is essential.
Apply Now: Apply for this role, along with other opportunities at BBC.
Discover thousands of open vacancies for jobs all across the UK now on The Sun Job Board.