LO
Graphic designer — skills, knowledge and links
Where this job sits in the official classifications, what those classifications say it demands, and what it connects to. Every block names its source: our own judgements, the U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET, or the U.S. Department of Education.
How it connects#
O*NET also lists (no page here yet): Special Effects Artists and Animators · Art Directors · Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators · Desktop Publishers · Video Game Designers · Set and Exhibit Designers · Commercial and Industrial Designers · Interior Designers
In the official classification#
Graphic Designers
Fit with this page: same job
Job Zone 4: considerable preparation
See it on O*NET OnLine ↗What O*NET rates highest#
From O*NET 27-1024.00 (Graphic Designers). Ordered by O*NET's importance rating; the words are O*NET's own scale anchors.
Transferable skills
- Social PerceptivenessImportant
- CoordinationImportant
- Complex Problem SolvingImportant
- Judgment and Decision MakingImportant
- Time ManagementImportant
- PersuasionImportant
- NegotiationImportant
- Service OrientationImportant
Knowledge
- DesignExtremely important
- Computers and ElectronicsVery important
- Fine ArtsVery important
- Communications and MediaVery important
- English LanguageVery important
- Sales and MarketingVery important
Work activities
- Thinking CreativelyExtremely important
- Working with ComputersExtremely important
- Getting InformationExtremely important
- Making Decisions and Solving ProblemsVery important
- Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing WorkVery important
- Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or SubordinatesVery important
Abilities
- OriginalityVery important
- Fluency of IdeasVery important
- Near VisionVery important
- Written ComprehensionVery important
- Oral ComprehensionVery important
- Oral ExpressionVery important
Essential skills
- Active ListeningVery important
- SpeakingImportant
- WritingImportant
- Critical ThinkingImportant
- Active LearningImportant
Our task judgements#
O*NET says what this job demands. It does not say what automation is doing to it — that is what this site's 5 task judgements are for: 2 backed by a verified event, 3 platform inference. VOLO judgement
Sources and rules#
- Four kinds of source, and each block says which: this site's own judgements, O*NET, the U.S. Department of Education's CIP–SOC crosswalk, or something computed mechanically from those. Nothing on this page is a rating we made up.
- O*NET's importance ratings are used only to order and shorten the lists. They are never combined with this site's impact index or evidence counts.
- The fit between our page and an O*NET occupation is our judgement and is stated per code: same job, broader, part of it, or only the closest there is.
- O*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026 release, U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration, CC BY 4.0. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The translations of O*NET descriptors on this page are ours, not O*NET's.