How long should you be a junior designer?

You should be a junior designer for about three to five years before becoming a senior graphic designer. A person will start their career in graphic design either by learning the principles themselves or enrolling in a graphic design course.

How To Become A Junior Designer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a junior designer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Experts

Bill Darcy,

Jessa Wilcoxen

A Junior Designer's role as an employee or a freelancer within a company or institution is to create and execute designs usually meant to advertise a brand and promote an event, a product, a service, or so on. An individual in this position has different levels and quantities of responsibilities and tasks.

Some are given more freedom, and some are kept under a more watchful of a senior Designer. Generally speaking, though, the job asks them to put forward ideas and graphics, execute some of these projects, and work on edits and other details.

A candidate for this position doesn't necessarily need any college education. A strong digital portfolio that shows a good understanding of typography, color theory, and general design skills is necessary.

What general advice would you give to a Junior Designer?

Bill Darcy

CEO, National Kitchen & Bath Association

This year has thrown curveballs at us like never before, and the job market is just one of the areas that has been upended," said Bill Darcy, NKBA CEO. "One thing the pandemic has proven is that our homes are multitasking more than ever - like home office, home school, gym, spa - and our kitchens are getting quite a workout, as the family's central hub and gathering space. People are anxious to remodel, so they may customize their spaces to accommodate these new needs. This is one sector where business is robust, and many of our NKBA designer and remodeler members can't keep up with the volume of work. So, entering the workforce in a design or remodeling capacity holds a great deal of promise. Work and jobs are plentiful - and our research shows that design, construction and remodeling activity is likely to continue well into next year and beyond. Of course, no one can predict the course the pandemic might take or other factors might affect the economy, but I would suggest that this is an excellent time to explore internships and apprenticeships in the skilled trades, because these professional pathways, as well as kitchen, bath and interior design, are likely to yield solid opportunities for the foreseeable future.

ScoreJunior DesignerUS Average

Salary

4.2

Avg. Salary $53,349

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

4.2

Growth Rate 3%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.37%

Asian 10.42%

Black or African American 3.42%

Hispanic or Latino 10.63%

Unknown 4.99%

White 70.17%

Gender

female 49.65%

male 50.35%

Age - 37

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 37

Stress Level

4.2

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.5

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

3.9

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a junior designer

Explore junior designer education requirements

Most common junior designer degrees

Bachelor's

74.9 %

Associate

16.0 %

Master's

5.0 %

Start to develop specific junior designer skills

Skills	Percentages
Sketch	10.19%
Graphic Design	9.47%
Adobe Creative Suite	8.22%
Revit	4.81%
Design Projects	4.66%

Complete relevant junior designer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New junior designers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a junior designer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real junior designer resumes.

Gain additional junior designer certifications

Junior designer certifications can show employers you have a baseline of knowledge expected for the position. Certifications can also make you a more competitive candidate. Even if employers don't require a specific junior designer certification, having one may help you stand out relative to other applicants.

The most common certifications for junior designers include Certified Interior Designer (NCIDQ) and LEED Green Associate.

More About Certifications

Research junior designer duties and responsibilities

Manage the website and twitter page, write the blog posts and attend numerous fashion shows and sample sale rooms.
Coordinate REVIT teaching for inner office/branches.
Utilize PowerPoint to create furniture, lighting and final material selection presentations for client meetings.
Create PowerPoint templates to be used by clients or other upper management in proposals or live shows.

Prepare your junior designer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your junior designer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a junior designer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Junior Designer Resume templates

Build a professional Junior Designer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Junior Designer resume.