Designer Cover Letter

You may have a strong design portfolio, but do you know how to articulate your design skills and experience in your cover letter? Convince employers you’re the perfect person to enhance the aesthetic or usability of their digital products, and your job application is sure to impress.

Use these three tips to write a designer cover letter that shows employers that you’re uniquely qualified for the job:

1. Highlight your designer skills

Jobs in digital design encompass various roles, including UI/UX designer, graphic designer, and product designer. An impressive designer cover letter highlights your relevant design experience, creative thinking, visual skills, and knowledge of how to enhance the end-user experience.

To prove you’re a worthwhile candidate, describe your past experience as a designer in the second and third paragraphs of your cover letter and include a mix of essential hard and soft skills. Be sure to showcase job-specific skills so employers can see you’re a perfect match. For example, if you’re applying to be a UX designer, mention fundamental hard skills for UX design like HTML, CSS, and Adobe Photoshop.

To effectively highlight key designer technical skills in your cover letter, list them in bullet points like this:

Some of my design-related skills include:

• Expertise in print and digital graphic design, website design, UX and UI, packaging design, brand creation, and interactive media

Here are important designer skills to include in your cover letter:

2. Open with a strong introduction

Although there’s an increasing demand for digital designers, design-related jobs are competitive. Begin your cover letter with an attention-grabbing introduction to pique the interest of hiring managers who have countless creatives to consider.

Here’s how to write an effective designer cover letter introduction:

• Convey enthusiasm for the job. When hiring for a designer, employers want to work with people who are driven, productive, and easy to work with. State what interests you most about the opportunity so they can see you have the passion to handle the stress that comes with design — from managing several projects and meeting tight deadlines to being receptive of clients’ feedback.
• Research the company and use this information to customize your key selling points. Because designers are responsible for visually communicating a brand, a strong candidate is already familiar with a company’s branding efforts and focuses on proving they can create user-centric designs that appeal to the audience.
• Provide an example of your greatest achievement as a designer to highlight your job-specific skills. For example, ”My background encompasses a distinctive track record in increasing brand awareness, improving user experience, leading conceptual innovation, and facilitating productive team collaborations.”

3. Emphasize your user research skills

As a designer, your design skills are vital for helping companies achieve their business goals — from designing attractive product packaging to cultivating a seamless end-user experience.

Because most job applicants already meet basic requirements, it isn’t enough to simply show employers you have the right skill-set. To convince employers you’re the right person for the job, emphasize your user research skills to assure them you can combine your visual skills with user empathy to create user-centric designs.

For example, if you’re applying to be a graphic designer at an advertising agency, here’s a great way to highlight your ability to improve consumer engagement

In my current role as Senior Graphic Designer at XYZ Company, I lead multiple design projects for a diverse range of clients, while simultaneously working closely with in-house teams to enhance brand identity and consumer engagement.