Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Advertising Designer

🎯 Role Definition

The Advertising Designer is a creative and production-focused designer responsible for conceptualizing, designing, and delivering high-performing advertising assets across digital and traditional channels. This role requires a blend of strong visual design, art direction, ad-ops awareness, and hands-on production skills to execute campaigns for display, social, video, programmatic, OOH, and print. The Advertising Designer partners with creative directors, copywriters, account teams, media planners and developers to produce on-brand, conversion-focused creative that meets technical ad spec requirements and campaign KPIs.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Junior Graphic Designer (Digital/Print)
Production Artist or Creative Studio Coordinator
Marketing Coordinator with a visual design portfolio

Advancement To:

Senior Advertising Designer
Art Director (Advertising)
Creative Lead / Design Manager
Group Art Director or Associate Creative Director

Lateral Moves:

Motion Designer / Animator
UI/UX Designer
Brand Designer
Ad Operations Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead the end-to-end design and production of advertising creative for multi-channel campaigns, including display banners (HTML5 and GIF), social media ads (Facebook/Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn), video assets, native ads, email headers, and print collateral, ensuring each asset is optimized for platform-specific specifications and performance.
Translate creative briefs and campaign objectives into compelling visual concepts, moodboards, and layouts that align with brand strategy and campaign KPIs (CTR, CVR, CPA, viewability).
Collaborate closely with copywriters, art directors, and client stakeholders to iterate on concepts, produce polished mockups, and present design rationale that clearly ties creative choices to business outcomes.
Produce high-fidelity ad concepts and deliverables using Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign), Figma or Sketch for layout, and After Effects/Premiere for motion/video execution.
Build and animate HTML5 and rich media banners using Google Web Designer, Greensock (GSAP), or hand-coded HTML5/CSS/JS when required, ensuring cross-browser/device compatibility and file size optimization.
Create storyboards and animatics for video and motion projects; produce or supervise motion graphics, transitions, and sound design for social and pre-roll video ads.
Generate campaign asset variations and A/B test creative elements (headlines, CTAs, imagery, layout) to support optimization and iterative improvement based on performance data.
Prepare print-ready files and dielines for OOH and POS materials, coordinating with production vendors, printers, and traffic managers to ensure correct color profiles, bleed, and final proofs.
Maintain and enforce brand guidelines across all ad units, including typography, color palette, iconography, imagery, and tone of voice, ensuring visual consistency across channels and markets.
Manage the ad asset production calendar, prioritize tasks, and deliver high-quality creative on schedule while balancing multiple concurrent campaigns and fast turnarounds.
Optimize exported assets for file size and performance (compressing images, minifying HTML5 assets, reducing animation weight) while preserving visual fidelity and accessibility.
Collaborate with ad operations and trafficking teams to QA creatives, validate click-tracking, ensure correct ad tags and URLs, and troubleshoot rendering issues across ad servers and publishing platforms.
Maintain organized source files, version control, and an asset library of templates, components, and brand assets to improve efficiency and reuse across campaigns.
Source, art-direct, and edit photography, illustrations or stock imagery; perform retouching and color correction to meet creative and brand standards.
Provide design support for landing pages and ad creative integration, coordinating with web developers to ensure visual fidelity and responsive behavior across devices.
Advocate for accessibility and usability best practices in ad design, including legible type sizes, sufficient contrast, and clear CTA placement to improve reach and inclusivity.
Keep current with advertising design trends, new ad formats (e.g., interactive banners, shoppable ads), platform creative specs, and emerging technologies, proposing innovative creative approaches to improve engagement.
Present creative concepts to internal stakeholders and external clients, incorporating feedback and negotiating scope to align expectations with production realities.
Track creative performance and partner with data/analytics teams to understand what works, then incorporate learnings into future creative iterations and style guides.
Create and apply modular design systems and templates to accelerate production while allowing for campaign-level customization.
Ensure legal and compliance requirements are met in ad creative (disclosures, trademark usage, claims substantiation) by coordinating reviews with legal and compliance teams.
Mentor junior designers and production artists, conduct design reviews, share best practices, and elevate studio quality and consistency.
Monitor budgets for production art and freelance resources; scope and coordinate external vendors (illustrators, animators, photographers) when specialized skills are required.
Build and maintain cross-functional relationships with account management, media planning, developers, and analytics to ensure creative is aligned to media plans, targeting strategies and technical constraints.

Secondary Functions

Support post-campaign creative audits and asset archiving to inform future creative playbooks and efficiency improvements.
Assist in the onboarding and training of new designers on brand systems, ad specs, and production processes.
Contribute to the evolution of the creative studio’s tooling, templates, and workflow automation to reduce manual handoffs and increase throughput.
Help develop photographer/illustrator briefs, scout talent, and coordinate shoot logistics when original imagery is required for campaigns.
Participate in sprint planning or weekly production stand-ups with creative operations and account teams to prioritize workload and unblock production bottlenecks.
Represent the design team in cross-functional meetings to translate creative constraints into technical requirements and vice versa.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Advanced proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign.
Motion design and video editing skills: After Effects, Premiere Pro, or equivalent.
Experience creating HTML5 rich media and animated banner ads using Google Web Designer, Greensock (GSAP) or hand-coded HTML/CSS/JavaScript.
Familiarity with design and collaboration tools: Figma, Sketch, Zeplin, or Adobe XD.
Knowledge of digital ad specifications and platforms (Google Ads, DV360, Facebook Ads, The Trade Desk, ad servers like DoubleClick/Google Ad Manager).
Strong typography, grid, and layout skills for both digital and print output.
Image editing and retouching expertise, including color correction and compositing.
Understanding of responsive/adaptive design principles and how creatives render across devices.
Experience with A/B test creative iterations and using performance insights to guide design decisions.
File preparation and production for print: color separations, dielines, bleed, CMYK/PMS matching.
Basic knowledge of accessibility best practices for digital content and ad creatives.
Version control and asset management skills; familiarity with cloud storage and naming conventions.

Soft Skills

Excellent visual communication and storytelling with the ability to articulate design decisions to non-design stakeholders.
Strong collaboration skills, working effectively with cross-functional teams including account managers, developers, media planners and analytics.
Time management and prioritization under tight deadlines and fast-paced agency or in-house team environments.
Attention to detail and quality orientation, especially in production and handoff to ad ops or printers.
Problem-solving mindset with the ability to troubleshoot rendering and technical ad issues quickly.
Adaptability to changing priorities and campaign pivots while maintaining design excellence.
Client-facing confidence to present creative work, receive feedback, and negotiate scope constructively.
Mentorship and coaching skills to support junior designers and elevate team craft.
Data-informed creativity: openness to performance metrics and iterating creative based on results.
Strong organizational skills and process discipline to maintain templates, libraries, and project documentation.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Associate degree or Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design, Visual Communication, Advertising, or a related creative field — OR equivalent practical experience plus a strong portfolio.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design, Advertising, Visual Communication, or Interaction Design.
Certifications in motion design, HTML5 ad development, or relevant platform courses (Google Marketing Platform, Meta Blueprint) are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Graphic Design
Visual Communication
Advertising / Marketing
Interaction / UX Design
Multimedia or Motion Graphics

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2–5 years of professional experience producing advertising creative across digital and print channels.

Preferred: 4–7+ years for senior roles or agency backgrounds with a proven portfolio demonstrating multi-channel campaigns, HTML5/rich media execution, motion graphics, and collaborative production with ad ops and media teams.