Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Digital Visual Designer

🎯 Role Definition

The Digital Visual Designer is a creative professional who combines strong visual design sensibility with practical production skills to craft compelling digital experiences. This role owns visual identity execution across web, mobile, social, email and campaign touchpoints, delivers pixel-perfect assets and motion, and partners closely with UX, product, marketing and engineering to ensure brand, accessibility and performance standards are met. Ideal candidates are fluent in design systems and tools (Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, After Effects), have a strong portfolio of digital work, and balance creativity with pragmatic production and cross-functional collaboration.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Junior Graphic Designer with digital experience
Visual Design Intern or Production Designer
Junior UI/UX Designer or Motion Graphics Designer

Advancement To:

Senior Digital Visual Designer
Lead Visual Designer / Art Director
Design Manager or Product Design Lead
Creative Director or Head of Design

Lateral Moves:

UX/Product Designer
Motion Designer / Animations Lead
Brand Designer or Marketing Creative Lead

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead the end-to-end visual design of high-impact digital campaigns and product experiences, translating strategic briefs into pixel-perfect screens, assets and motion treatments that drive user engagement and brand consistency.
Own the visual language for web and mobile product interfaces, including typography systems, color palettes, iconography, spacing, and component styling as part of a scalable design system.
Produce production-ready visual assets (PNG, SVG, WebP, GIF, Lottie) and export specifications for engineering, ensuring correct resolution, file size optimization, responsive variants and browser/device compatibility.
Design and iterate on high-fidelity user interface mockups and prototypes in Figma (or Sketch/Adobe XD), incorporating user feedback and usability testing findings to refine visual solutions.
Create concept art, social graphics, display and native ads, landing pages, email templates and marketing collateral that align with brand strategy and digital performance goals.
Develop motion graphics and short form animations for UI micro-interactions, onboarding, promotional videos and social content using After Effects, Lottie, or equivalent tools to enhance storytelling and conversion.
Maintain and extend component libraries and style guides (tokens, components, patterns) that enable consistent visual output across product and marketing teams.
Lead visual QA and handoff: document design specs, redlines, spacing, assets, and interactive behavior for engineering; verify implementation and iterate on visual polish during sprints.
Collaborate with product managers and UX researchers to understand user needs and business objectives, then design visual solutions that balance aesthetics with usability and accessibility (WCAG).
Translate brand strategy into digital-first visual systems, ensuring consistent brand voice across channels while adapting creative executions for platform-specific constraints.
Run creative reviews and design critiques, incorporate cross-functional feedback, and present visual concepts to stakeholders while advocating for design decisions with data, research and brand principles.
Perform image retouching, compositing and photo editing for hero imagery and campaign visuals, ensuring visual fidelity and on-brand treatment for different channels.
Establish visual performance KPIs for assets (CTR, engagement, conversion) and partner with analytics/marketing to iterate based on quantitative results and A/B testing outcomes.
Architect adaptive and responsive systems for typography, grids and imagery to ensure consistent visual experiences across breakpoints and devices.
Create accessible visuals by designing color-contrasted components, accessible iconography and clear visual hierarchy to meet inclusive design standards.
Prototype motion and interaction details to communicate micro-interactions and transitions to engineers, using time-based specs and Lottie animations where applicable.
Collaborate with front-end engineers to troubleshoot visual edge cases, optimize SVGs and assets for load speed, and align on CSS/HTML behaviors for pixel accuracy.
Manage multiple concurrent projects, prioritizing deliverables, timelines and stakeholder expectations while maintaining high visual quality and brand standards.
Conduct visual audits of existing product areas and marketing materials to identify inconsistencies, propose remediation plans and implement system updates.
Coach and mentor junior designers and interns, providing feedback on visual craft, execution standards and career development within the visual design discipline.
Drive cross-channel campaigns from concept to execution—coordinate with copywriters, marketers, photographers and videographers to ensure cohesive digital storytelling across paid, owned and earned channels.
Research emerging visual trends, tools and technologies (AR/VR, generative design, 3D assets) and evaluate how they can be leveraged to elevate digital experiences and brand differentiation.
Maintain source files and asset libraries with clear naming conventions and version control to streamline reuse, localization and translation of creative assets.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc design requests for internal stakeholders, balancing fast-turn deliverables with long-term brand consistency.
Contribute to the development and documentation of the organization's visual design strategy and design system roadmap.
Collaborate with analytics and marketing teams to translate campaign performance insights into visual iterations and experiments.
Help implement accessibility remediation tasks by updating visual components and documenting accessible design patterns.
Participate in sprint planning, stand-ups and design handoff ceremonies to align on priorities and deliverables with product and engineering.
Assist creative operations by tagging, organizing and optimizing the digital asset library for easier retrieval and localization.
Conduct periodic visual health checks across product surfaces to ensure component parity with the design system and flag regressions.
Support photo and video shoots by providing art direction, shot lists and post-production guidance to maintain on-brand visual outputs.
Facilitate workshops with cross-functional stakeholders to bake visual direction into early concepting and product roadmaps.
Provide estimations for visual tasks, manage timelines with project managers and escalate risks impacting creative delivery.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Expert-level proficiency with Figma (components, variants, prototypes) and strong fluency in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign).
Motion design and animation skills with After Effects, Bodymovin/Lottie, and GPU-friendly export workflows for web and mobile.
Experience building and maintaining design systems, including creating tokens, components, responsive grids and documentation.
Strong UI craft: typography, color theory, composition, iconography, visual hierarchy and spacing for digital interfaces.
Practical knowledge of HTML/CSS and responsive layout principles to collaborate with front-end developers and deliver feasible designs.
Ability to produce production-ready assets: SVG optimization, image compression, retina assets, delivery-ready animations and correct export specs.
Prototyping skills using Figma, Principle, Framer, or similar tools to communicate interactions and micro-transitions.
Familiarity with accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1), color contrast tools and designing inclusive visual experiences.
Photo retouching, compositing, and asset preparation for high-impact hero imagery and campaign visuals.
Experience with motion and media formats for social and programmatic advertising, including knowledge of platform constraints and best practices.
Working knowledge of version control and asset management systems (Abstract, Zeplin, JIRA, Confluence, DAM tools).
Basic understanding of SEO-friendly visual content practices (image alt text awareness, responsive image strategies, lightweight formats).

Soft Skills

Strong communication and presentation skills to articulate visual rationale and influence stakeholders.
Collaborative mindset and proven ability to work cross-functionally with product, engineering, marketing and research teams.
Exceptional attention to detail and commitment to visual polish, consistency and quality control.
Time management and project planning skills to handle multiple simultaneous projects and deadlines.
Creative problem-solving and conceptual thinking with a bias for experimentation and continuous improvement.
Empathy for users and an evidence-driven approach to iterate visuals based on user research and analytics.
Receptive to feedback and able to provide constructive critique during design reviews.
Leadership and mentoring abilities to develop junior designers and foster a culture of visual excellence.
Adaptability to changing priorities, shifting business objectives and emergent technical constraints.
Stakeholder management and negotiation skills to align design goals with business needs.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience in Graphic Design, Visual Communication, Interaction Design, Digital Media, or a related field.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s or Master’s in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Visual Arts, or related discipline with coursework in digital design, motion graphics, and front-end fundamentals.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Graphic Design
Interaction Design / UI Design
Visual Communications
Digital Media / Multimedia Design
Motion Graphics / Animation

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3–7 years of focused experience in digital visual design, product design, or motion graphics roles.

Preferred: 5+ years of demonstrable experience designing for digital products and marketing channels, owning visual systems or design systems, and delivering motion and production-ready assets at scale. Portfolio must showcase responsive UI work, motion examples, and cross-channel campaign executions.