Graphic Design Contract Job Trends

Graphic Design
UK

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Graphic Design in contract job vacancies. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Graphic Design over the 6 months leading up to 5 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 554 529 563
Rank change year-on-year -25 +34 +184
Contract jobs citing Graphic Design 23 32 41
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.063% 0.089% 0.091%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 0.18% 0.28% 0.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 9 18 24
10th Percentile £265 £235 £233
25th Percentile £350 £264 £263
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £323 £313
Median % change year-on-year +39.53% +3.20% -40.48%
75th Percentile £545 £388 £470
90th Percentile £560 £400 £548
UK excluding London median daily rate £438 £243 £301
% change year-on-year +80.41% -19.50% -51.80%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 1 2
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £27.03 - -
Median hourly rate £28.09 £31.62 £45.21
Median % change year-on-year -11.16% -30.06% +86.45%
75th Percentile £29.16 - -
90th Percentile - - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.09 - £45.21
% change year-on-year - - +86.45%

All Generic Skills
UK

Graphic Design falls under the General and Transferable Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring generic IT skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 12,931 11,393 14,235
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 35.43% 31.54% 31.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,047 6,740 9,522
10th Percentile £275 £281 £270
25th Percentile £406 £413 £415
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £538 £550
Median % change year-on-year -6.98% -2.27% -
75th Percentile £628 £663 £670
90th Percentile £738 £788 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 658 371 494
10th Percentile £13.50 £16.85 £16.72
25th Percentile £18.22 £22.50 £20.50
Median hourly rate £26.89 £34.50 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -22.06% -18.82% +21.43%
75th Percentile £56.19 £65.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £75.16 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.75 £32.50 £45.21
% change year-on-year -17.69% -28.11% +53.25%

Graphic Design
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Graphic Design relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Graphic Design job vacancy trend in the UK

Graphic Design
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Graphic Design.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Graphic Design

Graphic Design
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Graphic Design over the 6 months to 5 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Graphic Design in the UK

Graphic Design
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Graphic Design.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Graphic Design

Graphic Design
Top 9 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Graphic Design within the UK over the 6 months to 5 December 2025. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England -42 18 £425 +32.81% 15
UK excluding London -47 11 £438 +80.41% 16
London -1 9 £440 +37.50%
West Midlands -23 7 £450 - 4
Midlands -27 7 £450 - 4
Work from Home -1 4 £425 +30.77% 6
Scotland +8 3 - -
North West -20 1 £223 +11.50%
North of England -42 1 £223 +11.50% 2

Graphic Design
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 6 (26.09%) SharePoint
2 3 (13.04%) CMS
3 1 (4.35%) Umbraco
Applications
1 11 (47.83%) Adobe Illustrator
1 11 (47.83%) Photoshop
2 5 (21.74%) InDesign
2 5 (21.74%) MS Visio
3 3 (13.04%) Adobe After Effects
3 3 (13.04%) Adobe Creative Suite
3 3 (13.04%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (8.70%) Adobe Premiere
4 2 (8.70%) InVision
4 2 (8.70%) Microsoft Office
4 2 (8.70%) Sketch
5 1 (4.35%) Adobe XD
5 1 (4.35%) Microsoft Excel
5 1 (4.35%) Microsoft Project
Cloud Services
1 5 (21.74%) Lucidchart
2 4 (17.39%) Power Platform
3 3 (13.04%) Adobe Creative Cloud
3 3 (13.04%) Figma
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (17.39%) Power BI
1 4 (17.39%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 5 (21.74%) JIRA
2 2 (8.70%) Axure RP
2 2 (8.70%) Balsamiq
3 1 (4.35%) Git
General
1 10 (43.48%) Social Skills
2 5 (21.74%) Analytical Skills
2 5 (21.74%) Manufacturing
2 5 (21.74%) Marketing
3 4 (17.39%) Public Sector
4 3 (13.04%) Publishing
5 1 (4.35%) Music Industry
5 1 (4.35%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 11 (47.83%) Designer
2 6 (26.09%) Graphic Designer
3 4 (17.39%) Content Manager
3 4 (17.39%) Training Manager
4 2 (8.70%) Interaction Designer
4 2 (8.70%) Junior
4 2 (8.70%) Junior Designer
4 2 (8.70%) Junior Graphic Designer
4 2 (8.70%) Senior
4 2 (8.70%) Senior Designer
4 2 (8.70%) Senior Graphic Designer
5 1 (4.35%) Analyst
5 1 (4.35%) Art Director
5 1 (4.35%) Audio Visual Engineer
5 1 (4.35%) Business Analyst
5 1 (4.35%) Service Designer
5 1 (4.35%) Systems Engineer
5 1 (4.35%) Technical Writer
5 1 (4.35%) UI Designer
5 1 (4.35%) Visual Designer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (4.35%) HTML
Miscellaneous
1 6 (26.09%) e-Learning
2 3 (13.04%) PMI
2 3 (13.04%) Product Ownership
2 3 (13.04%) Social Media
3 2 (8.70%) Management Information System
3 2 (8.70%) Self-Motivation
3 2 (8.70%) Video Editing
4 1 (4.35%) Animation
4 1 (4.35%) Digital Signage
4 1 (4.35%) NHS
4 1 (4.35%) Team-Oriented Environment
Operating Systems
1 1 (4.35%) Linux
1 1 (4.35%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 9 (39.13%) User Experience
2 7 (30.43%) Agile
2 7 (30.43%) Problem-Solving
3 6 (26.09%) Typography
4 5 (21.74%) Cybersecurity
5 4 (17.39%) Business Intelligence
5 4 (17.39%) Prototyping
5 4 (17.39%) Storytelling
6 3 (13.04%) Business Strategy
6 3 (13.04%) Creative Problem-Solving
6 3 (13.04%) Creative Strategy
6 3 (13.04%) Creative Thinking
6 3 (13.04%) Information Architecture
6 3 (13.04%) Interaction Design
6 3 (13.04%) Strategic Thinking
6 3 (13.04%) Time Management
6 3 (13.04%) User Research
6 3 (13.04%) UX Design
7 2 (8.70%) AI
7 2 (8.70%) Asset Management
Qualifications
1 5 (21.74%) Degree
2 4 (17.39%) Security Cleared
3 3 (13.04%) PMI Certification
4 2 (8.70%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (13.04%) Accessibility
2 1 (4.35%) Disclosure Scotland
2 1 (4.35%) GDPR
System Software
1 1 (4.35%) Virtual Servers
Vendors
1 8 (34.78%) Adobe
2 3 (13.04%) Microsoft