Graphic Design Competition

Overview

Graphic Designers communicate across different platforms and for different purposes -they have the skills to design and handle images and text across a wide range of commercial contexts from print to digital and UX design, posters to motion graphics and animation.

Competitors taking part in this competition should be able to

• Create, analyse and develop a visual response to communication problems, including understanding hierarchy, typography, aesthetics and composition
• Create, manipulate and optimise images for both print and online publishing
• Analyse the target market and the product being delivered
• Create an idea that is appropriate to the target market
• Take into consideration the impact of each element that is added during the design process
• Use all the required elements to create the design
• Respect existing corporate identity guidelines and style guides
• Keep the original design concept and improve the visual appeal
• Adjust and manipulate images to suit the design and technical specifications
• Apply the correct colours to the file
• Use software applications comprehensively and appropriately

How competing has helped Shafia network her career.

The skills you need to demonstrate

Creativity
Good IT skills
Time management
Attention to detail
Design skills
Innovative
Time management
Accuracy

Useful resources

Prepare for competition success

Our library of endorsed local skills competition briefs ‘benchmarking assessments’ helps prepare learners to build technical skills, productivity, and mindset competencies for national competition success, including employability progression pathways.

Paired with the benchmarking tracker, educators can record progress, identifying strengths and target areas for improvement. Together, they offer a reliable, standards-led framework, creating a sustainable model for skills development that supports educators to empower learners to be competition ready.

Access on the Learning Lab

Contact details

belson@ucenmanchester.ac.uk

Entry criteria

This is an individual competition
Competitors must be working towards or recently completed in the last 12 months a Level 3 qualification.
There is no limit to the number of competitors permitted to enter this competition per organisation.
The maximum number of competitors that could progress from the entry stage to the qualifying heats from one (local) organisation is five.
Competitors must be familiar with the core competences in the Technical handbook (these can be found in the ‘Useful resource’ section below).

How it works

1. Register

Registrations open on Monday 2 March 2026, 9am and will close Friday 27 March 2026, midnight.

2. Entry stage

Entry Stage will be released on Monday 2 March with a final deadline of Friday 24 April 2026.

Once you have registered, the project will be provided to you. It is expected that this take should take approximately five hours. Entries must be submitted no later than Friday 24 April 2026.

3. National Qualifiers

National Qualifiers will take place from Thursday 19 March 2026.

4. Training and Development

To help finalists prepare ahead of the UK Final, we will provide relevant technical training and share mindset development techniques, to support them to remain focused on achieving success.

Prepare students and apprentices by engaging with our benchmarking resources to master their skills and mindset masterclasses to build confidence and resilience on the WorldSkills UK Learning Lab.

5. National Finals

The National Finals are scheduled to take place in Wales during the week commencing 16 November 2026.