This is a guest blog post by Jo Thomson. Jo is a Senior Designer at Pan Macmillan Publishers. Before working in publishing, Jo was a designer at design studio Stylorouge where she worked on a range of projects with clients including EMI, Universal and Cancer Research.

1. Communication

A designer needs to be able to interpret a brief and that means being able to discuss it and listen to the feedback given. Good presentation and negotiation skills are pretty handy for getting to a solution that everyone is happy with.

2. A thick skin

Design is pretty subjective, not everyone is going to like what you design and you will come across a lot of people who are more than willing to let you know that. It’s not personal, it’s just taste. A designer needs to be able to take criticism from clients and colleagues and use it to make their designs stronger without taking it as a blow.

3. Collaborate

There are so many hugely talented creatives out there! Whether working with other designers, illustrators or even people in a completely different field, collaboration is a great way to really open up a project.

4. Know your software

Having a good working knowledge of Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign is pretty essential as a designer.  An understanding of HTML and CSS is also becoming more of key skill for designers to have. The more software you can use comfortably, the easier it will be to push your designs.

5. Creativity

This is a the key attribute a designer should have. It’s an ability to see a problem and be able to visualise and communicate a solution through design.

Join a fun debate around the importance of both marketing and design in the publishing process in London on November 2nd. Tickets here.