Design occupation codes in Australia: why the title you pick changes which visa you can reach

Four titles, one unit group, and only one of them without employer sponsorship

Graphic Designer, Illustrator, Multimedia Designer and Web Designer sit in the same ANZSCO unit group, 2324, and read almost like paraphrases of each other on the page. VETASSESS treats them as four distinct occupations with four distinct visa footprints, and it says so explicitly: each of the four pages lists the other three as occupations "not considered under this ANZSCO code." Graphic Designer excludes Illustrator, Multimedia Designer, Web Designer, Industrial Designer, Advertising Specialist and Multimedia Specialist. Illustrator excludes Graphic Designer, Multimedia Designer, Web Designer and Performing Arts Technicians nec. The other two carry equally specific lists.

The part that changes what nominating the wrong one actually costs: Graphic Designer sits on the STSOL only. It has no CSOL listing, so it cannot reach the employer-sponsored 186 or 482 visas at all — only 190, 407, 491 and 494 are open to it. Illustrator, Multimedia Designer and Web Designer all carry CSOL and reach 186 and 482. So the most commonly known title of the four — the one most people reach for first — is also the only one without a direct employer-sponsored route, even though the actual work can look the same from the outside.

The UX/UI trap sits inside the Graphic Designer page itself

VETASSESS does not leave this to guesswork. Graphic Designer's own page carries a direct warning: "For applicants who do not hold a highly relevant qualification, do not have any previous employment experience in graphic design, and are currently working as a UX or UI Designer, they are unlikely to be considered under Graphic Designer." UI/UX Designer is instead listed as a suitable title under Web Designer.

That page draws a second line, this time against a different assessing authority altogether. Web Designer's own text says relevant studies "cover the user experience aspects of website design, rather than software development," and goes further: "A qualification with a major in IT (e.g. Computer Systems and Networks, Software Design, Database and Information Systems), without core design subjects, will not be assessed as highly relevant." Someone who builds websites for a living may genuinely sit under Web Designer (VETASSESS) or an ICT code (assessed by ACS, a separate authority) depending on which side of that design/development line their actual qualification and duties fall on — and Web Designer's exclusion list names "Web Developer" specifically, so the two are not interchangeable.

Fashion, Industrial and Jewellery Designer — the 2323 group's own internal split

One unit group over, the same pattern repeats on a smaller scale. Fashion Designer excludes Industrial Designer, Jewellery Designer, Apparel Cutter and Clothing Patternmaker. Industrial Designer excludes Fashion Designer and Jewellery Designer. Jewellery Designer excludes Fashion Designer, Industrial Designer, and — separately — Jeweller, described as roles "primarily focused on examining designs to make jewellery, repairing, crafting objects out of precious metals, or cutting, shaping and polishing rough gemstones." Designing jewellery and making it are two different ANZSCO codes, even when one person does both.

Here the visa consequence sits with only one member of the trio: Jewellery Designer alone carries CSOL, reaching 186 and 482. Fashion Designer and Industrial Designer are STSOL-only, same as Graphic Designer — no employer-sponsored route under either code, regardless of the employer.

Interior Designer and Interior Decorator are a full VETASSESS tier apart

In Australian industry, "interior designer" and "interior decorator" are used as though they were the same job. VETASSESS does not treat them that way. Interior Designer (232511) is a Group B occupation — an AQF Bachelor degree or higher — with STSOL and CSOL reach into 186, 190, 407, 482, 491 and 494. Interior Decorator (399912) is Group C: "a qualification assessed as comparable to the educational level of an Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) Diploma or higher." One tier below, on the Regional Occupation List only, reaching just the 494.

Each page names the other as an excluded occupation: Interior Designer excludes Architect, Architectural Draftsperson, Architectural, Building and Surveying Technicians nec, Interior Decorator, Civil Engineering Draftsperson and Visual Merchandisers. Interior Decorator excludes Interior Designer, Architectural Draftsperson, Visual Merchandiser and Furniture Designer.

The mistake only runs one useful direction. A Diploma-qualified decorator nominating Designer will not clear the Bachelor-level Group B bar. A Bachelor-qualified designer nominating Decorator clears Group C's lower bar easily — and in doing so gives up STSOL, CSOL and 186/482 reach for nothing, since the higher tier was already within reach on the same qualification.

Six years of unrelated employment still sits on top of the degree, never instead of it

Nine of these eleven codes are VETASSESS Group B occupations, and all nine share the same four-pathway structure. Pathway 1 asks for a highly relevant Bachelor plus one year of matching employment. Pathway 2 accepts a less relevant Bachelor plus an additional relevant Diploma plus two years. Pathway 3 accepts a less relevant Bachelor with no extra diploma plus three years. Pathway 4 is the widest door: a Bachelor "with or without a highly relevant major field of study," set against at least six years of employment at an appropriate skill level, including at least one year of highly relevant employment in the last five years.

What none of the four pathways do is drop the Bachelor-level qualification itself. Pathway 4 lets the field of the degree stop mattering. It never lets the degree stop being required. That distinction matters most for Author, whose own ANZSCO unit-group description says the occupation demands high levels of creative talent or personal commitment "as well as, or in place of, formal qualifications and experience" — a description that reads as an experience-only door. VETASSESS's own Group B structure does not open one. A self-published or self-taught writer with no Bachelor qualification, however long the body of work, does not have a route through Author on experience alone.

Photographer's Assistant is the exception in this family, and it sits at a different VETASSESS tier entirely — Group F, the lowest here. One of its pathways drops the relevant-field requirement in exchange for four years of employment, with no Bachelor or equivalent required at all. It is the one genuinely qualification-optional door among the eleven codes.

Portfolios, and the heavier evidence load that comes with freelance work

Every design occupation in this family — Fashion Designer, Industrial Designer, Jewellery Designer, Graphic Designer, Illustrator, Multimedia Designer, Web Designer and Interior Designer/Decorator — requires a portfolio or samples of design work as part of the assessment, capped at 5MB per sample on several of the pages. Author and Photographer's Assistant carry no such requirement on their own pages.

A separate evidence gap sits with how the work was done rather than what it was. VETASSESS's general eligibility page describes a Statement of Service as "a written statement by your employer confirming your employment on official letterhead" and accepts payslips, tax records or bank statements as payment evidence for a salaried applicant. Self-employed and freelance applicants — common across this entire family, not the exception in it — face a longer list on top: sole-trading or business registration details, a statement from a registered accountant or legal professional, a statutory declaration listing main duties during self-employment, and invoices matched against bank statements rather than a single employer letter. Someone who has spent a design career as a sole trader needs to plan for that documentation early, not assemble it after the case is already underway.

Is Graphic Designer the same occupation as Illustrator, Multimedia Designer or Web Designer?

No. All four sit in the same ANZSCO unit group and can look interchangeable from a job title, but VETASSESS assesses them as four separate occupations, and each one's page lists the other three as occupations "not considered under this ANZSCO code." The practical difference that matters most: Graphic Designer is on the STSOL only, with no route to the employer-sponsored 186 or 482 visas, while Illustrator, Multimedia Designer and Web Designer all carry CSOL and reach both.

I work in UX/UI design. Which occupation code applies?

VETASSESS's own Graphic Designer page states that applicants without a highly relevant qualification or graphic-design employment history who currently work as a UX or UI Designer are unlikely to be considered under that code, and lists UI/UX Designer as a suitable title under Web Designer instead. Whether Web Designer or an ICT code assessed by a different authority, ACS, fits better depends on whether the underlying qualification and duties sit on the design/UX side or the software-development side.

What is the real difference between Interior Designer and Interior Decorator?

The two titles are used interchangeably in Australian industry, but VETASSESS assesses them a full tier apart. Interior Designer (232511) is Group B, requiring an AQF Bachelor degree or higher, with STSOL and CSOL reach into 186, 190, 407, 482, 491 and 494. Interior Decorator (399912) is Group C, requiring an AQF Diploma or higher, and sits on the Regional Occupation List only, reaching just the 494. Each page names the other as an excluded occupation.

Does experience alone ever replace the qualification for a design occupation?

Not under the Group B structure that covers nine of these eleven codes. Pathway 4 allows a Bachelor degree in an unrelated field to count, in exchange for at least six years of employment including one year highly relevant in the last five — but the Bachelor-level qualification itself is still required in every pathway. Photographer's Assistant is the exception: it sits at VETASSESS's lower Group F tier, and one of its pathways drops the relevant-field requirement in exchange for four years of employment, with no equivalent qualification required.

Do all of these occupations need a portfolio?

The design occupations do — Fashion Designer, Industrial Designer, Jewellery Designer, Graphic Designer, Illustrator, Multimedia Designer, Web Designer and Interior Designer/Decorator each require a portfolio or samples of completed work. Author and Photographer's Assistant carry no such requirement on their own VETASSESS pages.

Is the evidence different for a self-employed or freelance designer?

Yes, and the difference is substantial. A salaried applicant's employer-letterhead Statement of Service is a single document. A self-employed applicant needs sole-trading or business registration details, a statement from a registered accountant or legal professional, a statutory declaration listing their main duties during self-employment, and invoices matched against bank statements as payment evidence. Freelance and contract work is common across this family, so this heavier evidence load is the norm here, not an edge case.