Textile designer to textile colourist
A textile designer already meets 80% of what the textile colourist role asks for. The move turns on 2 required skills not yet in the profile.
17.5/ 100
1 How much of what a textile colourist is expected to do is already part of a textile designer’s work. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs, because moving into a speciality is not the same problem as moving out of one. 2 Every skill the textile colourist role is recorded as needing, required and optional together. What these numbers mean.
Why this move works
A textile colourist role treats 9 of its required skills as things a textile designer already does. You would walk in with these on day one.
- design yarns
- develop textile colouring recipes
- draw sketches to develop textile articles
- draw sketches to develop textile articles using softwares
- dyeing technology
- portfolio management in textile manufacturing
What stands in the way is 2 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.
Table 2 · What you already bring
Of the 10 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. A textile colourist role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of a textile designer background worth leading with.
- already held design yarns communication, collaboration and creativity
- already held textile marketing techniques business, administration and law
- already held develop textile colouring recipes handling and moving
- already held draw sketches to develop textile articles communication, collaboration and creativity
- already held portfolio management in textile manufacturing engineering, manufacturing and construction
- already held draw sketches to develop textile articles using softwares working with computers
All 10 carried skills, including the 9 the textile colourist role treats as required.
Table 3 · What you may need to learn
The 3 missing skills fall into 2 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered in the order worth working in. Areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the optional ones. Nothing here is a verdict on you: it is a list of what this particular job asks for that your current one does not.
- still to learn maintain work standards required
- optional, not held conduct textile testing operations optional
- still to learn prepare equipment for textile printing required
Table 4 · Where to start
The 2 entries a textile colourist role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.
Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.
Appendix · The rest of the record
All 10 skills that carry over
- already held design yarns skill
- already held develop textile colouring recipes skill
- already held draw sketches to develop textile articles skill
- already held draw sketches to develop textile articles using softwares skill
- already held dyeing technology knowledge
- already held portfolio management in textile manufacturing knowledge
- already held seek innovation in current practices skill
- already held textile chemistry knowledge
- already held use textile technique for hand-made products skill
- already held textile marketing techniques knowledge
1 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
- optional, not held conduct textile testing operations optional
17 held skills the textile colourist role does not ask for
- not needed by the target role challenging issues in the textile industry knowledge
- not needed by the target role create mood boards skill
- not needed by the target role decorate textile articles skill
- not needed by the target role design management knowledge
- not needed by the target role design warp knit fabrics skill
- not needed by the target role design weft knitted fabrics skill
- not needed by the target role design woven fabrics skill
- not needed by the target role distinguish accessories skill
- not needed by the target role distinguish fabrics skill
- not needed by the target role gather reference materials for artwork skill
- not needed by the target role keep up to date on costume design skill
- not needed by the target role knitting machine technology knowledge
- not needed by the target role measure yarn count skill
- not needed by the target role nonwoven machine technology knowledge
- not needed by the target role properties of textile materials knowledge
- not needed by the target role textile printing technology knowledge
- not needed by the target role use warp knitting technologies skill
Common questions about this move
Can a textile designer become a textile colourist?
Yes, and it is an adjacent move. A textile designer already covers 80% of what a textile colourist is expected to do: 10 skills carry over, 9 of which the textile colourist role treats as required.
What skills does a textile designer need to become a textile colourist?
2 required skills are missing, plus 1 optional ones. They fall into 2 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, led by information skills. The single most important is maintain work standards.
How hard is the move from textile designer to textile colourist?
Its learning distance is 17.5 out of 100, which is the adjacent band. That accounts for both how much is missing and how specialised those skills are.
How this record was compiled
Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.