6 examples · Updated October 2026
Graphic Designer Resume Examples and Samples
A strong graphic designer resume pairs a portfolio link with proof of business results. Put your portfolio URL in the header, name the tools the posting lists, such as Adobe Illustrator, InDesign and Figma, and quantify output, turnaround and campaign or brand outcomes in every bullet.
Graphic Designer resume at a glance
- Best format
- Reverse-chronological, one column, portfolio URL in the header
- Length
- 1 page; 2 pages for art directors, 10+ years
- Top skills
- Brand identity systems, Typography and layout, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Figma
- Key credentials
- None required; live portfolio essential, BFA in graphic design (common), Optional: Adobe Certified Professional
- Median pay
- $62,960 a year ($30.27 an hour)Graphic Designers, BLS 2025 wage data via O*NET
- Job outlook
- Decline (-1% or lower)16,000 openings a year, 2025-2035 projection
6 graphic designer resume examples for 2026
Below are 6 graphic designer resume examples, from recent graduate to design manager. Each graphic designer resume sample downloads as a free Word template and comes with summaries, skills, bullet points, ATS keywords and format rules. Each one is shown at true A4 size and comes with a free single-column Word version. Open any example to read it in full.
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Imani Whitaker
Junior Graphic Designer
Atlanta, GA · imani.whitaker@email.com · (555) 014-3382 · linkedin.com/in/imaniwhitaker · imaniwhitaker.design
About
Junior graphic designer and 2026 BFA graduate with an agency internship, 2 years of part-time freelance label and brand work, and a current contract role producing social, email and signage for 4 agency clients. Builds clean, print-ready files and presents concepts with clear rationale.
Professional Experience
Junior Graphic Designer (Contract), Brasswick & Lowe Creative, Atlanta, GA Jul 2026-Present
- Resize and adapt 60+ paid social and display ads a week to Meta, LinkedIn and Google specs.
- Build print-ready in-store signage and shelf talkers in Illustrator and InDesign, with zero printer preflight rejections to date.
- Set up Figma templates for a client’s weekly promotional email, cutting senior designer production time per send from 3 hours to 1.
- Present 2 concept directions per brief at weekly creative reviews and revise within 24 hours.
Graphic Design Intern, Tallowbrook Design Group, Savannah, GA Summer 2025
- Designed a 24-page nonprofit annual report in InDesign, from grid system and data charts through a press-ready PDF/X-4 export.
- Pitched 3 logo concepts for a coffee roaster rebrand; the client selected one, which the creative director then refined into the final mark.
- Retouched 120 product photos in Photoshop and Lightroom for a boutique’s e-commerce launch.
Freelance Graphic Designer (Part-Time), Self-employed, Savannah, GA 2024-2026
- Designed can labels for 5 seasonal releases at a local craft brewery, managing dielines and print proofs with the can supplier.
- Created menu boards, a loyalty card and social templates for a bakery’s second location.
- Produced posters, programs and lobby signage for 6 campus theater productions, each delivered to the printer before its deadline.
Education
BFA in Graphic Design, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), 2026 · Dean’s List, 5 quarters
Tools & Skills
Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop · Figma and Canva · Brand identity and logos · Typography and layout · Social and display ads · Labels and dielines · Print-ready file prep · Photo retouching · Concept presentation
Selected Student Work
- Senior thesis: identity and wayfinding for a concept regional rail line, juried by faculty and industry
- Type specimen: 32-page hand-bound book shown in the department’s spring exhibition
Why this example works
- Puts the portfolio URL in the header and labels the thesis as concept work, so reviewers know exactly what they are looking at.
- Treats the internship and freelance gigs like jobs, with deliverables, tools and outcomes, so a short history still reads as real design experience.
- Shows production reliability (preflight, revisions within 24 hours) that junior hiring managers value as much as creative talent.
Why this example works
- Lists the studio as one job with clear scale (projects, clients, retainers) instead of 30 tiny gigs that read as job hopping.
- Describes clients by industry, which protects confidentiality and still tells an in-house reviewer what she knows.
- Business skills like scoping, pricing and vendor management show she can run projects, not just design them.
Hector Salinas
Senior Production Artist
Riverside, CA · hector.salinas@email.com · (555) 012-9935 · linkedin.com/in/hectorsalinas · hectorsalinas.design
Profile
Certified G7+ Expert and production artist with 9 years in packaging and commercial print prepress. Builds and preflights mechanicals, dielines and color separations for flexographic, offset and digital presses, and catches file errors before plates are made, even on tight retail deadlines.
Professional Experience
Senior Production Artist, Corsiva Packaging Group, Ontario, CA 2022-Present
- Build and preflight 35-50 packaging mechanicals a week for stand-up pouches, shrink sleeves, labels and folding cartons in Esko ArtPro+ and DeskPack for 12 brand accounts.
- Apply trapping, print distortion and barcode verification to customer art on film and paper substrates, holding the prepress error rate below 0.5% of all jobs in 2025.
- Cut art-to-plate turnaround from 4 days to 2.5 by scripting repeat tasks with Illustrator actions and Esko Automation Engine workflows.
- Train 3 production artists on Pantone spot-color builds and press-side proof approvals.
Production Artist, Brackwater Commercial Printing, Burbank, CA 2019-2022
- Prepared 30+ offset and wide-format jobs a day, imposing signatures and checking resolution, bleed and overprint settings in Enfocus PitStop Pro.
- Calibrated 4 proofing devices to G7 targets, cutting customer color complaints 45%.
- Rebuilt 120 legacy client files as editable InDesign templates, cutting reorder setup time from 45 minutes to 10 for the customer service team.
Prepress Technician, Cobalt Mesa Printing, San Luis Obispo, CA 2017-2019
- Output plates, digital proofs and HP Indigo short-run files for a 2-shift print shop running 15-25 jobs a day, with no missed press slots.
- Checked incoming files against job specs and resolved missing fonts, low-resolution images, RGB color and missing bleed directly with customer designers.
- Kept the Kodak Prinergy job archive and font library intact through a server migration.
Education
BS in Graphic Communication, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 2017
Certifications
Certified G7+ Expert, PRINTING United Alliance, 2026 (G7 Expert since 2020)
Tools & Skills
Esko ArtPro+ and DeskPack · Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat · Enfocus PitStop Pro · Kodak Prinergy · Trapping and distortion · G7 and Pantone color · Barcode verification · Imposition and proofing
Why this example works
- Names the exact prepress stack (Esko, PitStop, Prinergy) and print processes, the keywords packaging and print recruiters filter on.
- Quality metrics like error rate, turnaround and color complaints prove value in a role where mistakes cost a full press run.
- A Certified G7+ Expert credential and a graphic communication degree signal real color-management depth, not just design software skills.
Lucia Restrepo
Graphic Designer, Marketing
Austin, TX · lucia.restrepo@email.com · (555) 016-2047 · linkedin.com/in/luciarestrepo · luciarestrepo.design
Skills & Tools
Summary
In-house graphic designer with 6 years across B2B software marketing, DTC e-commerce and print production. Turns product launches into multichannel campaign systems, adds motion to social and web, and builds accessible templates that keep sales and marketing on brand. Works daily in Figma, Adobe Creative Cloud and Canva.
Professional Experience
Graphic Designer II, Marketing, Brindlewood Software, Austin, TX 2023-Present
- Design campaign systems for 3 product launches a year across paid social, web, email and events, supporting 1,900+ marketing-sourced leads in 2025.
- Animate 8-12 product clips a month in After Effects, raising video completion from 22% to 31%.
- Created a Canva brand kit and 60 locked templates for 45 sales reps, cutting ad hoc design requests to the team by 35%.
- Designed a 20×20-foot trade show booth, signage and handouts for the company’s largest annual conference on a $38K production budget.
Graphic Designer, Pallister Home Goods, Austin, TX 2021-2023
- Designed weekly email and homepage banners for a DTC home-goods brand; A/B-tested hero layouts raised email click-through 14%.
- Art directed 4 product photo shoots, writing shot lists and mood boards and retouching 300+ final images.
- Created holiday gift-box graphics and packaging inserts for 26 SKUs, all shipped on schedule.
Production Designer, Ninebark Print Studio, San Marcos, TX 2020-2021
- Prepared 25-40 print jobs a week for offset and wide-format output, checking bleeds, resolution and spot colors before plating.
- Rewrote the shop’s file-prep guide, cutting incoming files that needed fixes from 1 in 3 to 1 in 8.
- Designed menus, banners and vehicle-wrap layouts for local businesses on 2-day turnarounds.
Education
BFA in Design, The University of Texas at Austin, 2020
Selected Projects
- Launch toolkit: 70-asset campaign system across 6 channels, built from one Figma master file
- Accessibility pass: email and web templates rebuilt to WCAG 2.2 AA contrast and live text
Why this example works
- Names every channel she designs for (social, email, web, events, motion), which is exactly how in-house marketing teams write their postings.
- Ties design to marketing metrics the team already tracks: leads, video completion and click-through rate.
- The print-shop role is framed as an asset, proving she can hand off production files that never come back.
Noah Bergman
Senior Graphic Designer
Portland, OR · noah.bergman@email.com · (555) 013-4458 · linkedin.com/in/noahbergman · noahbergman.design
Profile
Senior graphic designer with 8 years creating brand identities, packaging and campaign systems for consumer and B2B clients at Portland studios. Leads identity projects from research through guidelines and rollout, with strong typography, layout and print production skills in Adobe Creative Cloud and Figma.
Professional Experience
Senior Graphic Designer, Brackenlight Studio, Portland, OR 2021-Present
- Led a regional grocery chain’s rebrand from research to a 60-page guideline system, lifting aided brand-recall survey scores by 28%.
- Design 120+ campaign assets per quarter across web, social, out-of-home and print, at 100% brand-guideline compliance in client audits.
- Built a reusable Figma component library for 3 retainer clients, cutting average turnaround on routine requests from 5 days to 2.
- Mentor 2 junior designers through weekly critiques and file reviews; both were promoted to Graphic Designer within 18 months.
Graphic Designer, Saltmarrow Creative, Portland, OR 2019-2021
- Created packaging and point-of-sale displays for 15 retail SKUs of a natural snack brand, contributing to a 22% lift in shelf engagement.
- Produced email and landing-page visuals for 30+ campaigns, lifting click-through 18%.
- Merged 6 client style guides into one shared template, cutting revision rounds 40%.
Junior Designer, Larchmere Pixel Co., Portland, OR 2018-2019
- Delivered 200+ social graphics in the first year across 5 brand accounts, meeting every scheduled publish date.
- Retouched and color-corrected 500+ product images for print and web, matching approved proofs on every file.
- Built layouts, mockups and motion previews for 3 pitch decks that helped the agency win $250K in new client business.
Education
BFA in Graphic Design, Pacific Northwest College of Art, 2018
Tools & Skills
Brand identity systems · Typography and layout · Packaging and dielines · Campaign and out-of-home · Art direction · Figma component libraries · Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign · Print production · Mentoring and critique
Community
- Volunteer portfolio reviewer, AIGA Portland student portfolio events, 2023-Present
- Pro bono identity and event graphics for a neighborhood food bank fundraiser, 2024
Why this example works
- Pairs every creative deliverable with a result (recall, engagement, turnaround), the proof a creative director cannot get from the portfolio alone.
- Mentoring and guideline ownership show he is ready for a lead or art director role without claiming a title he does not hold.
- Tools named in the skills list and a portfolio URL in the header let recruiters confirm software fit and open the work in seconds.
Why this example works
- States team size, freelance bench and budget in the bullets, the first things a creative director or VP of marketing checks for a manager hire.
- Design operations results (intake time, template consolidation) prove she scales a team, while key projects keep her craft visible.
- A clear path from designer to art director to manager makes the 2-page length earn its space with leadership evidence.
Applying through an online portal? Use the Word download: it is the same resume in a single-column, ATS-safe layout. Keep this two-column design for emailing and networking.
Graphic Designer resume summary examples
Copy the summary that matches your level, then swap in your own numbers, systems and specialties.
Detail-driven junior graphic designer with a BFA in graphic design, a 12-week in-house internship at a sporting goods brand and a portfolio of identity, editorial and social projects. Comfortable in Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop and Figma, with clean print-ready file habits. Seeking a junior designer role on a studio or in-house team with fast feedback loops and room to grow.
Graphic designer with 5 years on an in-house team for a regional health system, producing campaigns across digital ads, email, video and patient print materials. Builds accessible, WCAG 2.2-friendly templates in Figma and InDesign, animates short spots in After Effects, and turns 30+ requests a month around without missing a launch date.
Senior graphic designer with 9 years in brand and campaign design for food, hospitality and consumer tech clients. Leads identity projects from discovery to guidelines, art directs photo and illustration, and mentors 3 junior designers. Strong typographer who keeps brand systems consistent across packaging, out-of-home and digital, with a portfolio of 4 full rebrands.
Freelance graphic designer and illustrator with 7 years serving independent publishers, nonprofits and craft beverage brands. Delivers book covers, labels and brand identities on fixed-fee scopes, manages printers and proofs directly, and keeps a steady base of retainer clients. Looking for a contract or full-time studio role with a focus on publishing and packaging.
Production artist with 6 years in commercial print and point-of-purchase displays. Preflights and imposes 40+ jobs a day, builds structural dielines, and manages spot colors and proofing for offset, digital and large-format presses. Fluent in Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat Pro and PitStop, with a reputation for zero-surprise press checks.
Lead graphic designer with 12 years in agency and in-house roles, now managing a 5-person design team for a national restaurant group. Owns the brand system, menu and packaging programs and a six-figure production budget. Improves output through design operations, from intake forms to Figma libraries, while staying hands-on for flagship campaigns.
Former marketing coordinator moving into graphic design after completing a 9-month graphic design certificate and building a 12-project portfolio. Brings 4 years of campaign coordination, copywriting and stakeholder management, plus working skill in Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop and Figma. Seeking a junior or production designer role on an in-house marketing team.
Want one written around your own experience? Try the free resume summary generator.
Best skills for a graphic designer resume
List the skills the job posting names, in the same wording, and prove the important ones in your experience bullets.
Hard skills
- Brand identity and logo design
- Typography and type hierarchy
- Layout and grid systems
- Color theory and color management
- Packaging design and dielines
- Print production and preflight
- Social, display and email design
- Motion graphics and animation
- Presentation and pitch deck design
- Vector and digital illustration
- Photo retouching and compositing
- Design systems and Figma components
- Accessible design (WCAG 2.2 contrast, alt text, tagged PDFs)
- Brand guidelines and template creation
Soft skills
- Taking and applying critique
- Presenting and defending concepts
- Interpreting creative briefs
- Managing multiple deadlines
- Collaborating with copywriters, marketers and developers
- Attention to detail in final files
- Clear client communication
- Curiosity about the audience and the data
Tools and software
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe InDesign
- Adobe After Effects
- Adobe Acrobat Pro
- Adobe Premiere Pro
- Adobe Firefly
- Figma
- Canva
- Esko ArtPro+ and DeskPack (packaging prepress)
- Adobe Workfront or Asana
- Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides
Certifications
- Adobe Certified Professional in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign or After Effects (Adobe, via Certiport)
- Google UX Design Professional Certificate (Google, via Coursera)
- Certified G7+ Expert, PRINTING United Alliance, formerly Idealliance (print color management)
- Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC), International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP)
Graphic Designer resume bullet point examples
Strong bullets pair an action verb with a specific task and a measurable result. Adapt these to your own numbers.
Brand identity and campaigns
- Designed a visual identity for a 2-branch credit union merger, testing 2 logo options with 400 members and publishing a 48-page brand standards book.
- Created a 12-piece out-of-home campaign for a regional hospital’s new urgent care sites, adapted to billboards, bus shelters and digital screens.
- Designed a wayfinding sign system for a 3-floor community clinic, following ADA Standards for tactile text, Braille, contrast and mounting height.
Digital, social and motion
- Designed a 24-post Instagram carousel series for a regional bank’s financial literacy month, tripling average saves per post versus single-image posts.
- Ran 3 rounds of paid social creative tests a month, retiring low performers and lowering cost per click by 21% over one quarter.
- Designed 40 YouTube thumbnails and end screens for a how-to channel, lifting average thumbnail click-through rate from 4.1% to 6.3%.
Print, packaging and production
- Laid out a 200-page university course catalog in InDesign with data merge, cutting production time from 6 weeks to 3.
- Built dielines and 3D mockups for a 9-SKU skincare line, earning retailer packaging approval on the first submission.
- Bid a 25,000-piece packaging insert run to 3 printers and saved 17% by moving to a standard sheet size with no visible change.
Collaboration, process and accessibility
- Audited a 140-deck sales presentation library for type and grid consistency, rebuilding it as 1 master template with 22 layouts used by 3 sales regions.
- Rebuilt the chart palette for 30 quarterly report templates with color-blind-safe hues, patterns and direct labels, ending reader complaints about unreadable charts.
- Handed off 14 landing pages from Figma with annotated specs for developers, and each one launched within its planned sprint.
Action verbs for a graphic designer resume
Start each bullet with a precise verb instead of “responsible for”.
- Designed
- Conceptualized
- Illustrated
- Typeset
- Art directed
- Rebranded
- Animated
- Retouched
- Composited
- Prototyped
- Mocked up
- Preflighted
- Produced
- Launched
- Standardized
- Systematized
- Streamlined
- Presented
- Pitched
- Collaborated
- Mentored
- Critiqued
- Refined
- Iterated
- Localized
- Adapted
- Audited
- Delivered
Find more by category with the free action verb finder.
Best resume format for a graphic designer
Use a reverse-chronological, single-column graphic designer resume with your portfolio link in the header. Junior, mid-level, senior and freelance designers fit on 1 page; only leads, managers and art directors with 10+ years should use 2. Show taste through type and spacing, not graphics that break ATS parsing.
| Your situation | Format | Length | Lead with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Student or no experience | Hybrid: selected projects above work history | 1 page | Portfolio URL, degree or certificate, 2-3 projects written like jobs |
| Junior graphic designer (0-3 years) | Reverse-chronological | 1 page | Portfolio, core tools, internships and asset volume |
| Mid-level or senior graphic designer (individual contributor) | Reverse-chronological | 1 page | Design focus, brand or campaign results, mentoring |
| Freelance graphic designer | Reverse-chronological, studio as one job entry | 1 page | Project count, client mix, retainers and referrals |
| Production artist | Reverse-chronological | 1 page | Prepress software, print processes, error and turnaround metrics |
| Design manager or art director | Reverse-chronological | 2 pages | Team size, budget, brand systems and campaign outcomes |
| Career changer | Hybrid: summary and projects first | 1 page | Design training, portfolio projects, transferable skills |
Every example above follows these rules. Browse more layouts in our free resume templates.
How to write a graphic designer resume that gets interviews
A graphic designer resume gets interviews when it proves creative craft and the business results behind it. Hiring managers scan for Adobe Creative Cloud, Figma, branding and typography, then look for numbers: output, turnaround, engagement and brand consistency, plus a portfolio link they can open.
Tailor it to your level. A junior or production designer leads with software fluency, asset volume and reliability. A senior or lead designer leads with brand systems, art direction, mentoring and the recall or revenue lifts the work supported.
Write evidence, not a task list. Replace ‘designed marketing materials’ with ‘produced 120+ campaign assets per quarter at 100% brand-guideline compliance’, and write each tool by the exact name recruiters filter for, such as Adobe InDesign rather than ‘Adobe suite’.
What hiring managers look for in a graphic designer resume
Creative directors read a graphic designer resume for three things: the kind of work you do best, the scale you work at, and whether you take feedback and hit deadlines. Each bullet in the strongest graphic design resume examples answers one of those.
- Design focus: brand identity, packaging, campaign, publication, motion or production
- Scale: assets per week or quarter, SKUs, stores, pages or clients
- Process: briefs, concept rounds, critiques, revision limits and handoffs to printers or developers
- Results: engagement, click-through, conversion, recall or approval on first submission
- Portfolio match: the same projects and metrics appear in your case studies
Graphic designer resume with no experience
A graphic designer resume with no paid design experience should lead with your portfolio link, degree or certificate, and 2 to 3 projects written like jobs: the brief, your role, the tools and the outcome.
Internships, freelance gigs, campus design, print shop work and volunteer design for nonprofits all count. If your projects are stronger than your work history, put a Selected Projects section above experience.
Label class and concept work honestly, for example ‘student project’ or ‘concept for a fictional brand’. Reviewers respect it, and it prevents awkward interview questions about clients you never had.
Graphic design resume keywords to include for ATS
Applicant tracking systems match the exact words in a graphic design posting, so mirror its software, deliverables and job title wherever they are true for you. Write each tool by its full name at least once.
- Software: Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, After Effects, Acrobat, Figma, Canva
- Deliverables: brand identity, logo, packaging, signage, social media graphics, email, presentations
- Craft: typography, layout, color theory, grid systems, illustration, photo retouching
- Production: print-ready files, preflight, dielines, CMYK and Pantone, prepress
- Process: creative briefs, brand guidelines, concept development, cross-functional collaboration
Graphic designer resume: what to include vs. what to avoid
| ✓ Include | ✗ Avoid |
|---|---|
| A live portfolio URL in the header, next to your LinkedIn | An over-designed resume that breaks ATS parsing |
| Adobe Creative Cloud and Figma skills, named tool by tool | Listing tools with no work or metrics attached |
| Quantified results (engagement, conversion, recall, turnaround) | Vague duties like ‘created various designs’ |
| Branding, typography and layout strengths tied to real projects | Omitting the portfolio link entirely |
| The scale of your work: assets per week, SKUs, pages, stores or clients | Skill bars, star ratings or percentage meters for software |
| Your design focus in the title or summary (brand, packaging, digital, production) | Text inside images, icon-only headings or text boxes that parsers skip |
| Production skills such as preflight, dielines and export specs | Every project you have ever done instead of your strongest recent work |
| Collaboration proof: creative reviews, briefs and handoffs to printers or developers | Confidential client work shown without permission |
How to write a graphic designer resume
- Open with a portfolio-backed summary. Write 3 to 4 lines naming your design focus (branding, packaging, digital), your years of experience and a headline result, then place your portfolio URL in the header beside LinkedIn so reviewers can open the work immediately.
- List your software and design skills. Group tools (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Figma, After Effects) and disciplines (brand identity, typography, layout) so recruiters and ATS parsers find the right keywords. List only software you could use in a design test tomorrow.
- Quantify your project results. Show impact with numbers, for example ‘Designed 120+ assets per quarter at 100% brand compliance’ or ‘Lifted email CTR 18% across 30 campaigns.’ Volume, turnaround, first-round approvals and engagement all count when you lack revenue data.
- Match the structure to your level. Keep it to 1 page, even as a senior individual contributor, and use 2 pages only for leads, managers and art directors with 10+ years. Juniors can add a Selected Projects section; freelancers list their studio as one job entry.
- Keep the layout ATS-safe. Use a clean, mostly single-column format with real text headings, and let the portfolio carry the heavy visual design so applicant tracking systems can still parse the file. Save as PDF unless the portal asks for Word.
- Curate the portfolio to match. Pick 4 to 6 case studies that fit the job, in the same order your resume tells the story. Each one should show the brief, your role, process sketches and the final result, with the same metrics as your bullets.
- Tailor and test before you apply. Mirror the posting’s job title and tools, swap in your most relevant project bullets, then run the file through an ATS resume checker to confirm every section, date and keyword parses cleanly.
Graphic Designer salary and job outlook
National figures for graphic designers. Use them to benchmark offers, not as a promise for any single job.
Employment is projected to decline slightly (-1% or lower) from 2025 to 2035, but turnover still creates about 16,000 openings each year, so a sharp, targeted resume matters even more.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2025 wage data and 2025-2035 employment projections, via O*NET OnLine, Graphic Designers (27-1024.00). Pay varies by state, employer and experience.
Cover letter tip for a graphic designer
Link two portfolio pieces that match the posting, such as packaging for a food brand or a launch campaign for a software team, and give one result for each. Name the tools the listing asks for, explain your process in one sentence, and offer to walk the creative director through a case study.
Start from our cover letter templates or draft one in seconds with the cover letter generator.
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