A Design Salary Perspective — What can you expect to make?
In putting DE$IGN together I’ve decided to share selections of content via Medium in the hopes of gaining interest as wells feedback while I’m writing the book. For more information check out the original post.
This slice of design pie is based on SALARIES! I’ve put together some of the most common titles from design job searches and job boards. Hopefully you’ll get some perspective on how the United States values creatives in relation to the good old bottom line. Take some time and cross reference these numbers with your life goals and aspirations, you’ll find they may not quite fit… as many find after years in the business!
For some perspective, a 2010 Princeton study points to $75,000 as the life/salary happiness plateau. So, making more than that might not be relevant if your goal is to be happy. Now, if your goal is to support a family this number might not be your cup of tea. Take a look at a national average of what it would cost you to buy a house:
We’ll get more into setting life goals or personal metrics of success in later posts.
For the purpose of the intended audience I’ve focused on the traditional graphic design (print and advertising) and digital (UI/UX, mobile, web, etc.) industries. I’ve also added a basic description for each role. We’ll dig more into responsibilities and career progression at a later date.
These salary ranges are low to high averages determined by compiling the AIGA 2014 salary survey, a 2015 study by the Creative Group, and the May 2015 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics. Also, keep in mind that differences in salary ranges can be attributed to:
• Regional income/cost of living levels
• Company size and status
• In-House vs. Agency vs. Freelance/Contractor
Traditional Creative & Graphic Design:
Graphic Designer
Graphic Designers are the low rung, or entry level, of the design ladder that generally focused on making print, branding, ad, or marketing material. As a designer you’ll make a lot of brochures, Powerpoint presentations, ads, banners, etc. They generally don’t build UI but do make assets for the web.
Junior (1–3 yrs.) : $35,000 — $49,500
Mid Career (3–5 yrs.) : $51,000 — $63,000
Senior (5+ yrs.): $65,500 — $90,000
Illustrator
Illustrators produce renderings for use in advertisements, books, magazines, packaging, greetings cards and newspapers. Generally more artistically skilled than a Graphic Designer an Illustrator focuses more on painting, drawing, and sketching.
Entry (1–3 yrs.) : $40,000 — $55,000
Mid/Senior (3–5+ yrs.) : $54,500 — $78,500
Art Director
The Art Director sets the concept and style for the design staff to follow. A great deal of their time is speant managing design staff and their projects. Art Directors also tend to interact more with the clients on behalf of the design team. They orchestrate project vendors (Photographers, Copywriters, Illustrators, etc.) and, if there isn’t a Creative Director on staff, has final creative authority.
Junior/Associate : $55,500 — $67,500
Mid : $62,500 — $81,000
Senior : $72,000 — $106,000
Creative Director
The Creative Director is the head of design for a business or agency. Duties typically include interaction with the clients, creative team management, setting budgets, responsibility of project execution, and to represent the creative team at the executive level. A Creative Director doesn’t necessarily need to have a design background either. Many started out as Copywriters, Marketers, or Project Managers. It’s more of a business position than that of a creative craftsman. The role revolves around managing people, executing high level deliverables, and being able to communicate well.
Associate : $75,0000 — $110,000
Mid : $95,0000 — $136,000
Senior : $105,750 — $185,500
Digital and Web Design :
Web Designer
A web designer is a digital generalist that develops, creates, and in some cases codes web pages and mobile products. They are the web and digital equivalent to the Graphic Designer.
Junior (1–3 yrs.) : $43,000 — $57,000
Mid Career (3–5 yrs.) : $55,000 — $85,000
Senior (5+ yrs.): $80,000 — $112,000
Interaction Designer
Interaction designers develop deeper web-based elements than a generalist Web Designer. They build out how elements work when interacting with a users on websites and mobile applications. Although programming can be part of the position, the interaction designer works primarily with platforms’ information architecture at a foundation level.
Junior (1–3 yrs.) : $45,000 — $60,200
Mid Career (3–5 yrs.) : $55,500 — $87,250
Senior (5+ yrs.): $80,500 — $115,00
Motion Designer
A Motion Graphics Designer creates dynamic graphics, animations, and edit video content using programs like After Effects. Typical projects can include title and post-production work, multimedia campaigns and ads, or promotional products.
Junior/Mid Career (1–5 yrs.) : $57,000 — $86,000
Senior (5+ yrs.): $66,000 — $98,000
Mobile Designer
Mobile designers can go by many names, including app designers, iOS designers, Android designers, and more. They usually work closely with user experience (UX) designers and user interface (UI) designers to apply their designs to mobile interfaces. Their main focus is to build native mobile applications, but they also must be able to create designs for mobile and hybrid apps.
Junior (1–3 yrs.) : $40,000 — $62,000
Mid Career (3–5 yrs.) : $65,000 — $85,000
Senior (5+ yrs.): $82,500 — $109,000
UI Designer
User interface (UI) designers work closely with user experience (UX) designers and other design specialists to build interfaces for apps and websites. They are responsible for converting wireframes and prototypes into production quality mock-ups and demos in preparation for final coding/builds. Many UI designers have a good understanding of front-end development, responsive design, mobile, and some coding skills.
Junior (1–3 yrs.) : $39,000 — $55,750
Mid Career (3–5 yrs.) : $60,000 — $78,00
Senior (5+ yrs.): $81,000 — $94,500
UX Designer
A user-experience (UX) designer is responsible for conceiving and conducting user research, interviews and surveys, and translating them into sitemaps, wireframes and prototypes. They also design the overall functionality of the product and iterate upon it to ensure a great user experience.
Junior (1–3 yrs.) : $54,000 — $70,000
Mid Career (3–5 yrs.) : $65,750 — $85,000
Senior (5+ yrs.): $80,500 — $126,000
Digital Director
The contemporary equivalent to the classic Creative Director role. A focus on digital media management and project planning is a must. Much like a Creative Director, a Digital Director doesn’t necessarily need to have a design or creative background . Many started out as Engineers, Analysts, Project Managers, or Marketing Strategists. Managing people and projects well is at the core of this role.
Associate : $66,000 — $74,000
Mid/Senior : $123,000 — $142,000
UX Director
User experience directors are in charge of overseeing user experience projects, research, and teams. They are responsible for facilitating communication among user experience professionals, as well as helping design products and/or applications using customer feedback and market trends. Again like a Creative Director, a UX Director doesn’t need to have UX design background. Many started out as UX Analysts, Project Managers, or Psychologists. Managing people and initiatives at an executive level is at the core of this role.
Associate : $85,000 — $105,000
Mid/Senior : $110,00 — $178,000
Hybrid Roles:
Visual Designer
It’s a bit of a hybrid between what graphic designers and UI designers do. On top of web design familiarity they need an equally strong understanding of graphic design, identity design, and branding. Though they generally don’t code, they do have to be familiar with the workings of web and mobile products.
Junior (1–3 yrs.) : $45,000 — $58,000
Mid Career (3–5 yrs.) : $55,000 — $87,000
Senior (5+ yrs.): $84,500 — $104,000
Design Strategist
A director responsible for the overall strategic direction of client initiatives through the research and development phase, in which a clear understanding of end user’s or target audience’s needs is gained, to the execution phase, where findings are applied to create solutions. The strategist role also includes product and account planning.
Avg. Compensation : $64,000 — $130,000
Design Director
Responsible for communicating design strategy into actionable deliverables. Much like the visual designer, the Design Director needs to have a high aptitude with web and print while being able to communicate well with teams and clients. Their duties ensure the right resources are in place, from designers to developers to copywriters.
Avg. Compensation : $94,000 — $177,500
Owner, Partner, Principal
An owner, partner, or principal has an equity position (stock or profit share) They share major business responsibilities for a firm or business with employees. Generally they’ve built the company or agency and are hands on in running it.
Avg. Compensation : $96,000 — $147,000
CCO/CDO
A Chief Creative Officer or Chief Design Officer is a member of a company’s executive-level team who sets the overall strategy, vision, and direction of all design initiatives. This executive is responsible for multiple categories of products and disciplines of design (UI, UX, Front End Development, Marketing, Advertising, etc.). They set organizational development goals and design strategies. This role also includes vendor and talent recruiting, development and leadership.
Avg. Compensation : $110,00 — $187,000
In conclusion… A comparison of salary averages;
Graphic Design Avg. : $40,250
Digital/Web Avg. : $70,500
So there you have it. If you’re looking for the $75,000 life/salary happiness plateau, digital will get you closer. The Digital market is also slated to grow by 18% versus Graphic Design only looking at 8% growth in the US 10-year job outlook. Not to mention most classic graphic design roles involve web components anyway.
While we’ve listed a great deal of options here, do not get overwhelmed. I’ll be sure to get into career progression in future selections. The important takeaway from this list of position is to see what you could achieve and how much you’d be able to make doing it. Remember, money is a great liberator, but culture and life satisfaction need to be key in following your paths as well.
