Research Summary: Crucial for brand creation and recognition, graphic design is an ever-growing, essential role that businesses and advertisers rely on. After all, these professionals play a key role in communicating and connecting with the entire customer base.
So, whether you’re a graphic designer yourself, or an employer in the market for one, it’s important to understand current trends.
To find out more about the current state of graphic design in the US, we’ve gathered essential facts about it. According to our extensive research:
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90% of graphic designers work as freelancers.
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87% of SMBs state that graphic design is at least slightly important for business success.
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94% of consumers will leave a site with bad graphic design.
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The US graphic design industry has a market value of $14.1 billion in 2022.
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The global graphic design industry is worth $43.4 billion as of 2022.
For further analysis, we broke down the data in the following ways:
Consumer Opinions | Business Perspective | Marketers | Employment
Graphic Design Statistics by Consumer Opinions
Consumer opinions drive the creation of successful brands and logos across industries, from arts and entertainment to business and finance. Therefore, whether you’re a graphic designer or a small business owner, it’s important to understand those opinions. Here are some insightful statistics about just that:
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It only takes 50 milliseconds for users to form an impression of a website’s design.
Consumers judge a website’s design incredibly quickly, meaning that designers only have half a second to please a consumer. In many ways, this makes website design even more important than layout, as consumers won’t even interact with the website if they form a poor impression right away.
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94% of first impressions are design-related.
With only 6% of first impressions being related to the actual website content. That means that within a group of 500 people, 470 would notice and have a first impression of a website based on design.
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65% of people can remember visual content three days after seeing it.
Graphic design is crucial for getting consumers to remember a brand or website. This is because consumers generally remember only 20% of what they read but a whopping 80% of what they see.
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40% of people respond better to visual info rather than text-only info.
Visual information can help people navigate and read websites, as it has been shown to help the brain with reading comprehension, organizing and communicating ideas, and finding patterns and relationships.
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Up to 90% of design assessment is based on color.
Color plays a crucial role in graphic design, as it can improve readership by 40%, learning by 55%-78%, and comprehension by 73%.
Graphic Design Statistics by Business Perspective
Businesses hire graphic designers for a variety of reasons. From wanting to stand out to improving website credibility, here are some noteworthy statistics:
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73% of businesses invest in design to stand out.
Competition is a huge issue for businesses, especially for small businesses or anyone in a flooded market. In these instances, hiring graphic designers to improve and personalize a website can be a great way to draw the attention of more consumers.
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49% of SMBs say that graphic design is “very important” for their success.
Nearly half of all SMBs say graphic design is a top priority, while another 31% still agree that it’s moderately important. In fact, only 3% of SMBs believe that graphic design isn’t important.
Level of Importance Share of SMBs Very important 49% Moderately important 31% Slightly important 7% Neutral 10% Not important 3% -
75% of a company’s credibility is based on website design.
Unless it’s their favorite restaurant they’ve been eating at for 20 years, most consumers won’t make an exception for judging an outdated, clunky, and poorly designed website. If that website is their first impression of you, it will severely damage your perceived credibility.
Graphic Design Statistics for Marketers
Marketers and advertisers also commonly use graphic design to reach customers and sell products. To find out more about this side of graphic design, here are some interesting trends:
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80% of digital marketers use graphic design in social media marketing.
In fact, 86% of marketers use visuals in 80% of their blog posts, making graphic design an important and constant factor.
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36% of digital marketers use graphic design software to create content.
While hiring freelancers is common, many digital marketers also opt to invest in graphic design software. Some of the most common include Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Designer, Sketch, or Canva.
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69% of “design-driven” companies exceed their business goals.
Design-driven companies are far more successful, outperforming S&P by an average of 228% over the course of ten years.
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The logo design market is worth $3 billion.
That means that on a global scale, logo design alone makes up approximately 7% of the entire graphic design market.
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40% of marketers believe that original graphics have the best performance.
This includes things like infographics and illustrations, which are often created by graphic designers.
Graphic Design Statistics by Employment
Many people in the US and abroad choose to work in the graphic design industry for high salaries and freelancing benefits. To further examine the size and popularity of the graphic design industry, here are some facts about employment in the industry:
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Nearly 175,000 Americans work in graphic design.
In 2012 there were roughly 158,000 people working in graphic design. The role has become more popular every year, with the exception of 2020 (due to the pandemic).
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There are 133,551 graphic design businesses in the US.
Many individual graphic designers work as freelancers, which is why the ratio of businesses to graphic designers is so close. Worldwide, there are at least 394,700 graphic design businesses.
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The average graphic designer’s salary is $49,450 per year.
That’s equivalent to $23.77 per hour. Additionally, the top 10% of designers make over $69,000 per year.
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Graphic design is expected to see job growth of 3% between 2021-2031.
Despite a slight dip caused by the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic, the industry is poised to see healthy growth within the next decade.
Graphic Design Statistics FAQ
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Are graphic design jobs in high demand?
Yes, graphic design jobs are in demand. With a job growth rate of 3% between 2021-2031, over 7,300 jobs are expected to be added to the field within the next decade.
While this might not seem like a lot, it’s still a positive sign, given the threat of automation facing the industry. While many companies may choose to adopt AI for graphic design in the future, many will also continue to seek out professional freelancers and graphic design businesses.
Overall though, graphic design will always be in demand due to the way the human brain benefits from visual content.
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What is the highest-paid design job?
The Graphic User Interface Designer is the highest-paid graphic design job. These professionals make an average of $59,000-$108,000 per year. Additionally, other high-paying graphic design jobs include:
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Graphic Engineer: $42,500-$101,500 per year
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Senior Designer: $65,000-$99,500 per year
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Design Checker: $64,500-$87,000 per year
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Motion Graphics Designer: $50,500-$83,000 per year
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Interactive Graphic Designer: $54,000-$83,000 per year
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Brand Designer: $49,000-$77,000 per year
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Senior Graphic Designer: $55,000-$76,500 per year
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Graphics Manager: $48,500-$75,000 per year
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Marketing Designer: $45,500-$70,000 per year
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Will AI replace designers?
Yes and no. AI is poised to replace many of today’s designers, as the technology may be more cost-effective and incompatible with effective collaboration.
However, the designers of the future will likely work with an evolving AI to create new, innovative designs far faster than ever before.
In this way, AI will have a negative effect on graphic designers in the present but lead to collaborative and innovative technology with human designers in the future.
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How much is the graphic design industry worth?
The graphic design industry is worth $43.4 billion in 2022. In the US alone, the industry is worth $14.1 billion, meaning that the US makes up approximately 32.5% of the global market.
And despite fears related to automation, the industry is growing. Between 2012-2022, the number of graphic design jobs in the US increased from 158,000 to 175,000. Additionally, the industry is expected to see job growth of 3% between 2021-2031.
Conclusion
Graphic design plays a crucial role in the success of websites, SMBs, advertisers, and many others. For instance, 94% of consumers will form the first impression of a website based on its design and leave if they don’t like it.
This and many of the other statistics cited in this article are why 87% of small businesses consider graphic design to be an important factor.
And while innovations like AI are a threat to the industry now, experts still predict stable job growth for graphic designers within the next decade. Hopefully, as more of the 175,000+ Americans in the industry adapt to new technology, the industry will become even more important in the future.
References
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Red Website Design – Graphic Design Stats & Facts to Guide Your Marketing Strategy [Infographic]
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IBISWorld – Graphic Designers Industry in the US – Market Research Report
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IBISWorld – Global Graphic Designers – Market Size 2004–2027
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CXL – First Impressions Matter: Why Great Visual Design Is Essential
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Medium – People remember only 20% of what they read… but 80% of what they see
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Shift – Studies Confirm the Power of Visuals to Engage Your Audience in eLearning
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B12 – 73% of companies invest in branding design – how does yours fare?
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DMI – Design-Driven Companies Outperform S&P by 228% Over Ten Years
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IBISWorld – Graphic Designers in the US – Employment Statistics 2005–2028
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IBISWorld – Global Graphic Designers – Number of Businesses 2004–2027
Author
Jack Flynn is a writer for Zippia. In his professional career he’s written over 100 research papers, articles and blog posts. Some of his most popular published works include his writing about economic terms and research into job classifications. Jack received his BS from Hampshire College.
