What is an Associate Designer?

This job title exists across various fields, even though the responsibilities are similar. Associate designers are some of the most junior members of any design team. They can work in any organization where products are designed, from fashion and software development to graphic design.

An associate designer's responsibilities may include completing design drafts, doing the appropriate research, and filing paperwork. Associate designers may also gather the resources necessary for a design and maintain the workspace.

Becoming an associate designer begins with identifying the relevant industry for work. Then, you'll need to develop proficiency. For example, you need adequate knowledge of design software to be an associate graphic designer. On the other hand, associate fashion designers need to understand fabric texture and quality and know the best places for the most significant discounts.

Employers in fields like engineering and software development may favor applicants with bachelor's degrees when filling this role.

What Does an Associate Designer Do

There are certain skills that many associate designers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed time-management skills, communication skills and analytical skills.

Learn more about what an Associate Designer does

How To Become an Associate Designer

If you're interested in becoming an associate designer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 66.7% of associate designers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 5.4% of associate designers have master's degrees. Even though most associate designers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become an Associate Designer
Top Associate Designer Jobs Near You

Associate Designer Career Paths

As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, an associate designer can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as designer, progress to a title such as project manager and then eventually end up with the title senior product manager.

Associate Designer

Top Careers Before Associate Designer

Assistant Designer(47,598 Jobs)
22.0 %
Design Internship(97,018 Jobs)
13.8 %
Internship(51,064 Jobs)
11.8 %

Top Careers After Associate Designer

Designer(52,433 Jobs)
26.7 %
Freelance Designer(45,914 Jobs)
12.1 %
Senior Designer(47,503 Jobs)
11.0 %

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Average Salary for an Associate Designer

Associate Designers in America make an average salary of $56,770 per year or $27 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $80,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $40,000 per year.
Average Associate Designer Salary
$56,770 Yearly
$27.29 hourly
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Roles and Types of Associate Designer

The role of an associate designer includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general associate designer responsibilities:

  • Deliver on the game vision as set by the creative director
  • Strategy & innovation work with designer(s)
  • Product design support designs, owns, builds, creates

There are several types of associate designer, including:

Graphic Designer

Role:

Graphic Designers are responsible for creating visual concepts either through a computer software or by hand. The goal of becoming a graphic designer is to really engage consumers through inspiration. So being creative is kind of needed.

Typically Graphic Designers need a Bachelor's degree, but perhaps the most important thing you can bring to an interview is having a well-rounded portfolio.
  • Average Salary: $49,450
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Designer

Role:

A career as a designer can go so many different directions. From fashion designers to floral designers or even graphic designers or interior designers, as long as you have an eye for detail and a steady hand you could design whatever you wanted.

The education that is required to become a designer can vary depending on what type of designing you're going to be doing. For example, a floral designer only needs a high school diploma, but a graphic designer may need a Bachelor's degre. It really depends on what direction you want to take your career.
  • Average Salary: $66,347
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Freelance Designer

Role:

Whether we are talking about industrial design or visual communication, a designer is a creative professional who comes up with ideas for objects, packaging, or layouts. Working as a freelance designer means you are not employed by one company but work on your own, for different clients, on a project basis.

There are many different aspects of design. You can be a graphic designer creating product illustrations or visuals for brand identities, a user experience designer making easy-to-navigate websites, software, or applications. You can design interior spaces, or special effects for the entertainment media, or clothes and accessories for the fashion industry.

Whatever the case, as a freelance designer, you are basically an entrepreneur and find your own clients, take care of accounts, and the promotion of your services for yourself and in exchange, you enjoy the freedom and flexibility of working on your own time and your own terms.
  • Average Salary: $57,260
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree
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States With The Most Associate Designer Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active associate designer jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where associate designers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Associate Designer Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California3,383$68,415
2Texas1,435$52,416
3New York1,412$62,356
4Washington932$71,477
5Florida845$45,715
6Georgia825$45,139
7Illinois811$54,029
8Virginia792$57,906
9Massachusetts787$63,609
10Pennsylvania704$53,698
11North Carolina642$54,610
12Michigan562$56,781
13Ohio544$53,298
14Oregon483$59,203
15Minnesota462$49,321
16New Jersey427$59,326
17Maryland427$54,737
18Colorado395$55,210
19Wisconsin375$48,408
20Missouri335$50,944
21Indiana319$54,703
22Arizona317$55,344
23Utah268$52,500
24Tennessee267$46,866
25Connecticut226$49,885
26South Carolina221$40,973
27Iowa211$46,108
28Alabama203$44,367
29Kentucky169$48,299
30Kansas168$44,992
31Oklahoma150$45,114
32Louisiana136$45,901
33New Hampshire135$53,475
34Arkansas124$47,213
35Nebraska118$47,931
36Nevada102$53,465
37New Mexico101$46,562
38Rhode Island98$61,317
39Maine96$51,314
40Idaho93$49,475
41Mississippi88$41,872
42Delaware74$52,947
43West Virginia60$56,734
44Montana58$52,495
45Vermont56$51,113
46South Dakota50$38,361
47North Dakota43$56,079
48Hawaii39$55,071
49Alaska37$65,246
50Wyoming36$54,515

Associate Designer Education

Associate Designer Majors

Graphic Design
42.7 %
Interior Design
12.1 %
Fine Arts
7.2 %

Associate Designer Degrees

Bachelors

66.7 %

Associate

23.0 %

Masters

5.4 %

Top Colleges for Associate Designers

1. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Marketing
Communication
English
Liberal Arts

2. Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,465

Enrollment

6,483

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Mechanical Engineering
Graphic Design
Liberal Arts
Fine Arts

3. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$56,225

Enrollment

19,548

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Electrical Engineering
Communication
Mechanical Engineering
Psychology

4. Northeastern University

Boston, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,522

Enrollment

13,760

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Mechanical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Communication
Graphic Design
Architecture

5. New York University

New York, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,828

Enrollment

26,339

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Liberal Arts
Business
Psychology
Fine Arts
Electrical Engineering

6. Boston University

Boston, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$53,948

Enrollment

17,238

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Communication
Computer Science
Psychology
Mechanical Engineering

7. Harvard University

Cambridge, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$50,420

Enrollment

7,582

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
English
Liberal Arts
Psychology
Mechanical Engineering

8. Duke University

Durham, NC • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,695

Enrollment

6,596

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Computer Science
Psychology
Mechanical Engineering
Electrical Engineering

9. George Washington University, The

Washington, DC • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,230

Enrollment

12,161

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Electrical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Marketing
Communication

10. Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$18,454

Enrollment

40,108

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Psychology
Marketing
Communication
Business
English

Top Skills For an Associate Designer

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 10.4% of associate designers listed sketch on their resume, but soft skills such as time-management skills and communication skills are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Associate Designer Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Associate Designer templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Associate Designer resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

Associate Designer Resume
Associate Designer Resume
Associate Designer Resume
Associate Designer Resume
Associate Designer Resume
Associate Designer Resume
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Associate Designer Resume
Associate Designer Resume
Associate Designer Resume
Associate Designer Resume
Associate Designer Resume
Associate Designer Resume
Associate Designer Resume
Associate Designer Resume
Associate Designer Resume

Associate Designer Demographics

Associate Designer Gender Distribution

Female
Female
65%
Male
Male
35%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among associate designers, 65.2% of them are women, while 34.8% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among associate designers is White, which makes up 70.2% of all associate designers.

  • The most common foreign language among associate designers is Spanish at 37.3%.

Online Courses For Associate Designer That You May Like

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Best States For an Associate Designer

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an associate designer. The best states for people in this position are Washington, California, Alaska, and Massachusetts. Associate designers make the most in Washington with an average salary of $71,477. Whereas in California and Alaska, they would average $68,415 and $65,246, respectively. While associate designers would only make an average of $63,609 in Massachusetts, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. Washington

Total Associate Designer Jobs: 932
Highest 10% Earn:
$111,000
Location Quotient:
1.75

$71,477

Avg. Salary

View 932 Associate Designer Jobs In WA

2. Massachusetts

Total Associate Designer Jobs: 787
Highest 10% Earn:
$91,000
Location Quotient:
1.17

$63,609

Avg. Salary

View 787 Associate Designer Jobs In MA

3. California

Total Associate Designer Jobs: 3,383
Highest 10% Earn:
$106,000
Location Quotient:
1.58

$68,415

Avg. Salary

View 3,383 Associate Designer Jobs In CA
Full List Of Best States For Associate Designers

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Top Associate Designer Employers

Most Common Employers For Associate Designer

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1American Eagle Outfitters$83,820$40.3027
2RH$81,649$39.2546
3Macy's$79,306$38.1333
4Gap Inc.$75,792$36.4438
5Minted$67,889$32.6499
6Ralph Lauren$66,705$32.0750
7JCPenney$65,577$31.5389
8Office Depot$63,623$30.5921
9Northrop Grumman$62,260$29.9339
10Sears Holdings$62,038$29.8327
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Associate Designer Videos

Nuffield Associates- Tom Scutt, Associate Designer

Becoming an Associate Designer FAQs

How Much Do Associate Designers Make?

Associate designers make about $58,000 yearly or $28 hourly. On the lower end of the salary range, they can make about $41,000, typically the starting number for entry-level positions. On the higher end, they can make $80,000, typically for senior-level positions.

Is An Associate Designer Higher Than A Designer?

No, an associate designer is not higher than a designer. The term "associate" is usually attached to starting positions within a company, usually an entry-level position. An associate designer also may not have many years of experience before joining the company.

What Does Associate Mean In A Job Description?

Associate in a job description usually means an entry-level or junior position. It's typically used for workers just starting with the company when you may or may not have much experience.

What Is An Associate Product Designer?

An associate product designer is part of the team that focuses on optimizing user experience. In general, a product designer's key responsibilities are to perform design research, select the best materials, and develop user storyboards for the client and users' best interests.

What Qualifications Do You Need To Be A Designer?

The qualifications you need to be a designer are dependent on which industry you plan to enter. In general, getting a college degree and gaining relevant skills will better your prospects.

Have more questions? See all answers to common arts, entertainment, sports, and media questions.

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Updated February 6, 2023