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Costume designer vs senior designer

The differences between costume designers and senior designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a costume designer, becoming a senior designer takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a senior designer has an average salary of $102,058, which is higher than the $54,229 average annual salary of a costume designer.

The top three skills for a costume designer include costumes, make-up and costume shop. The most important skills for a senior designer are sketch, graphic design, and human centered design.

Costume designer vs senior designer overview

Costume DesignerSenior Designer
Yearly salary$54,229$102,058
Hourly rate$26.07$49.07
Growth rate3%3%
Number of jobs47,32347,503
Job satisfaction-1
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 72%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age3738
Years of experience612

Costume designer vs senior designer salary

Costume designers and senior designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Costume DesignerSenior Designer
Average salary$54,229$102,058
Salary rangeBetween $34,000 And $84,000Between $72,000 And $143,000
Highest paying CityCamarillo, CASeattle, WA
Highest paying stateRhode IslandWashington
Best paying companyPoly Prep Country Day SchoolLyft
Best paying industryProfessionalMedia

Differences between costume designer and senior designer education

There are a few differences between a costume designer and a senior designer in terms of educational background:

Costume DesignerSenior Designer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 72%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common majorGraphic DesignGraphic Design
Most common collegeCornell UniversityUniversity of Pennsylvania

Costume designer vs senior designer demographics

Here are the differences between costume designers' and senior designers' demographics:

Costume DesignerSenior Designer
Average age3738
Gender ratioMale, 19.3% Female, 80.7%Male, 71.0% Female, 29.0%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 7.3% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 11.9% Asian, 11.6% White, 63.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 10.4% White, 70.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage18%13%

Differences between costume designer and senior designer duties and responsibilities

Costume designer example responsibilities.

  • Manage all daily costume distributions and collection, laundering and maintenance/repair of costumes.
  • Develop marketing and brand awareness initiatives through social media outlets; create and manage company Facebook and Houzz profiles.
  • Design and sew children's Halloween costumes.
  • Contribute in production and on set as an assistant dressing the actors, maintaining the costumes, and setting up/organizing wardrobe.
  • Source cut and sew knits in NYC garment district.
  • Sketch, pattern and sew costume for cast including accessories.
  • Show more

Senior designer example responsibilities.

  • Identify, plan and lead brainstorming sessions for new blue-sky product opportunities across all boys' lines.
  • Design all marketing collateral within those standards including flyers, ads, conference materials, brochures, and design mailed pieces.
  • Implement HTML and CSS tags.
  • Format designs and media for use in print and web applications; deliver production-ready graphics in HTML and CSS.
  • Design and production of marketing materials, PowerPoint templates for pitch decks, event graphics, various collateral and HTML e-mails.
  • Lead the team in brainstorming sessions and assist with market research and testing.
  • Show more

Costume designer vs senior designer skills

Common costume designer skills
  • Costumes, 27%
  • Make-Up, 9%
  • Costume Shop, 8%
  • Design Concepts, 8%
  • Character Development, 7%
  • Wardrobe, 5%
Common senior designer skills
  • Sketch, 15%
  • Graphic Design, 5%
  • Human Centered Design, 4%
  • User Experience, 4%
  • UI, 4%
  • CAD, 4%

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