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The differences between creative designers and creative directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-12 months to become a creative designer, becoming a creative director takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a creative director has an average salary of $137,779, which is higher than the $69,771 average annual salary of a creative designer.
The top three skills for a creative designer include sketch, graphic design and adobe creative suite. The most important skills for a creative director are graphic design, creative concepts, and creative direction.
| Creative Designer | Creative Director | |
| Yearly salary | $69,771 | $137,779 |
| Hourly rate | $33.54 | $66.24 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 47,394 | 11,610 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 77% |
| Average age | 38 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 6 |
A creative designer's duties depend on their place or industry of employment. Typically, their responsibilities revolve around meeting with clients to learn their needs and preferences, understanding the message and purpose of the subject, developing concepts and ideas, drafting preliminary designs and prototypes for approval, and updating clients on the progress of procedures. In a company setting, a creative designer must coordinate with different teams and personnel for the production processes, all while adhering to the company's policies and regulations.
A creative director is an individual who creates and maintains a vision for a company's products and branding through digital, print, and film installations. Creative directors supervise and innovative staff team such as graphic designers and artists to discuss and plan the vision's layout and visuals. They also meet with clients or marketing and advertising departments to create designs and make the necessary changes to the systems. Most creative directors must have a bachelor's degree in fine arts and should build work portfolios while starting their careers as graphic designers or photographers.
Creative designers and creative directors have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Creative Designer | Creative Director | |
| Average salary | $69,771 | $137,779 |
| Salary range | Between $48,000 And $101,000 | Between $82,000 And $228,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Menlo Park, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Meta | Apple |
| Best paying industry | Automotive | Technology |
There are a few differences between a creative designer and a creative director in terms of educational background:
| Creative Designer | Creative Director | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 77% |
| Most common major | Graphic Design | Graphic Design |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Harvard University |
Here are the differences between creative designers' and creative directors' demographics:
| Creative Designer | Creative Director | |
| Average age | 38 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 51.2% Female, 48.8% | Male, 64.7% Female, 35.3% |
| Race ratio | 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% | Black or African American, 4.4% Unknown, 5.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.5% Asian, 7.8% White, 66.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 13% | 11% |