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The differences between creative directors & designer and production designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a creative director & designer and a production designer. Additionally, a creative director & designer has an average salary of $108,589, which is higher than the $54,760 average annual salary of a production designer.
The top three skills for a creative director & designer include graphic design, sketch and photography. The most important skills for a production designer are sketch, graphic design, and adobe creative suite.
| Creative Director & Designer | Production Designer | |
| Yearly salary | $108,589 | $54,760 |
| Hourly rate | $52.21 | $26.33 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 52,688 | 96,682 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 74% | Bachelor's Degree, 72% |
| Average age | 38 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
Creative Directors and Designers are responsible for leading the creative output and brand representation of a product, service, or organization's publication. Their duties include developing visual communication strategies across design, content, graphics, artworks, and media, implement industry benchmarks, leading creative marketing campaigns, and working with the design team to create product or service design. Besides that, they are involved in setting the creative direction and message of a brand and supervising the creative team in ensuring brand touchpoints consistency. Creative Directors and Designers also monitor project delivery and assist in creative project budgeting.
A production designer is responsible for monitoring the visual presentation of a media or theatre production, ensuring the set's adherence to the theme, and presenting visual elements according to the production requirements. Production designers research the current industry trends for creative ideas that would attract the audience, creating outstanding visual pictures throughout the production. In most cases, production designers also operate software systems and tools to suggest graphic effects and support the artistic team for deliverables. A production designer develops all visual plans within the budget goals and discusses adjustments to the production management team as needed.
Creative directors & designer and production designers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Creative Director & Designer | Production Designer | |
| Average salary | $108,589 | $54,760 |
| Salary range | Between $72,000 And $163,000 | Between $36,000 And $82,000 |
| Highest paying City | Menlo Park, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Meta | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Internet | Internet |
There are a few differences between a creative director & designer and a production designer in terms of educational background:
| Creative Director & Designer | Production Designer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 74% | Bachelor's Degree, 72% |
| Most common major | Graphic Design | Graphic Design |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between creative directors & designer' and production designers' demographics:
| Creative Director & Designer | Production Designer | |
| Average age | 38 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 61.2% Female, 38.8% | Male, 55.4% Female, 44.6% |
| 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, 3.4% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 10.4% White, 70.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 13% | 13% |