Creative director vs associate creative director

The differences between creative directors and associate creative directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a creative director and an associate creative director. Additionally, an associate creative director has an average salary of $141,099, which is higher than the $137,779 average annual salary of a creative director.

The top three skills for a creative director include graphic design, creative concepts and creative direction. The most important skills for an associate creative director are graphic design, digital marketing, and creative concepts.

Creative director vs associate creative director overview

	Creative Director	Associate Creative Director
Yearly salary	$137,779	$141,099
Hourly rate	$66.24	$67.84
Growth rate	4%	4%
Number of jobs	11,610	8,945
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Bachelor's Degree, 83%
Average age	40	40
Years of experience	6	6

What does a creative director do?

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.

What does an associate creative director do?

An associate creative director helps the creative director in creating design concepts and directions for multiple design projects, marketing materials, and campaigns. Other tasks include researching marketing trends and strategies and overseeing multiple design projects. The skills that an associate creative director should possess to accomplish his/her or her responsibilities include good interpersonal skills and knowledge of social media platforms and trends. The requirements to qualify for the job including possessing a degree in advertising, fine arts, or related fields and experience in supervising staff.

Creative director vs associate creative director salary

Creative directors and associate creative directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Creative Director	Associate Creative Director
Average salary	$137,779	$141,099
Salary range	Between $82,000 And $228,000	Between $87,000 And $226,000
Highest paying City	Menlo Park, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Apple	The Howard Hughes
Best paying industry	Technology	Media

Differences between creative director and associate creative director education

There are a few differences between a creative director and an associate creative director in terms of educational background:

	Creative Director	Associate Creative Director
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Bachelor's Degree, 83%
Most common major	Graphic Design	Graphic Design
Most common college	Harvard University	Harvard University

Creative director vs associate creative director demographics

Here are the differences between creative directors' and associate creative directors' demographics:

	Creative Director	Associate Creative Director
Average age	40	40
Gender ratio	Male, 64.7% Female, 35.3%	Male, 68.6% Female, 31.4%
Race ratio	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%	Black or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 14.2% Asian, 7.7% White, 67.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	11%	11%

Differences between creative director and associate creative director duties and responsibilities

Creative director example responsibilities.

Manage designers and lead entire in-house healthcare creative department.
Manage all social media outlets and create Youtube channel.
Create, direct, and produce engaging videos and manage Instagram page.
Manage staff including designers, producers, HTML designers, creative writers, and developers; interview and select candidates.
Manage multiple social media profiles (corporate twitter accounts and blogs) to strategically increase readership and draw website traffic.
Develop and manage business-to-business PowerPoint presentation service that create new business opportunities and increase revenue for the company.

Associate creative director example responsibilities.

Lead and manage team of visual designers responsible for online creative and HTML.
Manage XD team members and oversee their work to create conceptual and detail deliverables.
Manage staff of senior copywriters, copywriters (including SEO writer), proofreaders, freelance writers and interns.
Lead and supervise creative teams and create award-winning advertising campaigns and programs that target physicians, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals.
Develop global digital menu board design strategy, highlighting company's food quality story using proprietary food photography and animation.
Create marketing decks and client presentations using Powerpoint.

Creative director vs associate creative director skills

Common creative director skills

Graphic Design, 6%
Creative Concepts, 6%
Creative Direction, 6%
Video Production, 5%
Photography, 5%
Digital Marketing, 4%

Common associate creative director skills

Graphic Design, 6%
Digital Marketing, 6%
Creative Concepts, 5%
ACD, 4%
Art Direction, 4%
Creative Direction, 4%

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Creative Director
Creative Director vs Associate Creative Director

Updated January 8, 2025

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