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The differences between creative directors and fashion designers 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 a fashion designer. Additionally, a creative director has an average salary of $137,779, which is higher than the $54,265 average annual salary of a fashion designer.
The top three skills for a creative director include graphic design, creative concepts and creative direction. The most important skills for a fashion designer are fashion design, sketch, and apparel.
| Creative Director | Fashion Designer | |
| Yearly salary | $137,779 | $54,265 |
| Hourly rate | $66.24 | $26.09 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 11,610 | 49,476 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 77% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Average age | 40 | 37 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
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.
Fashion designers design and assist with the making of shoes, accessories, and clothing. They identify trends and styles, colors, and trims of a clothing collection. The designers keep an eye on travel shows and read fashion magazines to spot trends and interpret specific patterns, color palettes, and prints for each season. They sketch designs by hand, address buyers as a seasoned marketer, and create technical production drawings. It is part of their responsibilities to collaborate with team members to make edits to lines, select seasonal themes, and create new concepts.
Creative directors and fashion designers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Creative Director | Fashion Designer | |
| Average salary | $137,779 | $54,265 |
| Salary range | Between $82,000 And $228,000 | Between $37,000 And $78,000 |
| Highest paying City | Menlo Park, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Nevada |
| Best paying company | Apple | Ralph Lauren |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Retail |
There are a few differences between a creative director and a fashion designer in terms of educational background:
| Creative Director | Fashion Designer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 77% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Most common major | Graphic Design | Graphic Design |
| Most common college | Harvard University | Cornell University |
Here are the differences between creative directors' and fashion designers' demographics:
| Creative Director | Fashion Designer | |
| Average age | 40 | 37 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 64.7% Female, 35.3% | Male, 17.3% Female, 82.7% |
| 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, 7.3% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 11.9% Asian, 11.6% White, 63.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 18% |