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Custom designer vs interactive designer

The differences between custom designers and interactive 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 custom designer and an interactive designer. Additionally, an interactive designer has an average salary of $97,929, which is higher than the $59,230 average annual salary of a custom designer.

The top three skills for a custom designer include sketch, customer orders and customer service. The most important skills for an interactive designer are sketch, user experience, and UI.

Custom designer vs interactive designer overview

Custom DesignerInteractive Designer
Yearly salary$59,230$97,929
Hourly rate$28.48$47.08
Growth rate3%3%
Number of jobs45,12348,136
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 50%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Average age3838
Years of experience1212

What does a custom designer do?

A custom designer's duties depend on their line of work or industry of employment. They are typically working together with a company's design and creative team where the tasks include meeting with clients to identify their preferences and needs, gathering and analyzing data to determine the best procedures, conceptualizing plans, drafting designs, and producing samples or prototypes for client approval. Furthermore, as a custom designer, it is essential to maintain an active communication line with the creative and production team to ensure the accuracy and quality of the end product.

What does an interactive designer do?

An Interactive Designer takes the business product and transforms it into a product that the user interacts with perfectly. They support engineering efforts to develop designs and get the details right.

Custom designer vs interactive designer salary

Custom designers and interactive designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Custom DesignerInteractive Designer
Average salary$59,230$97,929
Salary rangeBetween $42,000 And $81,000Between $67,000 And $141,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Bruno, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaCalifornia
Best paying companyGeneral MotorsMeta
Best paying industryRetailTechnology

Differences between custom designer and interactive designer education

There are a few differences between a custom designer and an interactive designer in terms of educational background:

Custom DesignerInteractive Designer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 50%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Most common majorGraphic DesignGraphic Design
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Custom designer vs interactive designer demographics

Here are the differences between custom designers' and interactive designers' demographics:

Custom DesignerInteractive Designer
Average age3838
Gender ratioMale, 44.4% Female, 55.6%Male, 66.8% Female, 33.2%
Race ratioBlack 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 Percentage13%13%

Differences between custom designer and interactive designer duties and responsibilities

Custom designer example responsibilities.

  • Accomplish a theme redesign using css edits and html edits for a not for profit children's social network helpline.
  • Design and code responsive email templates to current industry standards using CSS, HTML and some JSON.
  • Develop functional wireframes and GUI prototypes in HTML using Dreamweaver MX.
  • Perform QC test on the fabric to ensure it meet customer requirements.
  • Utilize various graphical and animation software tools and technologies to transform graphical concepts into specific electronic applications on and off-line.
  • Create t-shirt graphics and logos for embroidery.
  • Show more

Interactive designer example responsibilities.

  • Manage website properties including design, content and marketing using HTML5, CSS and JavaScript.
  • Create, implement, and manage web content projects (HTML emails, web sites, digitizing audio/video).
  • Use ASP.NET and XML to automate common workflow tasks due to extremely high volume of designs to be create.
  • Develop a custom object-orient prototyping model in the design of a highly dynamic user interface.
  • Work primarily with JQuery to design/develop full screen overlays and dynamic forms.
  • Develop clean, table-less web sites using valid XHTML and CSS according to standards.
  • Show more

Custom designer vs interactive designer skills

Common custom designer skills
  • Sketch, 13%
  • Customer Orders, 13%
  • Customer Service, 11%
  • Customer Specifications, 8%
  • CAD, 6%
  • Graphic Design, 5%
Common interactive designer skills
  • Sketch, 13%
  • User Experience, 7%
  • UI, 6%
  • Interaction Design, 6%
  • Invision, 4%
  • Visual Design, 4%

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