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The differences between custom designers 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 custom designer and a production designer. Additionally, a custom designer has an average salary of $59,230, which is higher than the $54,760 average annual salary of a production designer.
The top three skills for a custom designer include sketch, customer orders and customer service. The most important skills for a production designer are sketch, graphic design, and adobe creative suite.
| Custom Designer | Production Designer | |
| Yearly salary | $59,230 | $54,760 |
| Hourly rate | $28.48 | $26.33 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 45,123 | 96,682 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 50% | Bachelor's Degree, 72% |
| Average age | 38 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
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.
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.
Custom designers and production designers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Custom Designer | Production Designer | |
| Average salary | $59,230 | $54,760 |
| Salary range | Between $42,000 And $81,000 | Between $36,000 And $82,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | General Motors | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Retail | Internet |
There are a few differences between a custom designer and a production designer in terms of educational background:
| Custom Designer | Production Designer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 50% | 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 custom designers' and production designers' demographics:
| Custom Designer | Production Designer | |
| Average age | 38 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 44.4% Female, 55.6% | 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% |