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The differences between design specialists and designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a design specialist, becoming a designer takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a designer has an average salary of $66,347, which is higher than the $56,917 average annual salary of a design specialist.
The top three skills for a design specialist include customer service, sketch and CAD. The most important skills for a designer are sketch, customer service, and graphic design.
| Design Specialist | Designer | |
| Yearly salary | $56,917 | $66,347 |
| Hourly rate | $27.36 | $31.90 |
| Growth rate | 1% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 68,347 | 52,433 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 62% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Average age | 42 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 12 |
A design specialist is responsible for creating engaging visual images and digital content to improve customers' brand awareness about the organization's products and services. Design specialists may also work for media production, creating graphic animations for viewers depending on production requirements and media demands. A design specialist must have excellent knowledge of utilizing various software tools and programs, coordinating with the whole design team on adjusting plans, improving layouts according to budget limitations, and submitting deliverables within the set deadlines.
A designer is someone who creates a master plan of the look or workings of something before it will be made. It could be tangible or intangible objects, products, procedures, laws, events, games, graphics, services, and even experiences. Designers are creative thinkers with a great eye to configure the skeletal and structural properties of the targeted output. They work in several fields, such as fashion, architecture, web graphics, and user experience. In spite of the variety of professionals in the design industry, all of them are artistic, passionate, inspiring, and emotionally connected to their projects and brands.
Design specialists and designers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Design Specialist | Designer | |
| Average salary | $56,917 | $66,347 |
| Salary range | Between $35,000 And $91,000 | Between $45,000 And $97,000 |
| Highest paying City | Menlo Park, CA | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | New York | Washington |
| Best paying company | BP America Inc | Meta |
| Best paying industry | - | Technology |
There are a few differences between a design specialist and a designer in terms of educational background:
| Design Specialist | Designer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 62% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Most common major | Graphic Design | Graphic Design |
| Most common college | Cornell University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between design specialists' and designers' demographics:
| Design Specialist | Designer | |
| Average age | 42 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 55.1% Female, 44.9% | Male, 56.9% Female, 43.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 1.5% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 7.6% Asian, 4.6% White, 82.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | 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 | 23% | 13% |