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Designer vs assistant designer

The differences between designers and assistant 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 designer and an assistant designer. Additionally, a designer has an average salary of $66,347, which is higher than the $52,475 average annual salary of an assistant designer.

The top three skills for a designer include sketch, customer service and graphic design. The most important skills for an assistant designer are sketch, tech packs, and adobe illustrator.

Designer vs assistant designer overview

DesignerAssistant Designer
Yearly salary$66,347$52,475
Hourly rate$31.90$25.23
Growth rate3%3%
Number of jobs52,43347,598
Job satisfaction5-
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 61%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age3838
Years of experience1212

What does a designer do?

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.

What does an assistant designer do?

Assistant designers act as administrative support to senior designers in creating innovative designs by negotiating with the vendors about the prices of decoration materials. They are keen and up-to-date to the latest fashion and trends by conducting surveys and research. They are exceptionally creative and innovative and have excellent IT skills as they use illustration, typography, and photography layouts in the design process. However, being an assistant designer, career development relies on his/her /her specialism, reputation, and experience depending on how its opportunities are influenced by the company he/she works for.

Designer vs assistant designer salary

Designers and assistant designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

DesignerAssistant Designer
Average salary$66,347$52,475
Salary rangeBetween $45,000 And $97,000Between $37,000 And $73,000
Highest paying CitySeattle, WASeattle, WA
Highest paying stateWashingtonWashington
Best paying companyMetaPVH
Best paying industryTechnologyConstruction

Differences between designer and assistant designer education

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

DesignerAssistant Designer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 61%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common majorGraphic DesignGraphic Design
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Designer vs assistant designer demographics

Here are the differences between designers' and assistant designers' demographics:

DesignerAssistant Designer
Average age3838
Gender ratioMale, 56.9% Female, 43.1%Male, 28.3% Female, 71.7%
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 designer and assistant designer duties and responsibilities

Designer example responsibilities.

  • Lead & design all creative content stemming from apparel design to web identity.
  • Manage various PCB designs utilizing state of the art DFM techniques and comply with company standards.
  • Utilize CSS, DHTML, HTML, and JavaScript for cross browser, cross platform compatibility and consistency.
  • Develop different kinds of functions globally, locally for the development of forms using JavaScript, CSS.
  • Transform customer specifications into usable SolidWorks 3D models and assemblies from which all manufacturing are derived.
  • Process ECR's and ECO's using Windchill.
  • Show more

Assistant designer example responsibilities.

  • Develop marketing and brand awareness initiatives through social media outlets; create and manage company Facebook and Houzz profiles.
  • Direct yarn development team.- propose PLM transitional initiatives.- Collaboratively work to evaluate and elevate in-house design process efficiency.
  • Work in mac format adobe suite programs and pc format u4ia.
  • Generate and update style numbers and BOM's in WebPDM system BlueCherry.
  • Research fashion, textile, make up, accessory, and footwear trends.
  • Acquire in depth training in the PLM and used this system on a daily basis.
  • Show more

Designer vs assistant designer skills

Common designer skills
  • Sketch, 10%
  • Customer Service, 7%
  • Graphic Design, 6%
  • CSS, 5%
  • HTML, 4%
  • PowerPoint, 4%
Common assistant designer skills
  • Sketch, 15%
  • Tech Packs, 9%
  • Adobe Illustrator, 7%
  • Line Sheets, 5%
  • Trend Research, 4%
  • Garment Construction, 4%

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