Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between digital 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 digital designer and a production designer. Additionally, a digital designer has an average salary of $72,987, which is higher than the $54,760 average annual salary of a production designer.
The top three skills for a digital designer include sketch, digital marketing and graphic design. The most important skills for a production designer are sketch, graphic design, and adobe creative suite.
| Digital Designer | Production Designer | |
| Yearly salary | $72,987 | $54,760 |
| Hourly rate | $35.09 | $26.33 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 61,109 | 96,682 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 74% | Bachelor's Degree, 72% |
| Average age | 38 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
A digital designer is an individual who is responsible for creating digital assets for multimedia and graphic projects that can include mobile applications, video games, and interactive displays. Digital designers must collaborate with project managers, design teams, and content experts to interpret the team's concepts into a design that will deliver an effective user experience. They must be experts in using computer software and applications to create digital designs and convert data to a graphical interface such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Digital designers must also have a bachelor's degree in graphic design or fine arts.
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.
Digital designers and production designers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Digital Designer | Production Designer | |
| Average salary | $72,987 | $54,760 |
| Salary range | Between $46,000 And $114,000 | Between $36,000 And $82,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Lyft | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Automotive | Internet |
There are a few differences between a digital designer and a production designer in terms of educational background:
| Digital Designer | Production Designer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 74% | 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 digital designers' and production designers' demographics:
| Digital Designer | Production Designer | |
| Average age | 38 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 60.0% Female, 40.0% | 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% |