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Graphic designer/production vs visual designer

The differences between graphic designer/productions and visual 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 graphic designer/production and a visual designer. Additionally, a visual designer has an average salary of $86,495, which is higher than the $48,619 average annual salary of a graphic designer/production.

The top three skills for a graphic designer/production include graphic design, adobe photoshop and adobe illustrator. The most important skills for a visual designer are sketch, visual design, and graphic design.

Graphic designer/production vs visual designer overview

Graphic Designer/ProductionVisual Designer
Yearly salary$48,619$86,495
Hourly rate$23.37$41.58
Growth rate3%3%
Number of jobs95,83146,815
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 63%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Average age3838
Years of experience1212

What does a graphic designer/production do?

A Graphics Designer in production is the person in charge of designing and interpreting ideas pointed out by the client or the company. The graphics designer must use market standard applications and techniques to produce attention-grabbing designs intended to market a product, service, or company. Graphic designers are an integral part of a company's digital marketing, especially over the internet. The graphic designer must have a good eye for style, typesetting, and the use of colors.

What does a visual designer do?

A visual designer is someone who creates designs for a variety of platforms such as Internet and intranet sites, games, and wearables. The duties of visual designers depend on the specific project or industry in which they are working. Duties include creating user-centered interaction models, working with information technology and business teams to resolve complex issues, and designing logos, icons, and infographics. The qualifications to become a visual designer include possessing strong problem-solving, communication, and negotiation skills and obtaining a bachelor's degree in design.

Graphic designer/production vs visual designer salary

Graphic designer/productions and visual designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Graphic Designer/ProductionVisual Designer
Average salary$48,619$86,495
Salary rangeBetween $35,000 And $67,000Between $51,000 And $143,000
Highest paying CityMenlo Park, CASan Bruno, CA
Highest paying stateMarylandCalifornia
Best paying companyOptimum NutritionByteDance
Best paying industryTechnologyStart-up

Differences between graphic designer/production and visual designer education

There are a few differences between a graphic designer/production and a visual designer in terms of educational background:

Graphic Designer/ProductionVisual Designer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 63%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Most common majorGraphic DesignGraphic Design
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Graphic designer/production vs visual designer demographics

Here are the differences between graphic designer/productions' and visual designers' demographics:

Graphic Designer/ProductionVisual Designer
Average age3838
Gender ratioMale, 57.0% Female, 43.0%Male, 53.1% Female, 46.9%
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 graphic designer/production and visual designer duties and responsibilities

Graphic designer/production example responsibilities.

  • Manage production of products; custom banners, t-shirts, satin flags, from concept to final product.
  • Manage various publications including catalogs, catalog inserts, brochures, mailers and advertising material.
  • Develop and update conference materials, including PowerPoint presentations, posters, handouts, badges, table tents, and folders.
  • Produce corporate identity systems and collateral print materials, print advertising, product/capabilities brochures, direct mail and newsletters.
  • Produce daily, weekly and monthly newsletters in both print and HTML.
  • Create cleaner HTML email templates and help others within the group improve their HTML skills.
  • Show more

Visual designer example responsibilities.

  • Design, project manage, and build retail stores from sketch to completion.
  • Manage website redesign including copywriting and updating all website content.
  • Produce and deliver HTML5, CSS3 and graphical items.
  • Design team brand and logo for organization.
  • Provide approved design in HTML5 to web developer for publishing.
  • Utilize expertise in Photoshop CS6, HTML5/CSS, Squarespace, and JavaScript.
  • Show more

Graphic designer/production vs visual designer skills

Common graphic designer/production skills
  • Graphic Design, 14%
  • Adobe Photoshop, 9%
  • Adobe Illustrator, 8%
  • Art Direction, 6%
  • Adobe Indesign, 5%
  • Signage, 5%
Common visual designer skills
  • Sketch, 19%
  • Visual Design, 8%
  • Graphic Design, 5%
  • UI, 5%
  • User Experience, 4%
  • Visualization, 4%

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