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Home designer vs assistant designer

The differences between home designers and assistant 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 home designer, becoming an assistant designer takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a home designer has an average salary of $66,541, which is higher than the $52,475 average annual salary of an assistant designer.

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

Home designer vs assistant designer overview

Home DesignerAssistant Designer
Yearly salary$66,541$52,475
Hourly rate$31.99$25.23
Growth rate1%3%
Number of jobs86,22347,598
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 61%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age4238
Years of experience412

What does a home designer do?

A home designer is responsible for executing creative designs for house furnishing according to clients' requirements and specifications. Home designers assess the clients' best interests to make decisions about layouts and structure. They also select the best materials and equipment that go along with the house's designs, customizing decors, and emphasize the elements of the residential space. A home designer must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in creating cost and expenses reports for the client's preference.

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.

Home designer vs assistant designer salary

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

Home DesignerAssistant Designer
Average salary$66,541$52,475
Salary rangeBetween $38,000 And $114,000Between $37,000 And $73,000
Highest paying CityAlameda, CASeattle, WA
Highest paying stateOregonWashington
Best paying companyBest BuyPVH
Best paying industryRetailConstruction

Differences between home designer and assistant designer education

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

Home DesignerAssistant Designer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 61%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common majorInterior DesignGraphic Design
Most common collegeCornell UniversityUniversity of Pennsylvania

Home designer vs assistant designer demographics

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

Home DesignerAssistant Designer
Average age4238
Gender ratioMale, 53.6% Female, 46.4%Male, 28.3% Female, 71.7%
Race ratioBlack 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 Percentage23%13%

Differences between home designer and assistant designer duties and responsibilities

Home designer example responsibilities.

  • Manage multiple residential kitchen and bath projects simultaneously from design inception to delivery in a fast pace energetic environment.
  • Prepare hand sketch elevations in perspective views.
  • Design kitchen and bath building and renovation projects for consumer and commercial customers, coordinating credit applications and processing payments.
  • Monitor orders utilizing POS system.
  • Manage multiple residential kitchen and bath projects simultaneously from design inception to delivery in a fast pace energetic environment.

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

Home designer vs assistant designer skills

Common home designer skills
  • In-Home, 35%
  • Customer Service, 31%
  • Design Solutions, 16%
  • Space Planning, 3%
  • Sales Associates, 3%
  • Retail Sales, 3%
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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