How To Become An Interactive Designer: What It Is and Career Path

What is an interactive designer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Abby Guido

An interactive designer is a software developer who creates digital products that for consumers' use. They focus on how people interact with their creations and create products that give the best possible user experience. Interactive designers also hold meetings with clients to discuss specifications, monitor product performance, and develop design plans using specialized computer software.

An interactive designer works closely with the product development team, engineers, marketing personnel and other stakeholders in order to efficiently deliver on their role. A successful interactive designer should have computer software skills, technical skills, communication skills, interpersonal skills, analytical skills, and attention to detail.

Interactive designers work 40 hours a week from Monday to Friday 9 to 5. They might work long hours in instances where they are required to deliver urgent projects on tight deadlines.

What general advice would you give to an interactive designer?

Abby Guido

Assistant Professor, Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University

We've all heard the buzz about networking, and there is so much buzz because it works. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is both up to date and active. Connect with all of your past professors, classmates, and anyone and everyone you meet in a professional setting. I often tell students to get into the habit of searching for any classroom guests, or guest lecturers, to connect, thank them for their time, and build their network. Share content. Write articles, or reshare those you find interesting.

Every job I have ever received in my career has been through someone else I know. I share this with students to help them see the value in relationships. I always remember the students that took the time to write a handwritten thank-you note. And I think of them when I get an email asking if I know any students are looking for work.

ScoreInteractive DesignerUS Average

Salary

7.6

Avg. Salary $97,929

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.2

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.37%

Asian 10.42%

Black or African American 3.42%

Hispanic or Latino 10.63%

Unknown 4.99%

White 70.17%

Gender

female 33.25%

male 66.75%

Age - 37

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 37

Stress level

4.2

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.5

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.9

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an interactive designer

Explore interactive designer education requirements

Most common interactive designer degrees

Bachelor's

73.3 %

Master's

13.6 %

Associate

9.6 %

Start to develop specific interactive designer skills

Skills	Percentages
Sketch	13.44%
User Experience	6.53%
UI	5.95%
Interaction Design	5.73%
Invision	4.13%

Complete relevant interactive designer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New interactive designers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an interactive designer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real interactive designer resumes.

Research interactive designer duties and responsibilities

Manage website properties including design, content and marketing using HTML5, CSS and JavaScript.
Create, implement, and manage web content projects (HTML emails, web sites, digitizing audio/video).
Use ASP.NET and XML to automate common workflow tasks due to extremely high volume of designs to be create.
Develop a custom object-orient prototyping model in the design of a highly dynamic user interface.

Get interactive designer experience

Generally, it takes 6-12 months to become an interactive designer. The most common roles before becoming an interactive designer include graphic designer, web designer team lead and art director.

Prepare your interactive designer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your interactive designer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an interactive designer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable interactive designer resume templates

Build a professional interactive designer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your interactive designer resume.