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Magazine designer vs visual designer

The differences between magazine designers and visual designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a magazine designer, becoming a visual designer takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a visual designer has an average salary of $86,495, which is higher than the $52,372 average annual salary of a magazine designer.

The top three skills for a magazine designer include photo shoots, adobe indesign and adobe creative suite. The most important skills for a visual designer are sketch, visual design, and graphic design.

Magazine designer vs visual designer overview

Magazine DesignerVisual Designer
Yearly salary$52,372$86,495
Hourly rate$25.18$41.58
Growth rate4%3%
Number of jobs47,33946,815
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 74%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Average age4038
Years of experience612

Magazine designer vs visual designer salary

Magazine designers and visual designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Magazine DesignerVisual Designer
Average salary$52,372$86,495
Salary rangeBetween $29,000 And $92,000Between $51,000 And $143,000
Highest paying City-San Bruno, CA
Highest paying state-California
Best paying company-ByteDance
Best paying industry-Start-up

Differences between magazine designer and visual designer education

There are a few differences between a magazine designer and a visual designer in terms of educational background:

Magazine DesignerVisual Designer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 74%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Most common majorGraphic DesignGraphic Design
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Magazine designer vs visual designer demographics

Here are the differences between magazine designers' and visual designers' demographics:

Magazine DesignerVisual Designer
Average age4038
Gender ratioMale, 50.6% Female, 49.4%Male, 53.1% Female, 46.9%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 4.4% Unknown, 5.8% Hispanic or Latino, 14.4% Asian, 7.7% White, 66.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%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 Percentage11%13%

Differences between magazine designer and visual designer duties and responsibilities

Magazine designer example responsibilities.

  • Manage and develop a stream line Intranet site for better communication purposes and quicker access to documents and company information
  • Create a dynamically updating, database driven website for updating faculty publications and seminars with a custom content administration system.
  • Use architectural and structural-base external reference drawings files as backgrounds for communication, electrical, HVAC mechanical and structural revisions.

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

Magazine designer vs visual designer skills

Common magazine designer skills
  • Photo Shoots, 32%
  • Adobe Indesign, 19%
  • Adobe Creative Suite, 18%
  • Adobe Photoshop, 13%
  • Concept Development, 10%
  • Digital Materials, 9%
Common visual designer skills
  • Sketch, 19%
  • Visual Design, 8%
  • Graphic Design, 5%
  • UI, 5%
  • User Experience, 4%
  • Visualization, 4%

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