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The differences between marketing designers and freelance 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 marketing designer and a freelance designer. Additionally, a freelance designer has an average salary of $57,260, which is higher than the $56,958 average annual salary of a marketing designer.
The top three skills for a marketing designer include sketch, graphic design and digital marketing. The most important skills for a freelance designer are sketch, CSS, and HTML.
| Marketing Designer | Freelance Designer | |
| Yearly salary | $56,958 | $57,260 |
| Hourly rate | $27.38 | $27.53 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 115,910 | 45,914 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 76% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Average age | 38 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
Marketing Designers are marketing employees who specialize in graphic design. They bring the marketing vision to life by creating the actual publicity material. Marketing Designers may be hired directly by a company as an employee or maybe outsourced. They get the primer on the marketing vision and interpret this by illustrating. They consider the company's brand to ensure that their output would still be in line with the image that the company has been projecting in previous marketing campaigns - unless the company is actually rebranding. Marketing Designers also create design packs and presentation materials to ensure that all of the marketing collateral for that particular piece is on-brand.
Freelance designers are creative, independent contractors who create visual and graphic designs for their clients. They develop text and illustrated versions of brands, messages, and communications with strong visible influence with their clients. Typical activities include networking, seeking projects, and negotiating prices to their customers. They manage client proposals, develop concepts, present solutions, and ensure the timely completion of projects. Freelance visual and graphic designers are creative, self-motivated as well as result and deadline oriented.
Marketing designers and freelance designers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Marketing Designer | Freelance Designer | |
| Average salary | $56,958 | $57,260 |
| Salary range | Between $36,000 And $88,000 | Between $39,000 And $83,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | - |
| Highest paying state | California | - |
| Best paying company | Morgan Stanley | - |
| Best paying industry | Finance | - |
There are a few differences between a marketing designer and a freelance designer in terms of educational background:
| Marketing Designer | Freelance Designer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 76% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Most common major | Graphic Design | Graphic Design |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between marketing designers' and freelance designers' demographics:
| Marketing Designer | Freelance Designer | |
| Average age | 38 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 47.0% Female, 53.0% | Male, 48.0% Female, 52.0% |
| 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% |