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Media designer vs assistant designer

The differences between media designers and assistant 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 media designer and an assistant designer. Additionally, a media designer has an average salary of $54,018, which is higher than the $52,475 average annual salary of an assistant designer.

The top three skills for a media designer include graphic design, animation and motion graphics. The most important skills for an assistant designer are sketch, tech packs, and adobe illustrator.

Media designer vs assistant designer overview

Media DesignerAssistant Designer
Yearly salary$54,018$52,475
Hourly rate$25.97$25.23
Growth rate3%3%
Number of jobs52,98947,598
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 69%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age3838
Years of experience1212

What does a media designer do?

A media designer is a marketing professional who plans, visualizes, and creates marketing materials such as printed documents, electronic or web-based media based on the business needs and guidance from team members in a company. Media designers must develop brand loyalty among customers about the company's line of products. They are required to make known the image of a given company using graphics, design, video, or interactivity to draw in users or customers. Media designers must also create a social marketing presence by establishing blogs or networking pages on a company's website.

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.

Media designer vs assistant designer salary

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

Media DesignerAssistant Designer
Average salary$54,018$52,475
Salary rangeBetween $39,000 And $73,000Between $37,000 And $73,000
Highest paying CityBrookline, MASeattle, WA
Highest paying stateMassachusettsWashington
Best paying companyMcKinsey & Company IncPVH
Best paying industryMediaConstruction

Differences between media designer and assistant designer education

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

Media DesignerAssistant Designer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 69%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common majorGraphic DesignGraphic Design
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Media designer vs assistant designer demographics

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

Media DesignerAssistant Designer
Average age3838
Gender ratioMale, 66.6% Female, 33.4%Male, 28.3% Female, 71.7%
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 media designer and assistant designer duties and responsibilities

Media designer example responsibilities.

  • Manage and develop a stream line Intranet site for better communication purposes and quicker access to documents and company information
  • Create and design an online asset management tool using CSS, PHP, and MySQL.
  • Create UI design elements for the simulation.
  • Design web graphics for social media platforms, such as Facebook.
  • Create and maintain web sites using HTML, Java, and SQL programming.
  • Develop innovative concepts for both UX to UI layouts base on customer brand and functionality needs.
  • Show more

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

Media designer vs assistant designer skills

Common media designer skills
  • Graphic Design, 9%
  • Animation, 9%
  • Motion Graphics, 6%
  • Video Production, 5%
  • JavaScript, 5%
  • Adobe Creative Suite, 4%
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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