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Media designer vs graphic designer/production

The differences between media designers and graphic designer/productions 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 a graphic designer/production. Additionally, a media designer has an average salary of $54,018, which is higher than the $48,619 average annual salary of a graphic designer/production.

The top three skills for a media designer include graphic design, animation and motion graphics. The most important skills for a graphic designer/production are graphic design, adobe photoshop, and adobe illustrator.

Media designer vs graphic designer/production overview

Media DesignerGraphic Designer/Production
Yearly salary$54,018$48,619
Hourly rate$25.97$23.37
Growth rate3%3%
Number of jobs52,98995,831
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 69%Bachelor's Degree, 63%
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 a graphic designer/production do?

A Graphics Designer in production is the person in charge of designing and interpreting ideas pointed out by the client or the company. The graphics designer must use market standard applications and techniques to produce attention-grabbing designs intended to market a product, service, or company. Graphic designers are an integral part of a company's digital marketing, especially over the internet. The graphic designer must have a good eye for style, typesetting, and the use of colors.

Media designer vs graphic designer/production salary

Media designers and graphic designer/productions have different pay scales, as shown below.

Media DesignerGraphic Designer/Production
Average salary$54,018$48,619
Salary rangeBetween $39,000 And $73,000Between $35,000 And $67,000
Highest paying CityBrookline, MAMenlo Park, CA
Highest paying stateMassachusettsMaryland
Best paying companyMcKinsey & Company IncOptimum Nutrition
Best paying industryMediaTechnology

Differences between media designer and graphic designer/production education

There are a few differences between a media designer and a graphic designer/production in terms of educational background:

Media DesignerGraphic Designer/Production
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 69%Bachelor's Degree, 63%
Most common majorGraphic DesignGraphic Design
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Media designer vs graphic designer/production demographics

Here are the differences between media designers' and graphic designer/productions' demographics:

Media DesignerGraphic Designer/Production
Average age3838
Gender ratioMale, 66.6% Female, 33.4%Male, 57.0% Female, 43.0%
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 graphic designer/production 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

Graphic designer/production example responsibilities.

  • Manage production of products; custom banners, t-shirts, satin flags, from concept to final product.
  • Manage various publications including catalogs, catalog inserts, brochures, mailers and advertising material.
  • Develop and update conference materials, including PowerPoint presentations, posters, handouts, badges, table tents, and folders.
  • Produce corporate identity systems and collateral print materials, print advertising, product/capabilities brochures, direct mail and newsletters.
  • Produce daily, weekly and monthly newsletters in both print and HTML.
  • Create cleaner HTML email templates and help others within the group improve their HTML skills.
  • Show more

Media designer vs graphic designer/production skills

Common media designer skills
  • Graphic Design, 9%
  • Animation, 9%
  • Motion Graphics, 6%
  • Video Production, 5%
  • JavaScript, 5%
  • Adobe Creative Suite, 4%
Common graphic designer/production skills
  • Graphic Design, 14%
  • Adobe Photoshop, 9%
  • Adobe Illustrator, 8%
  • Art Direction, 6%
  • Adobe Indesign, 5%
  • Signage, 5%

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