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Mold designer vs product designer

The differences between mold designers and product 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 mold designer, becoming a product designer takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a product designer has an average salary of $102,033, which is higher than the $70,906 average annual salary of a mold designer.

The top three skills for a mold designer include mold design, plastic injection molds and NX. The most important skills for a product designer are sketch, visual design, and UI.

Mold designer vs product designer overview

Mold DesignerProduct Designer
Yearly salary$70,906$102,033
Hourly rate$34.09$49.05
Growth rate2%3%
Number of jobs50,59798,465
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeAssociate Degree, 48%Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Average age4140
Years of experience64

Mold designer vs product designer salary

Mold designers and product designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Mold DesignerProduct Designer
Average salary$70,906$102,033
Salary rangeBetween $47,000 And $105,000Between $68,000 And $152,000
Highest paying City-Sacramento, CA
Highest paying state-Washington
Best paying company-Netflix
Best paying industry-Technology

Differences between mold designer and product designer education

There are a few differences between a mold designer and a product designer in terms of educational background:

Mold DesignerProduct Designer
Most common degreeAssociate Degree, 48%Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Most common majorDrafting And DesignGraphic Design
Most common collegeCarnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon University

Mold designer vs product designer demographics

Here are the differences between mold designers' and product designers' demographics:

Mold DesignerProduct Designer
Average age4140
Gender ratioMale, 93.4% Female, 6.6%Male, 74.2% Female, 25.8%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.2% Asian, 10.4% White, 72.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%Black or African American, 1.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.3% Asian, 10.1% White, 76.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage5%8%

Differences between mold designer and product designer duties and responsibilities

Mold designer example responsibilities.

  • Manage documentation of existing projects, perform ECN resolutions.
  • Design and automate electro-mechanical machinery to customer specifications.
  • Design and automate electro-mechanical machinery to customer specifications.

Product designer example responsibilities.

  • Manage PDM system, updating technical, fit and design information.
  • Lead front-end QA of all major releases, filing, prioritizing and fixing bugs myself.
  • Manage all aspects of production including QC, packaging needs, and adherence to worldwide product standard protocols.
  • Lead FMEA (failure modes and effects analysis) team and DVP (design verification plan) prove-out for system.
  • Provide responsive html layouts using bootstrap and hand code CSS.
  • Design and develop high-fidelity user interface prototypes in HTML, JavaScript, and VBScript base on product requirements.
  • Show more

Mold designer vs product designer skills

Common mold designer skills
  • Mold Design, 16%
  • Plastic Injection Molds, 15%
  • NX, 7%
  • Aided Design, 6%
  • Autocad, 5%
  • CNC Machines, 5%
Common product designer skills
  • Sketch, 23%
  • Visual Design, 7%
  • UI, 7%
  • User Research, 6%
  • User Experience, 6%
  • Interaction Design, 5%

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