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Multimedia designer vs freelance designer

The differences between multimedia 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 multimedia designer and a freelance designer. Additionally, a multimedia designer has an average salary of $61,468, which is higher than the $57,260 average annual salary of a freelance designer.

The top three skills for a multimedia designer include graphic design, video production and animation. The most important skills for a freelance designer are sketch, CSS, and HTML.

Multimedia designer vs freelance designer overview

Multimedia DesignerFreelance Designer
Yearly salary$61,468$57,260
Hourly rate$29.55$27.53
Growth rate3%3%
Number of jobs45,32945,914
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 70%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Average age3838
Years of experience1212

What does a multimedia designer do?

A multimedia designer is responsible for creating graphic content and animations for digital platforms and media advertisements. Multimedia designers produce high-quality visual materials according to business requirements and budget limitations. They coordinate with the whole design team for the accuracy of deliverables and modifications as needed. A multimedia designer must be highly technical and creative, especially in utilizing various software applications and programs to develop graphic animations that adhere to quality standards and ensuring its appeal to the target audience.

What does a freelance designer do?

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.

Multimedia designer vs freelance designer salary

Multimedia designers and freelance designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Multimedia DesignerFreelance Designer
Average salary$61,468$57,260
Salary rangeBetween $44,000 And $83,000Between $39,000 And $83,000
Highest paying CityBellevue, WA-
Highest paying stateWashington-
Best paying companyAmazon-
Best paying industryReal Estate-

Differences between multimedia designer and freelance designer education

There are a few differences between a multimedia designer and a freelance designer in terms of educational background:

Multimedia DesignerFreelance Designer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 70%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Most common majorGraphic DesignGraphic Design
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Multimedia designer vs freelance designer demographics

Here are the differences between multimedia designers' and freelance designers' demographics:

Multimedia DesignerFreelance Designer
Average age3838
Gender ratioMale, 71.2% Female, 28.8%Male, 48.0% Female, 52.0%
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 multimedia designer and freelance designer duties and responsibilities

Multimedia designer example responsibilities.

  • Manage website redesign including copywriting and updating all website content.
  • Launch new websites using HTML5, CSS and Wordpress.
  • Assist in the development of some client websites as well as basic SEO, site linking, HTML and CSS cleanup.
  • Design and develop dynamic websites, CSS and HTML coding, optimization of graphics, illustrations, photos and web icons.
  • Create and develop the UI for an in house video CMS.
  • Pose and render characters in Maya as well as in-game tools.
  • Show more

Freelance designer example responsibilities.

  • Lead the transition from paste-up, typesetting, pasting up page layout to digital ad/page building and web printing.
  • Hand-Code HTML, CSS, JS and PHP for custom design solutions and form processing, validation, and animations.
  • Provide identity and stationery design, web design, HTML / CSS development and WordPress integration (content management system).
  • Image manipulation in platforms such as Photoshop and illustrator as per assign.
  • Develop high-qualityshop drawings for all casework to be build by in-house woodshop.
  • Design websites, landing pages, banner ads, pop-ups, and HTML emails.
  • Show more

Multimedia designer vs freelance designer skills

Common multimedia designer skills
  • Graphic Design, 9%
  • Video Production, 9%
  • Animation, 7%
  • Adobe Creative Suite, 6%
  • Motion Graphics, 5%
  • Photography, 5%
Common freelance designer skills
  • Sketch, 11%
  • CSS, 7%
  • HTML, 6%
  • Adobe Photoshop, 6%
  • Adobe Illustrator, 6%
  • Photography, 5%

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