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The differences between production artists and 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 production artist and a designer. Additionally, a designer has an average salary of $66,347, which is higher than the $61,870 average annual salary of a production artist.
The top three skills for a production artist include graphic design, adobe photoshop and adobe creative suite. The most important skills for a designer are sketch, customer service, and graphic design.
| Production Artist | Designer | |
| Yearly salary | $61,870 | $66,347 |
| Hourly rate | $29.75 | $31.90 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 59,103 | 52,433 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Average age | 38 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
A production artist is responsible for managing digital content, meeting clients' standard specifications and requests for successful project completion. Production artists must have computer proficiency, especially on utilizing various software tools and applications to create illustrations and layouts. They also work closely with the creative team, cooperating in brainstorming sessions to ensure the consistency for each assigned task. A production artist should be keen on details, adjusting outputs as needed to maintain the highest quality for the actual presentation.
A designer is someone who creates a master plan of the look or workings of something before it will be made. It could be tangible or intangible objects, products, procedures, laws, events, games, graphics, services, and even experiences. Designers are creative thinkers with a great eye to configure the skeletal and structural properties of the targeted output. They work in several fields, such as fashion, architecture, web graphics, and user experience. In spite of the variety of professionals in the design industry, all of them are artistic, passionate, inspiring, and emotionally connected to their projects and brands.
Production artists and designers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Production Artist | Designer | |
| Average salary | $61,870 | $66,347 |
| Salary range | Between $40,000 And $94,000 | Between $45,000 And $97,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | Washington |
| Best paying company | Apple | Meta |
| Best paying industry | - | Technology |
There are a few differences between a production artist and a designer in terms of educational background:
| Production Artist | Designer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Most common major | Graphic Design | Graphic Design |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between production artists' and designers' demographics:
| Production Artist | Designer | |
| Average age | 38 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 57.2% Female, 42.8% | Male, 56.9% Female, 43.1% |
| 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% |