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Production graphic artist vs designer

The differences between production graphic 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 graphic artist and a designer. Additionally, a production graphic artist has an average salary of $69,707, which is higher than the $66,347 average annual salary of a designer.

The top three skills for a production graphic artist include graphic design, adobe illustrator and adobe photoshop. The most important skills for a designer are sketch, customer service, and graphic design.

Production graphic artist vs designer overview

Production Graphic ArtistDesigner
Yearly salary$69,707$66,347
Hourly rate$33.51$31.90
Growth rate3%3%
Number of jobs58,93452,433
Job satisfaction-5
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 62%Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Average age3838
Years of experience1212

What does a production graphic artist do?

A production graphic artist specializes in developing commercial art for production and marketing operations. They typically work together with a company's creative team to conceptualize plans and execute designs according to project requirements and client preferences. Although the extent of their duties depends on their place or industry of employment, it typically includes developing drafts and layouts, utilizing special software and tools, presenting samples to managers or clients, preparing files according to format, and maintaining an active communication line with the team members for an efficient workflow.

What does a designer do?

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 graphic artist vs designer salary

Production graphic artists and designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Production Graphic ArtistDesigner
Average salary$69,707$66,347
Salary rangeBetween $42,000 And $114,000Between $45,000 And $97,000
Highest paying CityCupertino, CASeattle, WA
Highest paying stateVirginiaWashington
Best paying companyCoStar GroupMeta
Best paying industryConstructionTechnology

Differences between production graphic artist and designer education

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

Production Graphic ArtistDesigner
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 62%Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Most common majorGraphic DesignGraphic Design
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Production graphic artist vs designer demographics

Here are the differences between production graphic artists' and designers' demographics:

Production Graphic ArtistDesigner
Average age3838
Gender ratioMale, 52.7% Female, 47.3%Male, 56.9% Female, 43.1%
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 production graphic artist and designer duties and responsibilities

Production graphic artist example responsibilities.

  • Manage various publications including catalogs, catalog inserts, brochures, mailers and advertising material.
  • Use of EnRoute 5 CNC programming software.
  • Generate CNC/G-Code programs for CNC control machines.
  • Work with the silk screening and embroidery processes.
  • Cut plans and elevations utilizing Microstation, AutoCad and SP3D.
  • Provide SolidWorks, ProE, SDRC/I-DEAS, AutoCAD and IsoDraw expertise.
  • Show more

Designer example responsibilities.

  • Lead & design all creative content stemming from apparel design to web identity.
  • Manage various PCB designs utilizing state of the art DFM techniques and comply with company standards.
  • Utilize CSS, DHTML, HTML, and JavaScript for cross browser, cross platform compatibility and consistency.
  • Develop different kinds of functions globally, locally for the development of forms using JavaScript, CSS.
  • Transform customer specifications into usable SolidWorks 3D models and assemblies from which all manufacturing are derived.
  • Process ECR's and ECO's using Windchill.
  • Show more

Production graphic artist vs designer skills

Common production graphic artist skills
  • Graphic Design, 18%
  • Adobe Illustrator, 11%
  • Adobe Photoshop, 10%
  • Adobe Creative Suite, 8%
  • Graphic Production, 4%
  • Adobe Indesign, 4%
Common designer skills
  • Sketch, 10%
  • Customer Service, 7%
  • Graphic Design, 6%
  • CSS, 5%
  • HTML, 4%
  • PowerPoint, 4%

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