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Senior designer vs project designer

The differences between senior designers and project designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-12 months to become a senior designer, becoming a project designer takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a senior designer has an average salary of $102,058, which is higher than the $64,943 average annual salary of a project designer.

The top three skills for a senior designer include sketch, graphic design and human centered design. The most important skills for a project designer are revit, sketch, and design concepts.

Senior designer vs project designer overview

Senior DesignerProject Designer
Yearly salary$102,058$64,943
Hourly rate$49.07$31.22
Growth rate3%1%
Number of jobs47,50360,364
Job satisfaction1-
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Average age3842
Years of experience124

What does a senior designer do?

Senior designers are typically in charge of realizing design solutions that adhere to the business goals and marketing strategies of an organization. They should be comfortable managing graphics designers and making decisions. They must have extensive knowledge of styles, layout techniques, and graphic design while also managing projects and people effectively. Senior designers have a variety of duties, which include delegating tasks to junior designers, maintaining high-quality standards, and collaborating to improve digital creativity standards.

What does a project designer do?

A Project Designer provides assistance in project design and development activities based on customer requirements. They develop solutions to client architectural complexities.

Senior designer vs project designer salary

Senior designers and project designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Senior DesignerProject Designer
Average salary$102,058$64,943
Salary rangeBetween $72,000 And $143,000Between $47,000 And $89,000
Highest paying CitySeattle, WASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateWashingtonNew Mexico
Best paying companyLyftApple
Best paying industryMediaManufacturing

Differences between senior designer and project designer education

There are a few differences between a senior designer and a project designer in terms of educational background:

Senior DesignerProject Designer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Most common majorGraphic DesignArchitecture
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaCornell University

Senior designer vs project designer demographics

Here are the differences between senior designers' and project designers' demographics:

Senior DesignerProject Designer
Average age3842
Gender ratioMale, 71.0% Female, 29.0%Male, 66.5% Female, 33.5%
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, 1.5% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 7.6% Asian, 4.6% White, 82.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage13%23%

Differences between senior designer and project designer duties and responsibilities

Senior designer example responsibilities.

  • Identify, plan and lead brainstorming sessions for new blue-sky product opportunities across all boys' lines.
  • Design all marketing collateral within those standards including flyers, ads, conference materials, brochures, and design mailed pieces.
  • Implement HTML and CSS tags.
  • Format designs and media for use in print and web applications; deliver production-ready graphics in HTML and CSS.
  • Design and production of marketing materials, PowerPoint templates for pitch decks, event graphics, various collateral and HTML e-mails.
  • Lead the team in brainstorming sessions and assist with market research and testing.
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Project designer example responsibilities.

  • Lead efforts to redesign and convert existing self-pace and instructor-le course materials into eLearning and web-base formats.
  • Provide 2D AutoCAD and 3D Sketchup drawings for client presentations.
  • Implement AIA layering standards and create file management standards for the office.
  • Calculate size of ductwork, hydronic piping, plumbing, and gas piping.
  • Time management, procedure, and field sketch expertise, must be absolute, and perfect.
  • Prepare and deliver construction documents using Revit and AutoCAD for each project on time and within budget.
  • Show more

Senior designer vs project designer skills

Common senior designer skills
  • Sketch, 15%
  • Graphic Design, 5%
  • Human Centered Design, 4%
  • User Experience, 4%
  • UI, 4%
  • CAD, 4%
Common project designer skills
  • Revit, 17%
  • Sketch, 8%
  • Design Concepts, 5%
  • Auto CAD, 5%
  • SketchUp, 5%
  • Design Development, 4%

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