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The differences between senior instructional designers and designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a senior instructional designer, becoming a designer takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a senior instructional designer has an average salary of $68,140, which is higher than the $66,347 average annual salary of a designer.
The top three skills for a senior instructional designer include instructional design, subject matter experts and project management. The most important skills for a designer are sketch, customer service, and graphic design.
| Senior Instructional Designer | Designer | |
| Yearly salary | $68,140 | $66,347 |
| Hourly rate | $32.76 | $31.90 |
| Growth rate | 7% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 47,093 | 52,433 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 65% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Average age | 44 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 12 |
A senior instructional designer specializes in developing instructional and educational materials for a specific group of individuals, including children and adults. Their duties involve working together with the clients in identifying project needs and requirements, collaborating with experts, conducting research and assessments, utilizing theories and other studies in developing instructional materials, and subjecting the materials into different inspections to ensure quality and accuracy. Additionally, a senior instructional designer must utilize their expertise and experience by training and supervising junior designers while implementing policies and regulations.
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.
Senior instructional designers and designers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Instructional Designer | Designer | |
| Average salary | $68,140 | $66,347 |
| Salary range | Between $49,000 And $93,000 | Between $45,000 And $97,000 |
| Highest paying City | Newtown, CT | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | Connecticut | Washington |
| Best paying company | Algolia | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a senior instructional designer and a designer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Instructional Designer | Designer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 65% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Most common major | Business | Graphic Design |
| Most common college | Harvard University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between senior instructional designers' and designers' demographics:
| Senior Instructional Designer | Designer | |
| Average age | 44 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 45.7% Female, 54.3% | Male, 56.9% Female, 43.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 16.8% Asian, 5.5% White, 62.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | 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 | 16% | 13% |