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Senior production artist vs design director

The differences between senior production artists and design directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a senior production artist and a design director. Additionally, a design director has an average salary of $132,823, which is higher than the $86,821 average annual salary of a senior production artist.

The top three skills for a senior production artist include adobe indesign, art directors and adobe photoshop. The most important skills for a design director are sketch, human centered design, and product design.

Senior production artist vs design director overview

Senior Production ArtistDesign Director
Yearly salary$86,821$132,823
Hourly rate$41.74$63.86
Growth rate3%3%
Number of jobs55,00048,337
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 68%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Average age3838
Years of experience1212

Senior production artist vs design director salary

Senior production artists and design directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

Senior Production ArtistDesign Director
Average salary$86,821$132,823
Salary rangeBetween $65,000 And $115,000Between $82,000 And $212,000
Highest paying CityBellevue, WASeattle, WA
Highest paying stateWashingtonWashington
Best paying companyPIXOMONDOProenza Schouler
Best paying industryTechnologyManufacturing

Differences between senior production artist and design director education

There are a few differences between a senior production artist and a design director in terms of educational background:

Senior Production ArtistDesign Director
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 68%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Most common majorGraphic DesignGraphic Design
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Senior production artist vs design director demographics

Here are the differences between senior production artists' and design directors' demographics:

Senior Production ArtistDesign Director
Average age3838
Gender ratioMale, 58.3% Female, 41.7%Male, 60.0% Female, 40.0%
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 senior production artist and design director duties and responsibilities

Senior production artist example responsibilities.

  • Manage production of products; custom banners, t-shirts, satin flags, from concept to final product.
  • Produce PDF files for outside vendors and internal customers.
  • Perform layout and pre-press of all POS, window backdrops, magalogs, and advertising.
  • Eliminate printing of regional meeting line art by creating live PDF files to save 5K+ sheets of paper.
  • Retouch all wedding/fashion/commercial/portrait/architecture digital photography.
  • Retouch all wedding/fashion/commercial/portrait/architecture digital photography.

Design director example responsibilities.

  • Delegate and manage technical and cad team; fittings; and associate designers.
  • Manage and grow brand s social media outlets; Facebook, twitter and Instagram.
  • Manage product backlog and lead agile team in shipping SaaS products from ideation to delivery.
  • Design, manage, and execute development of all products, from concept sketch through production.
  • Manage the creation and implementation of new design tools, and modifications to the RF design specifications.
  • Manage REVIT models for various BIM projects including updating, cleaning, and linking arch models for MEP design.
  • Show more

Senior production artist vs design director skills

Common senior production artist skills
  • Adobe Indesign, 14%
  • Art Directors, 10%
  • Adobe Photoshop, 7%
  • Web Banners, 6%
  • Mac, 6%
  • Print Production, 5%
Common design director skills
  • Sketch, 12%
  • Human Centered Design, 8%
  • Product Design, 6%
  • User Experience, 5%
  • Architecture, 5%
  • UI, 4%

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