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Set designer vs freelance designer

The differences between set designers and freelance 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 set designer, becoming a freelance designer takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a set designer has an average salary of $57,970, which is higher than the $57,260 average annual salary of a freelance designer.

The top three skills for a set designer include set design, art direction and photography. The most important skills for a freelance designer are sketch, CSS, and HTML.

Set designer vs freelance designer overview

Set DesignerFreelance Designer
Yearly salary$57,970$57,260
Hourly rate$27.87$27.53
Growth rate3%3%
Number of jobs49,10245,914
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 68%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Average age4238
Years of experience412

Set designer vs freelance designer salary

Set designers and freelance designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Set DesignerFreelance Designer
Average salary$57,970$57,260
Salary rangeBetween $35,000 And $94,000Between $39,000 And $83,000
Highest paying CityNew Windsor, NY-
Highest paying stateNew Jersey-
Best paying companyStanley Black & Decker-
Best paying industryEducation-

Differences between set designer and freelance designer education

There are a few differences between a set designer and a freelance designer in terms of educational background:

Set DesignerFreelance Designer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 68%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Most common majorFine ArtsGraphic Design
Most common collegeStanford UniversityUniversity of Pennsylvania

Set designer vs freelance designer demographics

Here are the differences between set designers' and freelance designers' demographics:

Set DesignerFreelance Designer
Average age4238
Gender ratioMale, 49.5% Female, 50.5%Male, 48.0% Female, 52.0%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 2.8% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 10.0% Asian, 11.4% White, 70.6% 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 Percentage12%13%

Differences between set designer and freelance designer duties and responsibilities

Set designer example responsibilities.

  • Develop UNIX shell scripts to automate file manipulation and data loading process.
  • Develop marketing and brand awareness initiatives through social media outlets; create and manage company Facebook and Houzz profiles.
  • Used PL/SQL for writing procedures and triggers.
  • Trouble-Shout, reload and reject records using DTS, SQL scripts.
  • Create stored procedures, functions, packages, views and triggers using PL/SQL.
  • Project entail building a Halloween store set for the movie team in Cleveland area.
  • Show more

Freelance designer example responsibilities.

  • Lead the transition from paste-up, typesetting, pasting up page layout to digital ad/page building and web printing.
  • Hand-Code HTML, CSS, JS and PHP for custom design solutions and form processing, validation, and animations.
  • Provide identity and stationery design, web design, HTML / CSS development and WordPress integration (content management system).
  • Image manipulation in platforms such as Photoshop and illustrator as per assign.
  • Develop high-qualityshop drawings for all casework to be build by in-house woodshop.
  • Design websites, landing pages, banner ads, pop-ups, and HTML emails.
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Set designer vs freelance designer skills

Common set designer skills
  • Set Design, 36%
  • Art Direction, 17%
  • Photography, 9%
  • CAD, 6%
  • Graphic Design, 6%
  • Concept Development, 5%
Common freelance designer skills
  • Sketch, 11%
  • CSS, 7%
  • HTML, 6%
  • Adobe Photoshop, 6%
  • Adobe Illustrator, 6%
  • Photography, 5%

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