Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between user experience designers and head 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 user experience designer and a head designer. Additionally, a head designer has an average salary of $116,986, which is higher than the $91,159 average annual salary of a user experience designer.
The top three skills for a user experience designer include sketch, UI and user research. The most important skills for a head designer are product design, UI, and sketch.
| User Experience Designer | Head Designer | |
| Yearly salary | $91,159 | $116,986 |
| Hourly rate | $43.83 | $56.24 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 52,582 | 53,876 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 71% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Average age | 38 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
A User Experience (UX) designer is an individual who measures and optimizes applications to improve the experience of end-users. His/Her or her duties and responsibilities include considering a design's human-computer interaction element, defining interaction models, and working with creative directors and designers. The key skills for UX designers include strong mathematical and problem-solving skills and excellent information technology and programming skills. Having a bachelor's degree in a design or computing-related subject is an advantage to qualify for the UX designer position.
The Head Designer is the overall command over the creative team's design and the entire company. The heads of the organization look toward the head designer to provide insights into the artistic path the company will take to achieve a unique brand in the market. The head designer is highly-creative, good in management, and can articulate abstract ideas clearly and relay them to company administrators, customers, and clients. A head designer's responsibilities are to handle the creative team, train each member, and provide guidance in every part of the designing process.
User experience designers and head designers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| User Experience Designer | Head Designer | |
| Average salary | $91,159 | $116,986 |
| Salary range | Between $65,000 And $127,000 | Between $71,000 And $191,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Bruno, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | California |
| Best paying company | BitGo | Airbnb |
| Best paying industry | Start-up | Hospitality |
There are a few differences between a user experience designer and a head designer in terms of educational background:
| User Experience Designer | Head Designer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 71% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Graphic Design | Graphic Design |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between user experience designers' and head designers' demographics:
| User Experience Designer | Head Designer | |
| Average age | 38 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 59.6% Female, 40.4% | Male, 50.1% Female, 49.9% |
| Race ratio | 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% | 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 | 13% | 13% |