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User experience designer vs senior designer

The differences between user experience designers and senior 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 senior designer. Additionally, a senior designer has an average salary of $102,058, 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 senior designer are sketch, graphic design, and human centered design.

User experience designer vs senior designer overview

User Experience DesignerSenior Designer
Yearly salary$91,159$102,058
Hourly rate$43.83$49.07
Growth rate3%3%
Number of jobs52,58247,503
Job satisfaction-1
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 71%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age3838
Years of experience1212

What does a user experience designer do?

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.

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.

User experience designer vs senior designer salary

User experience designers and senior designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

User Experience DesignerSenior Designer
Average salary$91,159$102,058
Salary rangeBetween $65,000 And $127,000Between $72,000 And $143,000
Highest paying CitySan Bruno, CASeattle, WA
Highest paying stateWashingtonWashington
Best paying companyBitGoLyft
Best paying industryStart-upMedia

Differences between user experience designer and senior designer education

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

User Experience DesignerSenior Designer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 71%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common majorGraphic DesignGraphic Design
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

User experience designer vs senior designer demographics

Here are the differences between user experience designers' and senior designers' demographics:

User Experience DesignerSenior Designer
Average age3838
Gender ratioMale, 59.6% Female, 40.4%Male, 71.0% Female, 29.0%
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 user experience designer and senior designer duties and responsibilities

User experience designer example responsibilities.

  • Lead Ektron CMS implementations and content migration projects.
  • Lead UX/UI design, personas research and emphatic analysis, participate in user story creation.
  • Lead and administrate the creative direction of WorkFusion crowd computing platform and its iOS apps.
  • Lead design working sessions, create storyboards and a Visio wireframe library for all project elements.
  • Work with the Java developers/programs to achieve timely development and review of assignments to assure on--time project completion.
  • Design and code original and cms-base websites / user interfaces using HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP
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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.
  • Show more

User experience designer vs senior designer skills

Common user experience designer skills
  • Sketch, 18%
  • UI, 7%
  • User Research, 6%
  • Visual Design, 6%
  • Invision, 4%
  • Interaction Design, 4%
Common senior designer skills
  • Sketch, 15%
  • Graphic Design, 5%
  • Human Centered Design, 4%
  • User Experience, 4%
  • UI, 4%
  • CAD, 4%

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