Digital Designer Salary:

To understand how much Digital Designers make, it’s important to keep in mind that there are many different specialties within digital design, each with their own unique pay range. Taking the field as a whole, however, Digital Designers earn an average salary of $75,000 to $154,000 per year (according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics). Salary ranges can also vary based on a variety of other factors, including location, your qualifications, and which industry you create digital designs for. This article will discuss these factors and their associated salary ranges in greater detail later on.

If you’re thinking of becoming a Digital Designer yourself, consider taking the time to figure out your estimated salary range before diving in head first. It’s always better to know beforehand if the job you’re signing up for is really what you want. To help you optimize your salary once you’ve launched your career, this article offers suggestions for how to enhance your qualifications and stand out from other job candidates.

What is a Digital Designer?

The simplest way to describe a Digital Designer is as a visual media creator who emphasizes interactivity. These designers are distinguished from other classes of designers by their focus on how people experience their designs. Rather than focusing solely on what their designs communicate visually, Digital Designers spend considerable time perfecting components like information architecture and accessibility. To improve user-friendliness even more, digital design projects often include prototyping and preparatory phases that include demographic research. 

Digital Designers are best known for their digitally generated graphics, animations, and visual effects, but many Digital Designers also create full-scale websites and apps. If one type of project piques their interest more than others, a Digital Designer can specialize in a unique aspect of digital design. Some Digital Designers highlight primarily digital projects, while others work exclusively on preparing interactive print designs for marketing. 

Because digital design is an umbrella term that includes many different design niches, most digital design professionals collaborate with a team. Their team may include fellow Designers, Project Managers, Product Designers, and IT professionals. 

What Affects Your Pay as a Digital Designer

Salaries for Digital Designers can vary widely, and this is true of both Digital Designers in general and specialist roles such as UX Designer. The biggest factors affecting a Digital Designer’s pay range are experience and education, but factors like location and industry also affect pay somewhat. 

Education

In general, most digital design jobs require applicants to hold a Bachelor’s degree. That said, a diploma isn’t all you need to get a high-paying digital design job. Because digital design is a field where skills are often rewarded over class credits, being able to demonstrate the skills you learn during your education is vital to getting a job and increasing your salary. 

If you’re looking for more ways to build digital design skills outside the college setting, participating in a hands-on digital design bootcamp is a great way to do so. These programs can also help you develop a portfolio that demonstrates your skill set in a meaningful way. In addition to being a cheaper, quicker alternative to college, certificate-granting bootcamps enable you to add to your skill set after graduating from college. To prove your expertise in a given skill, you can also take a proctored exam that will earn you an official certification and with it, a higher pay range. 

Experience

Once you’ve started your digital design career, you can increase your salary by gaining experience. At the start, however, your lack of experience will mean being paid less. For the same reason, it may also be more challenging to find a job. Requiring experience is a dependable way for hiring managers to ensure that most of their job candidates are qualified for the position. As a result, most digital design jobs will expect you to have a few years in your rear window. 

If you’re having trouble getting started, there are several avenues through which you can build experience. Vocational programs (including certificate-granting bootcamps) offer professional experience opportunities that span several months. Similarly, internships can help you get your foot in the door of a real design studio. While not true everywhere, many communities also have ongoing design projects where you can contribute your services. When all else fails, you can also take on small jobs for family and friends. 

Industry

Digital design is relevant to numerous industries (large and small), and not all can afford to pay designers the same rates. It may come as no surprise that large companies generally have more funds to pay Digital Designers than small businesses. When it comes to design, working for a small business may mean a smaller paycheck and more responsibilities. While you’ll have the freedom to choose your own rate as a freelancer, you’ll likely need to adapt your rates for the smaller budgets of smaller companies. 

According to Glassdoor, these are pay ranges you can expect to earn working as an American Digital Designer in just a few commonplace industries:

• Medicine and Biotechnology: $97,000-122,000

• Aerospace and Defense: $93,000-113,000
• Travel, Transportation, and Logistics: $86,000-106,000
• Retail: $85,000-106,000
• Management Consulting: $84,000-102,000
• Computer Systems Design, Game Design or Software Development: $80,000-101,000
• Publishing, Social Media, or Entertainment Media: $75,000-93,000
• Advertising: $75,000-92,000
• Web Design: $75,000-92,000

Location

Your workplace has a big impact on how much money you take home each month. If you work for a company based in a big city (like NYC) where the cost of living is higher, your paycheck will also be commensurately higher. Location can also work against you, however. For instance, if you work in a small town but live in an expensive city that eats through your paycheck, the tradeoff may not be worthwhile. All this is simply to say that the big salary numbers you see attached to larger cities aren’t as clear cut as they seem at first glance. 

Specialization

As a Digital Designer, you can increase your marketability by specializing in a niche. By learning a unique and high-demand skill set that not everyone can provide, you gain special access to a particular demographic of clients. For example, Digital Designers who specialize in digital marketing afford the liberty of working closely with advertising agencies as well as businesses of all kinds. Meanwhile, a Digital Designer with coding skills can interface well with IT teams working on projects involving software, game, and web development. 

Ultimately, the specialty skills you invest in learning as a Digital Designer will determine which industries and companies you work in, thus playing an important role in your overall salary. Top specialty skills to consider learning include: 

• Graphic Design
• Web Design
• UX/UI Design
• Coding
• Project Management
• Digital Marketing
• Motion Graphics Design
• Product Design

Pay Range for Digital Designers

While the average salary for Digital Designers can stretch between $75,000 and $154,000 annually, it doesn’t take a lot of digging to see that digital design salaries truly fall all over the map. Some of the highest-earning Graphic Designers (at $63,000-90,000 per year) work in Los Angeles, CA, where the cost of living is 51% higher than America’s national average. Meanwhile, Graphic Designers working in Fargo, ND enjoy a low cost of living in exchange for nearly half the pay ($38,000-48,000). 

You’ll see similarly stark differences when Digital Designers with different specialties are compared side by side. Because UX/UI Designers tend to have a more expansive skill set, they typically earn between $89,000 and $139,000 in the US, while Web Designers only earn $41,000 to $73,000. Similarly, American-based Motion Graphics Designers generally earn between $49,000 and $82,000 while more advanced Animators collect roughly $74,000 to $83,000. 

Across the many different industries where Digital Designers contribute, you’ll also see a smattering of different pay rates influenced by factors like the size of the industry, financial resources, and general demand. Finance sits atop the pile of highest-paying industries for Digital Designers, with an average annual salary of $114,000 to $139,000. Telecommunications follows as a close second (paying $100,000 to $124,000 per year) and medicine is not far behind (at $97,000 to $122,000). Far down at the other edge of the spectrum, Digital Designers working for nonprofits and NGOs typically earn around $72,000 to $89,000 per year. Likewise, those working in human resources and staffing may earn as little as $70,000 to $90,000. 

Highest-Earning Job Titles for Digital Designers

The most financially rewarding digital design roles tend to require the most experience. As a case in point, highly decorated Design Directors can collect between $106,000 and $170,000 each year for their work managing large design projects. Creative Directors also earn a similarly high salary of $91,000 to $157,000. 

Digital Design roles that involve an expansive skill set are also known to carry a higher salary than average. For example, while jobs like web design and graphic design focus on a very small niche and include only a handful of skills, UX and UI design incorporate a diverse mix of skills from multiple disciplines, including web design, prototyping, design theory, and communication. In the United States, UI Designer salaries average between $74,000 and $119,000, while salaries for UX Designers run as high as $104,000 and $158,000. 

Learn the Skills to Become a Digital Designer at Noble Desktop

Want to learn design in a supportive environment? Noble Desktop offers highly-rated design classes covering a range of digital design topics for students at all levels. In addition to shorter classes, you’ll find a variety of career certificates that provide comprehensive training, complete with one-on-one mentorship and professional experience opportunities. Start your journey now by signing up for training live online or participating in face-to-face classes at the school’s NYC campus. 

With the hands-on training you’ll get in the Digital Design Certificate, preparing for a digital design career isn’t hard. Even if you start with no experience, you can learn the UI design and graphic design skills you need to launch your career in a matter of weeks. Instead of sitting through dull lectures, this program will teach you practical skills through activities and projects. In addition to mastering tools like InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Figma, you’ll gain the expertise necessary to apply design principles for truly stunning results. 

Learn the skills to make websites and apps that are truly user-friendly in UX & UI Design Certificate. Working with a team, you’ll create your own interactive digital interfaces from start to finish, resulting in work you can proudly display in your portfolio. Rather than focusing only on aesthetics, you’ll learn how to research your target users and prototype to improve accessibility. This course also includes a job preparation segment designed to help you workshop your resume and create the perfect portfolio website. 

If websites are your jam, you can make it into a career by joining Noble Desktop’s Web Design Certificate program. Work toward an impressive portfolio with hands-on assignments that will help you learn a combination of design, coding, and software skills. Quicker than you know, you’ll acquire a versatile skill set that includes UI design theory, Figma, WordPress, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Before you’re through, you’ll also have the chance to build a high-quality portfolio website with help from your expert mentor.