The average salary for Senior Graphic Designers in the United States is $60K annually, and pay runs especially high in San Francisco, where the average is $89K. Senior Graphic Designers can also look forward to large paychecks in cities like New York (+18 percent), Seattle (+15 percent), Los Angeles (+14 percent), and Boston (+12 percent). This overview is based on answers to PayScale's salary questionnaire.
Job Description for Senior Graphic Designer
Teams that create drawings, backgrounds, lettering, or other original graphics for commercial purposes work in graphic design. A senior graphic designer is often the leader of such teams, and he or she may have one or more junior graphic designers and other support personnel working with him or her. The senior graphic designer typically will be the member of the team who receives the various jobs to be performed and works out the parameters, requirements, and scope of the design. While the designer will normally perform much of this work, he or she will also delegate graphic work to other junior graphic designers on the team, typically suggesting edits to work and giving final approval before their work is submitted.
Read More...Senior Graphic Designer Tasks
- Design or create artwork to meet specific marketing or promotional needs.
- May lead team of lower level graphic designers.
- May use a variety of mediums to achieve artistic or decorative effects but is often created by computer technology.
Popular Employer Salaries for Senior Graphic Designer
The lowest salaries can be found at CBRE Group — median pay is $61K — and there is little variation in compensation, with paychecks starting at $50K and only reaching $74K.
Common Career Paths for Senior Graphic Designer
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Though it's uncommon, some Senior Graphic Designers move into roles as Associate Directors of Creative Services, where pay is an average $91K per year. Given that the median pay is $56K, it may be surprising to find that an Art Director is the most common role for Senior Graphic Designers to subsequently assume on their way up the ladder. Transitioning into a Creative Director role — which pays $83K — is also typical for Senior Graphic Designers, though less common by comparison.
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Popular Skills for Senior Graphic Designer
Senior Graphic Designers report using a deep pool of skills on the job. Most notably, skills in Macintosh, Web Design, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe InDesign are correlated to pay that is above average. Skills that are correlated to lower pay, on the other hand, include Dreamweaver, Adobe PDF, and Adobe Portable Document Format. Most people who know Adobe Illustrator also know Adobe InDesign.
Pay by Experience Level for Senior Graphic Designer
Pay by Experience for a Senior Graphic Designer has a positive trend. An entry-level Senior Graphic Designer with less than 5 years of experience can expect to earn an average total compensation of $51,000 based on 722 salaries provided by anonymous users. Average total compensation includes tips, bonus, and overtime pay. A Senior Graphic Designer with mid-career experience which includes employees with 5 to 10 years of experience can expect to earn an average total compensation of $59,000 based on 1,623 salaries. An experienced Senior Graphic Designer which includes employees with 10 to 20 years of experience can expect to earn an average total compensation of $61,000 based on 1,673 salaries. A Senior Graphic Designer with late-career experience which includes employees with greater than 20 years of experience can expect to earn an average total compensation of $62,000 based on 643 salaries.
Pay Difference by Location
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Key Stats for Senior Graphic Designer
Gender
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Female
60 % |
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Male
40 % |
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Job Satisfaction
| Highly satisfied |
Rated 4 out of 5 based on 1390 votes. |
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