Comments on: Survey of Design Salaries 2010

By: Ebi Atawodi

Ebi Atawodi — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 13:42:11 +0000

In Nigeria the average graphic designer earns any where from £200 a month – £2000 a month.

I work for myself.

By: Allen

Allen — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 09:56:39 +0000

In my country most graphic artists are quite underpaid because of the lack of orgs that publish these stuff. I get paid more in doing freelance than my day job

I agree with Alejandro. I started out learning photoshop when I was in high school because of the cool tricks I saw like outer glow and bevels..that was actually before web 2.0!…My first boss actually told us that if you want to get rich..start your own business (I also observed that I get paid more in freelance works)..which is only for those who are brave enough to take risks. And those who are really creative get paid more than those who are just talented because they climb up the ladder faster than most of us. Right now I’m working on the creative side of things because I want to go up! and technically adept folks work for the creative ones. Almost everyone wants to go digital…..but to learn new things is not bad either. Just don’t focus too much on trends and what has been done.

By: Alejandro Diaz

Alejandro Diaz — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:49:24 +0000

@Victor and @Douglas:
It is good to have some web and flash knowledge (unless you’re web designers, where it is mandatory), but what really pays in this business are great and well-developed ideas. Some people get so passionate about tools (read: photoshop, illustrator, flash, etc) that completely forget about the creative product. Designers that deliver unique and well-thought solutions supported by good research, experience and passion are the ones that get the bucks.

By: lee newham

lee newham — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:37:40 +0000

Good luck Anna.

By: David Airey

David Airey — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 08:29:30 +0000

Thanks for letting me know, Owen. Sounds good. Anna, good luck with the job search. Here are two posts from Lee Newham that might be helpful: Getting your foot in the door 15 graphic design interview tips

By: Anna

Anna — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 02:00:23 +0000

Thanks for posting this, David! I will be starting a job search in a few weeks, and it’s great to know how much I can reasonably ask for.

I’m not surprised about San Fransisco being so highly-paid. I’ve been glancing at authenticjobs.com for postings in California, and a good 90% of them are in the Bay Area.

By: Owen Jones

Owen Jones — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:32:53 +0000

Hi David, very interesting stuff. There’s a new issue of Design Week this week which has the British salary survey in – check it out!
Owen

By: Charles Landriault

Charles Landriault — Mon, 31 May 2010 13:54:56 +0000

It would be interesting to know if these studies can also identify what skills/specialization determine each of these salary brackets… aside from the obvious reasons like education, experience and location. For example : the designer’s paid top dollar these days are mostly in web design, branding, packaging… ?

By: David Airey

David Airey — Sun, 30 May 2010 11:14:49 +0000

Valentino, Robyn, I remember years ago when a prospective employer asked what salary I expected. He gave what I wanted, no questions asked. That’s when I regretted not going-in higher. I think a lot of folk have a tendency to undersell themselves.

That’s right, Carson. USD.

Doug, Victor, even a little knowledge of coding can be a great help for designers who specialise in areas other than web — especially if they want to manage one day, when knowing a little about a lot is the way forward.

By: Victor Zuniga

Victor Zuniga — Sat, 29 May 2010 23:26:25 +0000

@Douglas, I took a class of flash last semester, just to try it, learn something new. My professor suggested(more like our lives depended on it) that we should really take on the web, that if we ever wanted to earn good money that’s the path we should take…