Top 10 Highest Paying Jobs In Design & Average Salary

The expected average salary of the highest paying jobs in Design. One of the most lucrative industries in the world today is the Design Industry. The industry is basically where creativity and technology meet and where people use innovation to make things happen. The job of the industry can be found virtually in everywhere from the apps we use to the clothes we wear, from the chairs we sit on to the car we drive. Many people believed that designers have the power to shape the world.

In addition, researches have shown that most of the design-driven businesses significantly outweigh their competitors. In fact, skilled designers are increasingly sought after even though design is one of the most challenging, fast-moving, and visionary fields to work in. Hence, the industry is one of the most financially rewarding in the modern world.

But which part of design is actually lucrative looking at the fact that design is a very wide area? Here they are: 

Top 10 Highest Paying Jobs In Design and Their Expected Average Salary

1. UX Design

  • Expected Average Salary: $96,505

The highest paying job in the design industry is the UX design. Researchers have it that 87 percent of hiring managers consider employing UX designers to be their number one priority. Fully known as User Experience Design, UX Designers are responsible for enhancing customer satisfaction. Hence they are very important to branding and businesses. They basically conduct extensive research into the customer’s needs and use their findings to make smart design decisions. Irrespective of whether the product is an app, a website or any tangible device, they ensure that they are very user friendly. A job in this design industry incorporates numerous elements including interaction design, visual design, and information architecture and user research. Therefore, being a UX Designer usually calls for numerous skill sets.

2. Product Design

  • Expected Average Salary: $89,224

The second highest paying job in the design industry is product design. The work of a product designer basically involves the generation of a usable product from ideals. In other words, they are concerned with the aesthetics and functionality of a product just like UX designers. Basically, every object you see in daily life is the work of a product designer. Also, they carry out extensible user research before sketching their ideas and blueprints using the CAD software. However, they work in collaboration with graphic designers and engineers to turn their sketch into a prototype. When designing, the product designer basically considers issues like size, colour, weight, ergonomics and shape. In addition, they are also responsible for finding the most cost-efficient production methods. Hence, they have to understand numerous different materials. Product designers are known to be innovators and this is the reason why it has been voted as the most appealing job for Generation Z.

3. UI Design

  • Expected Average Salary: $88,434

Even though UI design is a subset of UX design, it is important to note that they are two different designing professions. As a UI designer, your work is to focus on the user’s visual experience, determining how they interact with the interface of the product. In other words, the job of a UI designer is to design all the screens through which a user moves. Also, it is their job to create all the visual touchpoints and interactions that facilitate the movement. There are numerous roles in the UI design including creating animation, establishing style guides, choosing the right colors and typeface, prototyping, and testing.

4. Video Game Design

  • Expected Average Salary: $86,510

The fourth highest paying job in the design industry is video game design. Video game designers are known to be programmers, storytellers, and virtual artists. Basically, they are responsible for coming up with video game concepts based on their targeted audience. Afterward, they work tirelessly to make the concept a reality. Hence, their jobs may include developing plots and characters, creating the user interface, and putting the script in order to generate interactive gameplay elements. For you to qualified to work as a video game designer, you need a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or Computer Engineering sandwich with some programming knowledge.

5. Multimedia Art and Animation

  • Expected Average Salary: $63,800

On average, a multimedia artist and animator earn the sum of $63,800 and this puts the profession in the 5th position in the list of highest-paying jobs in the design industry. Even though there are numerous financial benefits attached to this field, it is also an extremely varied field known to have countless potential career paths. Their jobs basically involve creating cool visual effects seen on Television, video games, and movies. Even though it is dependent on specialization, a multimedia artist and animator may work on developing storyboards, creating drawing and computer graphics, and also designing three-dimensional figures and characters. The most common route to becoming a multimedia artist and animator is to earn a degree in three-dimensional animation or computer graphics.

6. Web Design

  • Expected Average Salary: $59,633

Any business that is not found on the internet today is lagging behind. But how do they come online? That is the work of a web designer. A web designer is responsible for planning, designing, and building websites making use of both technical and creative skills. Their own is to understand the vision of the clients and then turning it into a visually compelling fully functional website. As a website designer, it is important to have a full grasp of knowledge about content management systems, basic programming languages, visual design principles, and Search Engine Optimization. 

7. Exhibit Design

  • Expected Average Salary: $57,600

The seventh highest paying job in the design industry is the exhibit design. Even though it is one of the less popularly known professions in the field, it is of course one of the highest paying in the industry. They are basically the creative brains behind the displays and fixtures seen at museums. Conferences, galleries, and trade shows. The job is for those who love to combine computer-based design with the off-screen applications. 

Related: 

There are numerous jobs in the design industry. However, some of them are more lucrative than others. Irrespective of the type of design job, creativity, and innovative skills are the bedrock of the design industry.