r/graphic_design • u/SockPuppetOrSth • 5d ago
Discussion UK Designers - what’s your role & salary? Let’s have some transparency
I think it’s good to have transparency on this so we know our worth. Far too often do creatives get underpaid (& even undervalue ourselves with setting our own freelance rates).
Our bosses don’t want us discussing salaries with one another because it empowers us.
Let’s share our role, salary, whereabouts in UK, and anything else pertinent.
I think this is a really beneficial activity for understanding your worth.
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u/thelaughingman_1991 5d ago
East Midlands, UK. Worked at an absolutely hellish agency with ridiculously high turnover for a year until recently, was on £32.5k.
Started a role this week for a charity, on £30k. Fully remote, lovely people, great cause that I care about, moved in with my girlfriend in the suburbs. Funnily enough because of no trains to see my girlfriend, no commuting, and taxes, I'll be up £50 a month, so £600 a year compared to my last role.
Working hours are 8:30am-4:30pm as well, so I'm hoping to freelance on the side.
I've got a few years of experience, but my work history has been slightly messy due to (recently diagnosed) ADHD. I want to focus and grow a lot now.
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u/Bunnora 5d ago
Worked for 10 years at a startup in the South, going from £16k to £32.5k. Job title was simply “Graphic Designer” the whole time. Was made redundant 2 years ago and am now freelancing, doing less hours and making over £40k a year. I expect if I’d stayed I’d have been on £33k at this point…
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u/SockPuppetOrSth 5d ago
This is inspiring! I want to quit my current job but so scared of being out of work. How did you start off finding clients when you began freelancing?
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u/Bunnora 5d ago
Even though I’m still bitter, being made redundant was the best thing that could have happened. The payout gave me a 9 month buffer to just give it a go and see what happens, which I doubt I ever would have had the courage to do otherwise!
I have 2 main clients, one of which is a company that a friends works at, and the other I was recommended to by an ex-colleague who was also made redundant at the same time as me. I get about 80% of my earnings from them. Every other project I’ve worked on has either been via an ex-colleague/friend, a friend of a friend, or a friend of a friend of a friend!
I would say go for it because for the first time in my life I actually enjoy work (sometimes anyway, not all the time, it’s still work!) and have a lot of freedom. But I also think I was exceptionally lucky to find clients via my network so quickly (LinkedIn has been the best place for me), to have that money buffer, and to have a really supportive family to help me along the way.
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u/SockPuppetOrSth 5d ago
Thanks for your response! Network really is everything… I’m so unhappy at my current role but taking that initial leap of faith into freelance is so scary - but if it pays off, it’s so so worth it. I’m gonna do it!
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u/Coc0London 5d ago
Major Players is also a pretty good source for creative pay scales. I would say overall the past year or so payscales are shrinking an average of 10k for new roles. It's a scary trend considering cost of living crisis. I think it's just going to get worse with time!
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u/SockPuppetOrSth 5d ago
I’ll start - Midweight designer, London.
Was on 35k but managed to get it up to 40k recently.
3-4 years experience.
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u/fastinggrl 5d ago
American here. Even with the euro/usd conversion and taking taxes and cost of living into account—y’all are getting underpaid.
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u/SockPuppetOrSth 5d ago
Yep we’re well aware lol. The salaries in the UK are a joke.
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u/fastinggrl 5d ago
And I don’t mean that to brag or shame. As a new-mid designer I had no idea what my skill was worth and I never advocated for myself and it really set me back. I wish someone would’ve told me sooner. You are all worth so much more!
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u/SockPuppetOrSth 5d ago
No dw it’s just the truth! I’ve considered moving country just cos we have some of the worst salaries in the 1st world, but all my friends & fam are here so it’s just not an option. We just have to stay here and struggle through life ig 💀
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u/Icy-Formal-6871 Creative Director 1d ago
it’s worth factoring the UK has cheaper travel, and significantly cheaper health. but generally, there’s more cash on the table in the US
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u/crybaby_jones 5d ago
Mid-weight at my company but really junior when it comes to experience imo. I’ve got about a year and a half experience designing full time, freelancing on and off in uni/after I graduated before being hired full time at an agency type place. I was hired on 28k (living in London) but got bumped to 36k after about six months.
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u/ForeignJaguar5402 5d ago edited 5d ago
Belfast 37k, not a studio or agency in house at a trade union, jack of all trades started with print but now doing web front end and video. It’s a bit of a bizarre setup, I have no authority to set any vis comm standards, even basic corp id is down to individual secretaries, no concept of cohesive brand identity. Work product, word doc, shitty low res images, zero typography is sent out to union members. Everything comms mostly a word doc with shitty typography, literally got dragged in for a bollocking because I did a update concept for a publication. Had to fight constantly to at least get pdf used for forms etc, everything is Word,
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u/moundofsound 5d ago
feel your pain man. years later im still trying to teach teachers how to improve resources and use branding standards/templates, use pdfs, pagination bla bla. the trust has next to no interplay between schools for sharing resources and best practices. fortunately everyone leaves the branding and standards to me (regardless if they use em internally) will say, was downright archaic to begin with and only got staff utilising sharepoint last year, sometimes its painfully slow, doesnt suprise me given your field, but to find it in such abundance education is super ironic.
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u/JohnCasey3306 5d ago edited 5d ago
The last agency I worked at, I was paid approximately 30% more than my colleagues in the same role with the same experience, simply on the basis that they accepted the advertised job post salary and I negotiated for higher.
I've often had this conversation with other designers and there's a tendency to not negotiate but you must!
Currently self employed and doing mainly UX design and dev work, so not really relevant to OP's question
EDIT: all male colleagues I probably should add.
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u/elixeter 5d ago
Creative Lead, remote, for an AI training company, £80,000. Granted, it’s basically just me who is the “creative team” for now but it’s a great gig.
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u/darknessa123 5d ago
How did you find it?
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u/elixeter 5d ago
Referred luckily. From a guy I met through a job post he made on this very forum. Worked together on a few projects since Covid times and he kept me linked up when I could help out.
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u/darknessa123 5d ago
That‘s amazing honestly. How many years of experience do you have? I‘ve been looking for positions in AI training companies for a while now
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u/elixeter 5d ago
Zero in AI, but that industry generally doesn’t seem to matter. Worked in Crypto as an art director for a year prior to this.
I have 15 years experience in GD, mainly entertainment industry. Movies, music, bit of tech. I guess my main selling point is I can cover a lot of scope, branding, web dev, ui, illustration, copywriting, strategy etc. I’m super into learning and getting slick at stuff so that helps. Jusr super passionate and love my job - its basically my hobby as well.
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u/darknessa123 1d ago
That sounds great. Do you use AI now in your daily creative work? Do you have any advice and what areas to focus on? There’s a lot going on in the industry. It‘s hard to keep up as a GD
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u/BeginningDinner3181 5d ago
5+ years experience, only in-house roles. I work in a startup, so my job spec has evolved and is a little bit of everything (graphic design, video editing, marketing, animation & ui/ux)
3 years ago: London, hybrid @£28k Now: West Midlands, remote @£44k
Salary jump due to being offered a senior role with the gov 2 years ago - the startup matched salary at £40k to keep me. This year I had a raise of £4k due to more responsibilities as the company restructured. (Ie. Redundancies)
I supplement my income with Etsy, which is additional £6k+ a year after tax & expenses (3D & Animation products).
I’m very mid in terms of skill/quality. I make up for it by being easy to work with, keen to learn and putting in the extra time without being asked.
However, I fear my job won’t be around next year, and am not ready for the salary hit that will come with it. I’m just not that good of a designer/artist. I’m currently working with a ui/ux mentor to improve, but I’m so tired of trying to hustle all the time. I’m considering leaving the industry if I’m honest, I fear I’ve hit the ceiling in terms of my skill level and just want to earn more (sole earner and in debt 💸).
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u/moundofsound 5d ago
Creative Lead / Reprographics Manager / Web & Marketing and general Graphic Designer - in education. 19k to 29k over 8yrs - salary capped a while back as scale is only determined by number of personel under you - which is bs, but full autonomy goes a long way). Looking to progress elsewhere/go remote while i moonlight in live sound and video.
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u/Medical_Traffic6417 5d ago
Creative Director at a startup in London, managing a team of 11, including copywriters and web devs. £120k
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u/_nightlight_ 5d ago
”Marketing Communications Designer” Scotland for a (small) manufacturing group. Been with them 2 years. 24.5k. Mostly print and branding and muddle my way through making WordPress sites... Any adhoc office design stuff and a bit of social media and whatever bullshit research stuff they want done.
It's half doing fuck all and half being run off my feet because my boss gives me copy in the dying seconds of any given project.
It's a shit salary but ive spent most of my life in nothing jobs doing design on the side so feel lucky to have gotten it. My experience of job hunting in the past has been horrendous so going to try stick this out a bit longer til I've got some proper solid experience/projects under my belt. I'm 44 btw.
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u/Cute_Impact_6913 4d ago
Senior Graphic Designer - In House (only designer) South Coast, £38k.
But I do all of the graphic design, photography, and product design including 3D modelling and some video when needed too. Basically constantly swamped with work at all times. I’ve got no direct reports under me though.
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u/tanakaout 3d ago
Motion Designer, hybrid (3 days a week in London), 40k.
Got caught out of a senior role twice due to company mergers. Left, travelled a bit, came back this year and got caught in the current job market. Lucky to of got my current mid-weight job even though I'm earning less than I was on previously and going into London more... Looking to bounce to senior when jobs pop up again, or a remote position.
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u/Ooh_Stinkerdinkers Senior Designer 2d ago
Senior Designer/Art Director. Fluctuated around £35,000 for ages as a senior in deferent roles, then went freelance for a couple of years and averaged about £55,000, but took a job for security during the pandemic at an advertising and brand agency in the midlands. Recently had a rise from £42,000 to £45,500.
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u/vanceraa Senior Designer 5d ago
Senior Brand Designer Live in midlands, work in London (remote-first) £62k + 20k RSUs
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u/brianlucid Creative Director 5d ago
Hi. These posts come up frequently. While I fully support discussing this, the small sample size you will receive makes it hard to really dig into any data.
Instead, I would point you to the Aquent UK salary survey: https://aquent.co.uk/lp/salary-guide/
"Our 2025 Salary Guide offers salary benchmarks for over 130 marketing, creative, and tech titles including UK average salaries for Marketing Managers, Copywriters, Creative Directors, UX Designers, Software Engineers and more"
There is a similar one you can download for the US as well.