I’m being offered a pay bump of 25K to transition to designer. I know I can do the job but worried it will hurt me in the long run. Need a gut check with my fishies. Current sal: 200K.

🤯💀👻

Where do you work / what spells did you cast to get a $200k AD gig in the first place?‽‽‽ with 7ish years experience (although there may be more that you didn’t mention)!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m a CD in digital ux/ui with over 12 years experience and I’ll be LUCKY to negotiate a salary above $160k.

I keep seeing people on here making bank and I’ve never even seen a cd job listed anywhere (in Seattle) with a range above $175 for under 15 years experience. Regardless of awards and project metrics.

If you’re worried about a title being a demotion I’ll take the damned job.

Also negotiate the title. Go for Design Director instead of a title that screams IC. DD tends to be a CD but is more craft oriented rather than account oriented so you can be the idea and the execution person.

The perception of AD’s being able to conceptualize better than designers is absolutely untrue. And we are not even going to debate whether or not “ADs come up with concepts and designers make them pretty.” Because that would be ridiculous. The rebranding effort of BP that drove hundreds of millions of profit for years, the way branding and design solved a business problem is every bit as strategic and conceptual as any one of the most successful campaigns in the history of advertising. My point is, AD’s are not “better” or “higher” than designers, nor vice versa. Designer’s work demand respect as much as AD’s work. So don’t say having to be “demoted” to a designer is a hard choice to make.

Love waking up to see just how underpaid I am. Happy Monday!

are you mid-level? Jesus that's a load of money.

Honestly, design is looking to have a more stable future than advertising art direction over the next 10 years. Every interaction with a screen has to be designed. If you can become even better at that while making a boatload of money and your ego is the only thing stopping you then get over it and do it. You could always ask for a (Associate) Design Director title to blunt a perceived demotion, too.

I’m also going to throw this out: purely on your years of experience you’re paid WELL over what your peers are. At that money, if they want to let you do the work you want to, but your title is “Janitor” you shut up and take the job. And save as much money as you possibly can

This person is a dirty liar , or is part of some shenanigans . Either way, you are trouble.

At 200k, 25 won’t make a difference to your lifestyle. Unless you’re in Venezuela, then get as much money as possible. You’re probably being severely underpaid.

@op i don’t think you’re lying and I am super jealous. And if your company is multi-city DM me. Not joking. Mama had tiny mouths to feed (cats, they’re cats)

Old Guy Opinion:
Take what’s offered.
Save your money.
One day you won’t be in demand.
(Not an insult to your skills)

It’s ridiculous to say AD ———-> designer is a demotion and is frankly disrespectful. They have different functions and they produce different types of work. It’s not all about film or Campaigns in the creative industry. Ever heard of branding? Michael Beirut? Paula Scher? Michael fletcher? Ever seen Paula scher’s 1.5 million dollar Citi bank logo? Please open your eyes and respect what others do. @ACD5, complete agree with you.

@Deloitte - big ups for the use of the interrobang.

@SAD: it exists and I am grateful for it coming from a min wage background.

Strategically, it’s not the best move. There’re not that many art director jobs that pay 200K+. There’re even fewer designers who earn 225K+. Plus you are not wrong thinking that an art director title is more prestigious, it’s much easier to go from art director to designer than back. It looks like a trap to me. 14% raise is not worth the risk.

This is confusing. Any more context? Damn making 200k!?

came here to say that the amount of ADs & CDs shitting on designers in this thread is mind blowing. in most cases, you wouldn’t have a good chunk of your half-baked, regurgitated ideation brought to life without the help of one.

Michael Beirut is a Designer. He's probably way beyond any seniority in this thread. Sure, he's also a partner, but "Designer" is like saying "architect"—Bjarke Ingels is an Architect. Know what I mean? Some design studios and "clients" have different hierarchies. An Art Director here at Nike is like an ACD. A Design Director is like a CD, then you have Sr. CD and then VP... So... Yeah. 200k for AD or 1M for Designer, just a matter of who you are. Some people do t want the responsibilities of a CD, but are in high demand and so on and so forth.

I’m really happy to have sparked such a great debate. I meant no disrespect to designers by being “demoted” because i don’t think it’s a demotion other than in title (and that is also flawed logic that was pointed out). That said, I’ve had a lot to think about and decided to make the jump because problem solving in the design world is more rewarding than in the AD world.

How many years of experience do you have?

So um.... where do you work? City? Agency?

Asking just in case they need an AD to fill your shoes.