Summary
- Strong progression reported: 70.3% advanced careers in past year
- Soft skills lead growth: 64.3% increased project influence
- Compensation lag: 46.2% saw no pay increase despite progress
- Mixed satisfaction: 42.1% highly satisfied with progression (5-7)
Takeaways
- Southeast Asian designers are increasingly building influence, with project impact growing faster than job level advancement.
- A concerning gap exists between career progress and compensation, with nearly half of advancing professionals seeing no financial recognition.
- While most designers report progress, moderate satisfaction levels suggest unfulfilled career development expectations.
- Design careers are evolving beyond traditional paths, with strategic influence and capability building becoming primary growth indicators over management roles.
- Financial recognition varies significantly, suggesting inconsistent recognition of design value across organisations.
Types of Career Growth
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Designers are found success in building influence, with 64.3% increasing project impact compared to 25.3% receiving promotions.
The data suggests Southeast Asian design careers prioritise:
- Building influence and authority
- Continuous skill development
- Leadership through impact regardless of IC or management roles
Notable
- Soft skills dominate progression metrics
- Traditional promotions rank lower (25.3%) despite high overall progress (70.3%)
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🎙️ Commentary
Looking at how designers are growing their career
- While designers are getting more responsibility, pay isn't keeping up - there's a 16.5% gap
- Many designers (64.3%) have more influence over projects, but we need better ways to show the value of this work
- Less than half of designers (42.1%) are happy with their career growth, possibly because they're learning about opportunities elsewhere
- Established career paths might not work for newer roles like Research or Content Operations
What This Means For You
If you're a designer:
- Look for ways to show your growth beyond just promotions and decide it that’s worth pursuing
- Consider different paths for growth, even if they're not official at your company
If you're leading a team:
- Think about how to measure and show the value of design work to justify investing in people's growth
- Consider how to support both traditional and new types of design careers
If you're running an organisation:
- Check if your career development plans match what your organisation needs
- Weigh the costs and benefits of creating formal career paths
Questions Worth Exploring
- How can we measure design's impact consistently across different companies?
- What makes a good career framework for different company sizes?
- How will new specialist roles change established career paths?
- Are companies ready for senior individual contributor roles beyond lead/staff like in tech companies?
Additional reading and references
Jump to
Overview
DemographicsRoles and ExperiencesCompensationCompanySentiments and Perceptions
Offer and NegotiationCareer ProgressionValue of DesignJob Market and OpportunitiesSupport this community initiative
Help grow our impact:
- Share this report with your networks and tag us at #DesignPayAsia
- Share your story on social media using #DesignPayAsia
- Contribute to our open pay database, especially if you're based in Southeast Asia
- Take part in future research to strengthen our understanding of the regional design industry
Your input helps create transparency and enables better career decisions for designers across the region.
