Annual Salary
variable
Average UK salary in 2022 was £33,200
(source Office for National Statistics)
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Set designers design and create the settings for commercials, television, theatre and films.
Average UK salary in 2022 was £33,200
(source Office for National Statistics)
You could work: freelance / self-employed; managing your own hours
There will be
0.5% more Set designer jobs in 2027.
As a set designer, you could:
You could work in a theatre, in an office, on a film set, in a creative studio, from home or at a film studio.
Your working environment may be physically demanding and outdoors some of the time.
You can get into this job through:
You can study for a higher national diploma or degree in a relevant subject, like:
You could also do a course in performing arts production or design for film and television at some universities, colleges and drama schools.
You'll usually need:
You could do a college course to learn some of the skills you'll need for this job. Courses include:
You'll usually need:
You could do a Scenic Artist Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship.
This usually takes around 2 years to complete as a mix of study and workplace learning.
You'll usually need:
You could start in a junior position and work your way up. For example, you could start as a:
You'll find it useful to build a portfolio of your design work to show to potential employers. This might include sets you've designed for amateur theatre, school plays or films.
To get experience to include in your portfolio, you could get involved in:
More information
You can find out more about working as a set designer from ScreenSkills and other creative careers from Discover Creative Careers.
With experience, you could work on larger film, TV and theatre productions.
Creative Skillset and Creative Careers has more information on relevant courses and becoming a set designer.
You'll need: