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Career profile Floral Designer

Also known as Designer, Floral Artist, Floral Clerk, Floral Department Specialist, Floral Designer, Florist, Flower Shop Laborer/Designer, Wedding Decorator

Floral Designer

Also known as Designer, Floral Artist, Floral Clerk

Interests Profile
  • Artistic
  • Enterprising
  • Realistic
Pay Range
$20,110 - $43,150 (annual)
Required Skills
  • Active Listening
  • Speaking
  • Social Perceptiveness
Knowledge Areas
  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Production and Processing
  • Sales and Marketing
Core tasks
  • Confer with clients regarding price and type of arrangement desired and the date, time, and place of delivery.
  • Select flora and foliage for arrangements, working with numerous combinations to synthesize and develop new creations.
  • Order and purchase flowers and supplies from wholesalers and growers.
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What does a Floral Designer do?

Floral Designers design, cut, and arrange live, dried, or artificial flowers and foliage.

What kind of tasks does a Floral Designer perform regularly?

Floral Designers are often responsible for overseeing or executing some or all of the following tasks:

  • Confer with clients regarding price and type of arrangement desired and the date, time, and place of delivery.
  • Select flora and foliage for arrangements, working with numerous combinations to synthesize and develop new creations.
  • Order and purchase flowers and supplies from wholesalers and growers.
  • Deliver arrangements to customers, or oversee employees responsible for deliveries.
  • Plan arrangement according to client's requirements, using knowledge of design and properties of materials, or select appropriate standard design pattern.
  • Water plants, and cut, condition, and clean flowers and foliage for storage.
  • Trim material and arrange bouquets, wreaths, terrariums, and other items, using trimmers, shapers, wire, pins, floral tape, foam, and other materials.
  • Wrap and price completed arrangements.
  • Perform office and retail service duties, such as keeping financial records, serving customers, answering telephones, selling giftware items, and receiving payment.
  • Unpack stock as it comes into the shop.
  • Create and change in-store and window displays, designs, and looks to enhance a shop's image.
  • Inform customers about the care, maintenance, and handling of various flowers and foliage, indoor plants, and other items.
  • Perform general cleaning duties in the store to ensure the shop is clean and tidy.
  • Decorate, or supervise the decoration of, buildings, halls, churches, or other facilities for parties, weddings and other occasions.

The above responsibilities are specific to Floral Designers. More generally, Floral Designers are involved in several broader types of activities:

Getting Information
Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
Thinking Creatively
Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work
Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
Performing for or Working Directly with the Public
Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.
Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.

What is a Floral Designer salary?

The median salary for a Floral Designer is $29,140, and the average salary is $30,670. Both the median and average roughly describe the middle of the Floral Designer salary range, but the average is more easily affected by extremely high or low salaries.

Many Floral Designers earn significantly more or less than the average, due to several factors. About 10% of Floral Designers earn less than $20,110 per year, 25% earn less than $24,050, 75% earn less than $35,750, and 90% earn less than $43,150.

Between the years of 2020 and 2030, the number of Floral Designers is expected to change by -20.1%, and there should be roughly 2,600 open positions for Floral Designers every year.

Median annual salary
$29,140
Typical salary range
$20,110 - $43,150
Projected growth (2020 - 2030)
-20.1%

What personality traits are common among Floral Designers?

Interests

Career interests describe a person's preferences for different types of working environments and activities. When a person's interest match the demands of an occupation, people are usually more engaged and satisfied in that role.

Compared to most occupations, those who work as a Floral Designer are usually higher in their Artistic, Enterprising, and Realistic interests.

Floral Designers typically have very strong Artistic interests. Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

Also, Floral Designers typically have strong Enterprising interests. Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

Lastly, Floral Designers typically have moderate Realistic interests. Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Values

People differ in their values, or what is most important to them for building job satisfaction and fulfillment.

Compared to most people, those working as a Floral Designer tend to value Achievement, Relationships, and Independence.

Most importantly, Floral Designers strongly value Achievement. Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.

Second, Floral Designers moderately value Relationships. Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment.

Lastly, Floral Designers moderately value Independence. Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions.

Psychological Demands

Each occupation brings its own set of psychological demands, which describe the characteristics necessary to perform the job well.

In order to perform their job successfully, people who work as Floral Designers must consistently demonstrate qualities such as dependability, attention to detail, and integrity.

Below, you'll find a list of qualities typically required of Floral Designers, ranked by importance:

Dependability
Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Attention to Detail
Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Integrity
Job requires being honest and ethical.
Cooperation
Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Concern for Others
Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.

What education and training do Floral Designers need?

Working as a Floral Designer usually requires a high school diploma.

Floral Designers need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with this occupation.

Educational degrees among Floral Designers

  • 10.2% did not complete high school or secondary school
  • 36.1% completed high school or secondary school
  • 22.3% completed some college coursework
  • 10.1% earned a Associate's degree
  • 17.6% earned a Bachelor's degree
  • 3.0% earned a Master's degree
  • 0.7% earned a doctorate or professional degree

Knowledge and expertise required by Floral Designers

Floral Designers may benefit from understanding of specialized subject areas, such as customer and personal service, production and processing, or sales and marketing knowledge.

The list below shows several areas in which most Floral Designers might want to build proficiency, ranked by importance.

Customer and Personal Service
Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Production and Processing
Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Sales and Marketing
Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Design
Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Administration and Management
Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

Important Abilities needed by Floral Designers

Floral Designers must develop a particular set of abilities to perform their job well. Abilities are individual capacities that influence a person's information processing, sensory perception, motor coordination, and physical strength or endurance. Individuals may naturally have certain abilities without explicit training, but most abilities can be sharpened somewhat through practice.

For example, Floral Designers need abilities such as oral comprehension, oral expression, and visualization in order to perform their job at a high level. The list below shows several important abilities for Floral Designers, ranked by their relative importance.

Oral Comprehension
The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Oral Expression
The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Visualization
The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
Originality
The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Near Vision
The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

Critical Skills needed by Floral Designers

Skills are developed capacities that enable people to function effectively in real-world settings. Unlike abilities, skills are typically easier to build through practice and experience. Skills influence effectiveness in areas such as learning, working with others, design, troubleshooting, and more.

Floral Designers frequently use skills like active listening, speaking, and social perceptiveness to perform their job effectively. The list below shows several critical skills for Floral Designers, ranked by their relative importance.

Active Listening
Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Speaking
Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Social Perceptiveness
Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Service Orientation
Actively looking for ways to help people.
Critical Thinking
Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.

What is the source of this information?

The information provided on this page is adapted from data and descriptions published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration under the CC BY 4.0 license. TraitLab has modified some information for ease of use and reading, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment, and Training Administration has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

If you have any questions or suggestions about this information, please send a message.