Commercial and Industrial Designers
Architecture and ConstructionO*NET 27-1021.00United States
Design and develop manufactured products, such as cars, home appliances, and children's toys. Combine artistic talent with research on product use, marketing, and materials to create the most functional and appealing product design.
- Median annual earnings
- $82,219
- Projected change
- +2.9%
- Typical education
- Bachelor's degree
- Employment
- 34.38K jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
67.9% of the workforce
Growing to 35.37K by 2035
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These courses and certificates are connected through catalog career relationships and Lightcast skill tags.
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The work
What commercial and industrial designers do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- Prepare sketches of ideas, detailed drawings, illustrations, artwork, or blueprints, using drafting instruments, paints and brushes, or computer-aided design equipment.
- Modify and refine designs, using working models, to conform with customer specifications, production limitations, or changes in design trends.
- Evaluate feasibility of design ideas, based on factors such as appearance, safety, function, serviceability, budget, production costs/methods, and market characteristics.
- Confer with engineering, marketing, production, or sales departments, or with customers, to establish and evaluate design concepts for manufactured products.
- Present designs and reports to customers or design committees for approval and discuss need for modification.
- Research production specifications, costs, production materials, and manufacturing methods and provide cost estimates and itemized production requirements.
- Direct and coordinate the fabrication of models or samples and the drafting of working drawings and specification sheets from sketches.
- Develop manufacturing procedures and monitor the manufacture of their designs in a factory to improve operations and product quality.
- Investigate product characteristics such as the product's safety and handling qualities, its market appeal, how efficiently it can be produced, and ways of distributing, using, and maintaining it.
- Participate in new product planning or market research, including studying the potential need for new products.
- Read publications, attend showings, and study competing products and design styles and motifs to obtain perspective and generate design concepts.
- Fabricate models or samples in paper, wood, glass, fabric, plastic, metal, or other materials, using hand or power tools.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $51,395
- 25th percentile
- $64,499
- 50th percentile
- $82,219
- 75th percentile
- $108,704
- 90th percentile
- $147,390
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $82,219 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
+2.9%average or slower
202534,375 jobs
2035 projected35,366 jobs
991 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- Bachelor's degree
- 67.9%
- Some college
- 15.2%
- Associate degree
- 12.3%
- High school diploma or less
- 4.3%
- Certificate
- 0.3%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- 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.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Operations Analysis
- Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Technology Design
- Generating or adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Product Designers3,306 postings
- 02Product Engineers1,707 postings
- 03Product Development Engineers1,200 postings
- 04Product Design Engineers1,017 postings
- 05Packaging Designers749 postings
- 06Industrial Designers643 postings
- 07Lead Product Designers367 postings
- 08Supplier Development Engineers363 postings
- 09Development Engineers352 postings
- 10Designers344 postings
- 11Brand Designers323 postings
- 12Principal Product Managers322 postings
- 13Engineers302 postings
- 14Footwear Designers239 postings
- 15Project Engineers211 postings
- 16New Product Development Engineers173 postings
- 17Mechanical Designers170 postings
- 18Principal Engineers166 postings
- 19Directors of Product Design144 postings
- 20Test Development Engineers137 postings
Top employers
- 01Apple404 postings
- 02Actalent317 postings
- 03Ford235 postings
- 04Nike216 postings
- 05Amazon193 postings
- 06General Motors191 postings
- 07Capital One179 postings
- 08Stellantis165 postings
- 09Meta155 postings
- 10Blue Origin142 postings
- 11Speechify140 postings
- 12Molex128 postings
- 13Robert Half118 postings
- 14Insight Global110 postings
- 15Ford Global Career Site105 postings
- 16Yahoo Holdings102 postings
- 17Amphenol101 postings
- 18Accenture95 postings
- 19Microsoft95 postings
- 20Fourth Floor92 postings
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