Commercial and Industrial Designers
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 pay
- $83,910
- Doing it now
- 35,400
- By 2035
- Up 2.4%
- Usually needs
- Bachelor's degree
a year
across the country
2,800 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- Prepare sketches of ideas, detailed drawings, illustrations, artwork, or blueprints, using drafting instruments, paints and brushes, or computer-aided design equipment.
- Direct and coordinate the fabrication of models or samples and the drafting of working drawings and specification sheets from sketches.
- Modify and refine designs, using working models, to conform with customer specifications, production limitations, or changes in design trends.
- 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.
- Evaluate feasibility of design ideas, based on factors such as appearance, safety, function, serviceability, budget, production costs/methods, and market characteristics.
- Read publications, attend showings, and study competing products and design styles and motifs to obtain perspective and generate design concepts.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- Design and Applied ArtsSee 679 colleges that teach it
- Engineering-Related FieldsSee 89 colleges that teach it
- Energy Systems Technologies/TechniciansSee 19 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Creative and expressive
Hands-on and practical
Analytical and curious
Careers like this one
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $83,910 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.