Career Explorer Arts, media and sport
Changing shape
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.
Changing faster than most: more resilient than 32% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it high), and US jobs are projected to change by +2.4% by 2035, slower than average. The work leans on creative vision and ethical judgement.
AI can do many of the tasks, and hiring is expected to grow slower than average or to shrink. The job is likely to change, so build the human parts of it.
- Median pay (2025)
- $83,910
- Job growth to 2035
- +2.4%
- Openings a year
- 2,800
- People doing it (2025)
- 35,400
- Usual route in
- Bachelor's degree
Where people already use AI for this work
- Explain technical details of products or services
- Communicate with others about specifications or project details
- Create artistic designs or performances
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Collect data about consumer needs or opinions
- Estimate project development or operational costs
- Direct construction or extraction activities
What the work looks like
- 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.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Agricultural engineersGrows with AI, Index 66, +6.9%
- Mechanical engineersGrows with AI, Index 38, +11.2%
- Electrical engineersGrows with AI, Index 59, +9.9%
- Materials engineersGrows with AI, Index 61, +7.5%
Also known as: Design Engineer, Designer, Industrial Designer, Product Designer, Mechanical Designer, Mold Designer, Product Design Engineer, Product Development Engineer.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.