Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media · Holland code ARI

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.

Also called: Design Engineer, Designer, Industrial Designer, Product Designer, Mechanical Designer, Mold Designer, Product Design Engineer, Product Development Engineer.

O*NET 27-1021.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $83,910; Middle half earn $66,450 to $109,050. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Bachelor's Degree; 68% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 4 of 5; Considerable preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034: +3% · As fast as average; 30,600 jobs in 2024, projected 31,600. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Industrial designers".

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

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.
Develop industrial standards and regulatory guidelines.
Research production specifications, costs, production materials, and manufacturing methods and provide cost estimates and itemized production requirements.
Coordinate the look and function of product lines.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Active Listening4.0 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.9 / 5
Critical Thinking3.8 / 5
Speaking3.5 / 5
Writing3.1 / 5
Monitoring3.1 / 5

Knowledge areas

Design4.7 / 5
Engineering and Technology4.7 / 5
Production and Processing4.0 / 5
Mechanical4.0 / 5
Computers and Electronics3.9 / 5
Mathematics3.7 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic60
Investigative51
Artistic76
Social14
Enterprising45
Conventional41

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

design engineer · DE Konstruktionsingenieur/Konstruktionsingenieurin · FR ingénieur d’études/ingénieure d’études
industrial designer · DE Industriedesigner/Industriedesignerin · FR designer industriel/designeuse industrielle
automotive designer · DE Automobildesigner/Automobildesignerin · FR designer automobile/designeuse automobile
fashion designer · DE Modedesigner/Modedesignerin · FR créateur de mode/créatrice de mode
furniture designer · DE Möbeldesigner/Möbeldesignerin · FR designer mobilier/designeuse mobilier
leather goods product developer · DE Lederwarenentwickler/Lederwarenentwicklerin · FR concepteur de produits en maroquinerie/conceptrice de produits en maroquinerie

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Interior designers (3421)40,600 employed
Clothing, fashion and accessories designers (3422)18,300 employed
Graphic and multimedia designers (2142)123,000 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Japan

Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “デザイナー”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.

Median monthly pay: ¥326,500; Middle half earn ¥266,100 to ¥421,500 a month.
Workers in the category: 91,450; Regular employees in firms of ten or more.

Scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses, so it is not comparable to the annual figures above. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025, via e-Stat, under the Japanese Government Standard Terms of Use. The category match was made by hand.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€61,714
Germany	€59,529
Ireland	€56,877
Austria	€55,374
Netherlands	€53,595
Sweden	€43,567
France	€41,515
Spain	€35,735
Italy	€33,649
Portugal	€26,072
Poland	€14,380

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +0.87. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (27-1021).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test