Commercial and Industrial Designers
Explore safer careers (2)
Lower estimated automation risk
Why it fits
Applies materials, ergonomics, color, finishes, client needs, spatial constraints, and presentation boards.
Why it fits
Uses spatial form, materials, fabrication constraints, prototypes, visual storytelling, and client presentation.
Alternative careers
Related career paths that build on similar skills and experience
Why it fits
Fits designers with manufacturing focus using workflow constraints, ergonomics, productivity data, layouts, and process improvement.
Why it fits
Fits experienced designers using visual direction, concepts, brand standards, creative teams, reviews, and client approvals.
Occupation snapshot
What does this snowflake show?
What's this?
We rate jobs using four factors. These are:
- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions
These are some key things to think about when job hunting.
Risk & user votes
Calculated automation risk
Low Risk (21-40%): This occupation has a lower risk of full replacement by AI, software, or robotic systems. Some tasks may be automated or assisted, but the role usually still relies on human judgement, communication, responsibility, physical adaptability, or practical decision-making.
More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.
Human strengths important in this job
These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.
Decision-making and problem solving
Very importantWhy this matters
Thinking creatively
Quite importantWhy this matters
Persuasion
Quite importantWhy this matters
Social perceptiveness
Quite importantWhy this matters
Communicating with people outside the organization
Quite importantWhy this matters
Show 2 more strengths
Active learning
Quite importantWhy this matters
Operations analysis
Quite importantWhy this matters
What users think
Based on 203 votes
Our visitors have voted there's a low chance this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 27% chance of automation.
What do you think the risk of automation is?
What is the likelihood that Commercial and Industrial Designers will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?
Sentiment
Based on user votes over time
View sentiment trend
How opinions have changed over time
Pay & outlook
Wages
In 2024, the median annual wage for Commercial and Industrial Designers was $79,450 ($38 per hour).
The median annual wage for Commercial and Industrial Designers was 60.5% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.
View wage trend
Wages over time
Growth
The number of 'Commercial and Industrial Designers' job openings is expected to rise 3.2% by 2034
View employment trend
Total employment, and estimated job openings
Updated projections are due 09-2025.
Volume
As of 2024 there were 30,250 people employed as 'Commercial and Industrial Designers' within the United States.
This represents around < 0.001% of the employed workforce across the country
Put another way, around 1 in 5 thousand people are employed as 'Commercial and Industrial Designers'.
People also viewed
Job description
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.
O*NET-SOC code: 27-1021.00
What people are saying (18)
Of course, modern designers work in a multidisciplinary manner and communicate between the various fields of product development. They are not as isolated as the qualities listed above suggest, so I doubt they will become extinct too quickly.
Companies are unlikely to risk their money and reputation on AI wild shots without some form of sentient consideration. Despite this, I bet some will try it anyway, and I am honestly eager to see them succeed.
Advanced creative tasks like innovation management and the expansion of the product portfolio are too important for companies to leave exclusively to tools right now. This job will likely adapt and merge a lot more with engineering and management disciplines.
It is normal for jobs to change with technology.
However, the human-like quality of AI, like Chat GPT3 and others, is still primitive in capacity, even though their articulation is top-notch, to say the least. Even then, it is not enough to design products at the capacity that humans currently are capable of.
Certain design fields will probably struggle to reduce their dependency on humans, like graphic design, illustrations, and animation design. However, fields like product or industrial design, architecture, and the like are not likely to be replaced any time soon.
For now and in the foreseeable future, I see AI as a personal assistant to industrial designers rather than a threat.
Given a certain prompt and a starting image, an AI could create thousands of designs, each better than the last one.
New CAD tools will optimize and speed up the development process. Consequently, companies will hire fewer employees and expect more from them. This could lead to worker burnout and exploitation becoming even more common, due to the limited staff.
Prospective employees, in addition to having exceptional artistic skills, will also be expected to have proficiency in programming.
In my humble opinion, it falls under creative technology. It doesn't matter what you are actually designing; you're always going to, in the end, design a new way of living.
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