Industrial Designers

Summary

Industrial designers develop the concepts for manufactured products, such as cars, home appliances, and toys.

Quick Facts: Industrial Designers
2010 Median Pay	$58,230 per year $27.99 per hour
Entry-Level Education	Bachelor’s degree
Work Experience in a Related Occupation	None
On-the-job Training	None
Number of Jobs, 2010	40,800
Job Outlook, 2010-20	10% (About as fast as average)
Employment Change, 2010-20	4,300

What Industrial Designers Do

Industrial designers develop the concepts for manufactured products, such as cars, home appliances, and toys. They combine art, business, and engineering to make products that people use every day.

Work Environment

Industrial designers work in offices in a variety of industries. Although they design manufactured products, only about 29 percent of industrial designers are employed directly by manufacturers.

How to Become an Industrial Designer

A bachelor’s degree is usually required for most entry-level industrial design jobs. It is also important for industrial designers to have a professional portfolio with examples of their best design projects.

Pay

The median annual wage of industrial designers was $58,230 in May 2010.

Job Outlook

Employment of industrial designers is expected to grow by 10 percent from 2010 to 2020, about as fast as the average for all occupations. Increasing consumer demand for new products and new product styles should increase demand for industrial designers.

Similar Occupations

Compare the job duties, education, job growth, and pay of industrial designers with similar occupations.

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Contacts for More Information

Learn more about industrial designers by contacting these additional resources.

What Industrial Designers Do About this section

Industrial designers work primarily in offices, but they may travel to the places where the products are manufactured.

Industrial designers develop the concepts for manufactured products, such as cars, home appliances, and toys. They combine art, business, and engineering to make products that people use every day. Industrial designers focus on the user experience in creating style and function for a particular gadget or appliance.

Duties

Industrial designers typically do the following:

• Research who will use the product and the various ways it might be used
• Sketch out ideas or create blueprints
• Use computer software to develop virtual models of different designs
• Examine materials and production costs to determine manufacturing requirements
• Work with other specialists to evaluate whether their design concepts will fill the need at a reasonable cost
• Evaluate product safety, appearance, and function to determine if a design is practical
• Present designs and demonstrate prototypes to clients for approval

Industrial designers generally focus on a particular product category. For example, some design medical equipment, while others work on consumer electronics products, such as computers or smart phones. Other designers develop ideas for new bicycles, furniture, housewares, or snowboards.

They imagine how consumers might use a product and test different designs with consumers to see how each design looks and works. Industrial designers often work with engineers, production experts, and marketing specialists to find out if their designs are feasible and to apply their colleagues’ professional expertise to their designs. For example, industrial designers may work with marketing specialists to develop plans to market new product designs to consumers. 

Computers are a major tool for industrial designers. They use computer-aided design software (CAD) to sketch ideas because computers make it easy to make changes and show alternatives. If they work for manufacturers, they may also use computer-aided industrial design software (CAID) to create specific machine-readable instructions that tell other machines exactly how to build the product.

Work Environment About this section

Work spaces for industrial designers often include drafting tables and meeting rooms for brainstorming with colleagues.

Industrial designers held about 40,800 jobs in 2010. Work spaces for industrial designers often include drafting tables for sketching designs, meeting rooms with whiteboards for brainstorming with colleagues, and computers and other office equipment for preparing designs and communicating with clients. Although industrial designers work primarily in offices, they may travel to testing facilities, design centers, client's exhibit sites, users' homes or workplaces, and places where the product is manufactured.

Although they design manufactured products, only about 29 percent of industrial designers are employed directly by manufacturers. The following industries employed the most industrial designers in 2010:

Work Schedules

Most industrial designers work full time, especially if they are employed by manufacturers, large corporations, or design firms.

Many industrial designers are self-employed or work for firms that hire them out to other organizations that need industrial design services. In these cases, industrial designers frequently adjust their workday to meet with clients in the evenings or on weekends. In addition, they may spend some of their time looking for new projects or competing with other designers for contracts. 

How to Become an Industrial Designer About this section

A bachelor’s degree in industrial design, architecture, or engineering is usually required for entry-level industrial design jobs.

A bachelor’s degree is usually required for most entry-level industrial design jobs. It is also important for industrial designers to have a professional portfolio with examples of their best design projects.

Education

A bachelor’s degree in industrial design, architecture, or engineering is usually required for entry-level industrial design jobs. Most design programs include the courses that industrial designers need in design: sketching, computer-aided design and drafting (CADD), industrial materials and processes, and manufacturing methods.

The National Association of Schools of Art and Design accredits approximately 300 postsecondary colleges, universities, and independent institutes with programs in art and design. Many schools require successful completion of some basic art and design courses before entry into a bachelor's degree program. Applicants also may need to submit sketches and other examples of their artistic ability.

Many programs provide students with the opportunity to build a professional portfolio of their designs by collecting examples of their designs from classroom projects, internships, or other experiences. Students can use these examples of their work to demonstrate their design skills when applying for jobs and bidding on contracts for work.

An increasing number of designers are also getting a Master of Business Administration (MBA) to gain business skills. Business skills help designers understand how to fit their designs into a firm’s overall business plan.

Work Experience

Industrial designers typically demonstrate their knowledge and skill by promoting their best designs from previous projects. Work experience is another way to build a good reputation and establish expertise in an industrial design specialty.

Advancement

Experienced designers in large firms may advance to chief designer, design department head, or other supervisory positions. Some designers become teachers in design schools or in colleges and universities. Many teachers continue to consult privately or operate small design studios in addition to teaching. Some experienced designers open their own design firms.

Important Qualities

Creativity. Industrial designers must be innovative. They imagine new designs and new uses for their products.

Critical-thinking skills. They use logic or reasoning skills to study the market for new products and participate in planning new products.

Interpersonal skills. Industrial designers must communicate well to develop cooperative working relationships with colleagues and customers.

Problem-solving skills. They identify complex design problems, such as the need, size, cost, and anticipate production issues, then develop alternatives, evaluate options, and implement solutions.

Technical skills. Industrial designers must understand the technical aspects of how products work, at least for the types of products that they design.

Pay About this section

The median annual wage of industrial designers was $58,230 in May 2010. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $33,190, and the top 10 percent earned more than $94,270.

As shown in the tabulation below, median annual wages for industrial designers in the manufacturing industry was $55,520 in May 2010, lower than the median annual wage for the occupation in general.

Most industrial designers work full time, especially if they are employed by manufacturers, large corporations, or design firms.

Many industrial designers are self-employed or work for firms that hire them out to other organizations that need industrial design services. In these cases, industrial designers frequently adjust their workday to meet with clients in the evenings or on weekends. In addition, they may spend some of their time looking for new projects or competing with other designers for contracts.

Job Outlook About this section

Employment of industrial designers is expected to grow by 10 percent from 2010 to 2020, about as fast as the average for all occupations. Increasing consumer demand for new products and new product styles should increase demand for industrial designers. However, growth will be slower for contract design firms because smaller manufacturers are usually cautious about committing new resources for product development.

Employment of industrial designers who design precision instruments and medical equipment is likely to grow more rapidly. Both areas require a high degree of technical ability and design sophistication. Products in these areas also require detailed specifications and precise equipment manufacturing because of the delicate uses of the finished product.

Job Prospects

Prospects are best for job applicants with a strong background in computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided industrial design (CAID).

Contacts for More Information About this section

For more information about industrial designers, visit

Industrial Designers Society of America

For more information about accredited college-level programs in art and design, visit

National Association of Schools of Art and Design