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Commercial and Industrial Designers

$75.91K Median Salary 3.1K Job Openings (Annual Projection) 5.7% Job Growth

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About This Career

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.

Reported Job Titles

Design Engineer, Designer, Industrial Designer, Mechanical Designer, Mold Designer, Product Design Engineer, Product Designer, Product Development Engineer, Sign Designer

Career data shown for:

Skills You'll Need

Click on skills to find related courses.

Abilities

Fluency of Ideas

Near Vision

Originality

Deductive Reasoning

Oral Comprehension

Oral Expression

Visualization

Written Comprehension

Information Ordering

Problem Sensitivity

Speech Recognition

Speech Clarity

Inductive Reasoning

Visual Color Discrimination

Category Flexibility

Flexibility of Closure

Selective Attention

Written Expression

Far Vision

Knowledge

Design

Engineering and Technology

Mechanical

Production and Processing

Computers and Electronics

Mathematics

English Language

Physics

Sales and Marketing

Administrative

Skills

Active Listening

Reading Comprehension

Complex Problem Solving

Critical Thinking

Speaking

Judgment and Decision Making

Operations Analysis

Time Management

Coordination

Monitoring

Persuasion

Social Perceptiveness

Technology Design

Writing

Active Learning

Systems Analysis

Systems Evaluation

Technology Skills

Computer aided design CAD software

Video creation and editing software

Graphics or photo imaging software

Development environment software

Object or component oriented development software

Desktop publishing software

Computer aided manufacturing CAM software

Analytical or scientific software

Web platform development software

Electronic mail software

Spreadsheet software

Geographic information system

Document management software

Enterprise resource planning ERP software

Desktop communications software

Office suite software

Cloud-based data access and sharing software

Operating system software

Word processing software

Graphical user interface development software

Financial analysis software

Internet browser software

Presentation software

Data base user interface and query software

Project management software

Process mapping and design software

Tools

Notebook computers

High capacity removable media drives

Digital cameras

Liquid crystal display projector

Desktop computers

Personal computers

Abilities

Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.

Knowledge

Design: Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Engineering and Technology: Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Mechanical: Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Production and Processing: Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Computers and Electronics: Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Mathematics: Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
English Language: Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Physics: Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Sales and Marketing: Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Administrative: Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.

Skills

Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Complex Problem Solving: Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Judgment and Decision Making: Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Operations Analysis: Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
Time Management: Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Coordination: Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Persuasion: Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Technology Design: Generating or adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs.
Writing: Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Active Learning: Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Systems Analysis: Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
Systems Evaluation: Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.

Technology Skills

Computer aided design CAD software: Autodesk AutoCAD; Autodesk Revit
Video creation and editing software: YouTube
Graphics or photo imaging software: SmugMug Flickr
Development environment software: Adobe Systems Adobe Creative Suite
Object or component oriented development software: Oracle Java
Desktop publishing software: Adobe Systems Adobe InDesign; Microsoft Publisher
Computer aided manufacturing CAM software: 1CadCam Unigraphics; Geometric CAMWorks; Siemens NX
Analytical or scientific software: Statistical analysis software; TapRooT
Web platform development software: Microsoft Active Server Pages ASP
Electronic mail software: IBM Notes; Microsoft Exchange; Microsoft Outlook
Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel
Geographic information system: ESRI ArcView; Geographic information system GIS systems
Document management software: Adobe Systems Adobe Acrobat; Filing system software; Records management software; Transcription system software
Enterprise resource planning ERP software: Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne; Oracle PeopleSoft; Oracle PeopleSoft Financials; SAP software
Desktop communications software: Edmodo
Office suite software: Microsoft Office software
Cloud-based data access and sharing software: Dropbox; Google Drive; Microsoft SharePoint
Operating system software: Microsoft Windows
Word processing software: 3M Post-it App; Evernote; Google Docs; Microsoft Word
Graphical user interface development software: Adobe Systems Adobe RoboHelp
Financial analysis software: Delphi Technology
Internet browser software: Web browser software
Presentation software: Microsoft PowerPoint
Data base user interface and query software: Blackboard software; Database software; Microsoft Access; Yardi software
Project management software: Mavenlink; Microsoft Project
Process mapping and design software: Microsoft Visio

Tools

Notebook computers: Laptop computers
High capacity removable media drives: Universal serial bus USB flash drives
Digital cameras:
Liquid crystal display projector: Liquid crystal display LCD projectors
Desktop computers:
Personal computers:

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