Explore the rankings
Creative & Media · Updated Aug 2026

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.

JVS 2.0.0-phase4b
AI Exposure
67/100
High

How much of this occupation’s work can be materially affected by current AI systems.

Replacement Risk
58/100
Moderate

How likely exposure is to translate into reduced human demand.

Includes provisional estimates for AI adoption pressure and labour-market resilience. How this is measured

Evidence quality
Confidence83/100
Task coverage86%

Confidence reflects task coverage, mapping and capability-evidence quality, and how much of the score rests on provisional inputs.

Task-level evidence

What is driving the score?

Occupation scores are built from the task mix—not a single prediction about a job title.

JVS 2.0.0-phase4b
TaskImportanceAI impactExposure
Prepare sketches of ideas, detailed drawings, illustrations, artwork, or blueprints, using drafting instruments, paints and brushes, or computer-aided design equipment.High
70
Modify and refine designs, using working models, to conform with customer specifications, production limitations, or changes in design trends.High
65
Evaluate feasibility of design ideas, based on factors such as appearance, safety, function, serviceability, budget, production costs/methods, and market characteristics.High
72
Confer with engineering, marketing, production, or sales departments, or with customers, to establish and evaluate design concepts for manufactured products.Medium
69
Present designs and reports to customers or design committees for approval and discuss need for modification.Medium
68
Investigate product characteristics such as the product's safety and handling qualities, its market appeal, how efficiently it can be produced, and ways of distributing, using, and maintaining it.Medium
74
Research production specifications, costs, production materials, and manufacturing methods and provide cost estimates and itemized production requirements.Medium
71
Design graphic material for use as ornamentation, illustration, or advertising on manufactured materials and packaging or containers.Medium
70
Participate in new product planning or market research, including studying the potential need for new products.Medium
72
Develop manufacturing procedures and monitor the manufacture of their designs in a factory to improve operations and product quality.Medium
56
Direct and coordinate the fabrication of models or samples and the drafting of working drawings and specification sheets from sketches.Medium
59
Read publications, attend showings, and study competing products and design styles and motifs to obtain perspective and generate design concepts.Medium
74
Fabricate models or samples in paper, wood, glass, fabric, plastic, metal, or other materials, using hand or power tools.Medium
38
Most exposed

Where AI can do more

Routine, digitized, and highly repeatable tasks face the greatest pressure.

  1. Investigate product characteristics such as the product's safety and handling qualities, its market appeal, how efficiently it can be produced, and ways of distributing, using, and maintaining it.74
  2. Read publications, attend showings, and study competing products and design styles and motifs to obtain perspective and generate design concepts.74
  3. Evaluate feasibility of design ideas, based on factors such as appearance, safety, function, serviceability, budget, production costs/methods, and market characteristics.72
  4. Participate in new product planning or market research, including studying the potential need for new products.72
Hardest to automate

Where people still matter

These tasks score lowest on automation feasibility—physical presence, judgement, accountability and real-world variability all resist end-to-end automation.

  1. Fabricate models or samples in paper, wood, glass, fabric, plastic, metal, or other materials, using hand or power tools.01
  2. Prepare sketches of ideas, detailed drawings, illustrations, artwork, or blueprints, using drafting instruments, paints and brushes, or computer-aided design equipment.02
  3. Modify and refine designs, using working models, to conform with customer specifications, production limitations, or changes in design trends.03
  4. Evaluate feasibility of design ideas, based on factors such as appearance, safety, function, serviceability, budget, production costs/methods, and market characteristics.04
  5. Confer with engineering, marketing, production, or sales departments, or with customers, to establish and evaluate design concepts for manufactured products.05
Where else this work leads

Related occupations

Occupations O*NET links to this one. Relatedness reflects shared work, not a claim that these roles are safer.

See all rankings →
Beyond AI capability

Adoption and labour-market outlook

Structural factors are kept separate from raw capability so you can see what actually resists automation. Adoption pressure and labour-market resilience are still provisional models—25% of this occupation’s replacement-risk weight rests on them.

Human dependency63
Physical dependency32
Adoption pressure55
Labour-market resilience59
Methodology & sources

O*NET 30.3 occupational data interpreted through the JobsVsAI capability, automation and structural-constraint models.

Confidence83/100
CalculatedAug 21, 2026
Read methodology →