Where an industrial designer can go next
12 destinations recorded, ranked by how much of the target role an industrial designer already meets. The closer to the top of Table 1, the less there is to learn.
Industrial designers work out ideas and develop them into designs and concepts for a wide variety of manufactured products. They integrate creativity, aesthetics, production feasibility, and market relevance in the design of new products.
Also known as product designer, 3D CAD designer, packaging designer, product design specialist, glass products designer, toy designer, 3D CAD design specialist, industrial design specialist, ceramic products designer, CAD design specialist, ergonomic designer, industrial design expert.
Professionals 67 skills on file 12 career moves 1 above 60% overlap Closest: ergonomist, 81%
- 70% and above · short step
- 50 to 70% · real move
- Below 50% · substantial retraining
Table 2 · A bigger jump
Possible, but expect real retraining rather than a sideways step.
- furniture designer 46% covered · difficulty 56
- design engineer 41% covered · difficulty 61.5
- engine designer 41% covered · difficulty 55.6
- automotive designer 38% covered · difficulty 65.1
- industrial tool design engineer 38% covered · difficulty 65
- container equipment design engineer 36% covered · difficulty 64
- tooling engineer 36% covered · difficulty 68.5
- printed circuit board designer 35% covered · difficulty 60.6
- fluid power engineer 34% covered · difficulty 66
- manufacturing cost estimator 34% covered · difficulty 62.8
Table 3 · What the job itself asks for
An industrial designer needs 20 required skills and areas of knowledge. These 10 are the ones fewest other jobs share, so they say the most about the work.
- perform ideation activities communication, collaboration and creativity
- industrial design arts and humanities
- conduct research on trends in design information skills
- design management business, administration and law
- ergonomics services
- present artistic design proposals communication, collaboration and creativity
- determine suitability of materials communication, collaboration and creativity
- aesthetics arts and humanities
- draw design sketches communication, collaboration and creativity
- follow a brief communication, collaboration and creativity
Table 4 · Jobs that lead here
The reverse view: occupations whose skills already cover much of what an industrial designer does. The figure is how much of this job each one brings.
Look up another occupation
Industrial designer is filed under Professionals, ISCO major group 2. The full index lists all ten groups.
How these figures were compiled
Overlap is how much of the target role is already part of an industrial designer’s work. It is directional: the figure for the reverse move differs. Every entry above opens the full comparison for that move: what carries over, what is missing, and where to start. The full method.