Commercial Designer

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 reports this occupation under titles such as: Design Engineer; Designer; Industrial Designer; Mechanical Designer; Mold Designer; Product Design Engineer; Product Designer; Product Development Engineer; Sign Designer

Tasks

• Prepare sketches of ideas, detailed drawings, illustrations, artwork, or blueprints, using drafting instruments, paints and brushes, or computer-aided design equipment.
• Modify and refine designs, using working models, to conform with customer specifications, production limitations, or changes in design trends.
• Evaluate feasibility of design ideas, based on factors such as appearance, safety, function, serviceability, budget, production costs/methods, and market characteristics.
• Confer with engineering, marketing, production, or sales departments, or with customers, to establish and evaluate design concepts for manufactured products.
• Present designs and reports to customers or design committees for approval and discuss need for modification.
• Research production specifications, costs, production materials, and manufacturing methods and provide cost estimates and itemized production requirements.
• Direct and coordinate the fabrication of models or samples and the drafting of working drawings and specification sheets from sketches.
• 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.
• Develop manufacturing procedures and monitor the manufacture of their designs in a factory to improve operations and product quality.
• Participate in new product planning or market research, including studying the potential need for new products.
• Read publications, attend showings, and study competing products and design styles and motifs to obtain perspective and generate design concepts.
• Fabricate models or samples in paper, wood, glass, fabric, plastic, metal, or other materials, using hand or power tools.

Knowledge

• Engineering and Technology
• Design
• Production and Processing
• Mechanical
• Computers and Electronics
• Mathematics
• English Language
• Physics
• Administrative
• Sales and Marketing

Skills

• Active Listening
• Reading Comprehension
• Critical Thinking
• Speaking
• Writing
• Monitoring
• Active Learning

Abilities

• Fluency of Ideas
• Originality
• Near Vision
• Oral Comprehension
• Written Comprehension
• Oral Expression
• Deductive Reasoning
• Visualization
• Problem Sensitivity
• Information Ordering
• Speech Recognition
• Speech Clarity
• Inductive Reasoning
• Visual Color Discrimination
• Written Expression
• Category Flexibility
• Flexibility of Closure
• Selective Attention
• Far Vision