Can Agents Work?

Jobs / Design, media, and writing / 27-1021.00

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.

US jobs
33,490
Median wage
$83,910 a year
Job family
Design, media, and writing

Can agents do the work of commercial and industrial designers?

We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Design, media, and writing:

  • Task levelPartialOnly adjacent evidence. OSWorld-Verified includes tasks in image, slide, and document apps, and the best agent passes 90.2% of all its computer tasks. No task-level benchmark in our collection scores the quality of design or writing work.
  • Project levelNot yetOn the Remote Labor Index, which includes graphic design, video, 3D, audio, and web projects from freelance platforms, the best agent completed 15.8% of projects to a standard a client would accept. GDPval deliverables score higher (84.9% wins or ties against professionals, reported by OpenAI), but those tasks are one-shot and fully specified.

Benchmarks for the job family

These cover work in design, media, and writing, not always this occupation's tasks.

Typical tasks

From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.

  • 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.
Other job titles for this occupation (62)

Design Engineer · Designer · Industrial Designer · Mechanical Designer · Mold Designer · Product Design Engineer · Product Designer · Product Development Engineer · Sign Designer · Art Glass Designer · Automobile Designer · Bank Note Designer · Bicycle Designer · Bike Designer · Boat Designer · Body Stylist · Car Body Designer · Ceramic Designer · Ceramic Mold Designer · Cloth Designer · Color Advisor · Color Consultant · Color Expert · Commercial Designer · Embroidery Designer · Engineer · Fabric Designer · Fire Sprinkler Designer · Furniture Designer · Game Designer · Lighting Designer · Memorial Designer · Motorcycle Designer · New Product Development Engineer · Ornamental Metalwork Designer · Package Designer · Packaging Designer · Pottery Decoration Designer · Product Developer · Product Development Specialist · Product Expert · Product Manager · Product Sustaining Engineer · Robot Designer · Robotic Toy Inventor · Roller Coaster Designer · Rug Designer · Safety Clothing Developer · Safety Equipment Developer · Silver Designer · Snowboard Designer · Stained Glass Artist · Stained Glass Window Designer · Surfboard Designer · Textile Designer · Tile Designer · Toy Designer · Toy Maker · UI Product Designer (User Interface Product Designer) · UX Product Designer (User Experience Product Designer) · Weapons Designer · Weapons Engineer