What this occupation does
Graphic designers design or create graphics to meet specific commercial or promotional needs, such as packaging, displays, or logos. The role spans concepting, layout, typography, illustration, brand systems, and production-ready file delivery across print and digital media.
The exposure score in context
The ILO 2025 refined Generative AI Occupational Exposure Index places graphic designers in the high exposure gradient. ILO 2025 places graphic designers in the high exposure gradient. Routine layout and asset production are technically and contextually feasible for current generative image and design tools; concepting and brand-system stewardship remain exposed but human-led.
The mapping uses ISCO-08 code 2166 (BLS-published SOC-to-ISCO crosswalk). The full methodology, including the dominant-match rule for one-to-many crosswalks, is at /methodology/#algorithm.
The top five tasks, classified
The top five O*NET 30.2 tasks for this occupation, each tagged Displaceable / Changing / Growing per the Brookings 2024 task-level rubric. The tag definitions are at /glossary/#displaceable-task, /glossary/#changing-task, and /glossary/#growing-task.
- Changing: Create designs, concepts, and sample layouts based on knowledge of layout principles and aesthetic design concepts. AI image generation produces draft layouts; final concepting that meets brand and brief constraints remains human.
- Displaceable: Determine size and arrangement of illustrative material and copy, and select style and size of type. Routine layout selection is technically and contextually feasible for current generative AI.
- Displaceable: Use computer software to generate new images. Image generation from prompt or brief is technically and contextually feasible for current generative AI.
- Growing: Confer with clients to discuss and determine layout design. Client discovery and brief refinement are augmentation-prone per Brookings 2024 and grow as AI handles more discrete production.
- Changing: Develop graphics and layouts for product illustrations, company logos, and websites. AI is producing first-draft logos and layouts; brand-system and identity work remain human for differentiation.
What is growing in this role
The BLS Employment Projections 2024-2034 outlook for graphic designers is average (+2% projected change, +5k jobs). Source: BLS Employment Projections 2024-2034.
Per the WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025, the top three growing skills relevant to this role are: Creative thinking, AI and big data, Technological literacy. The skills are mapped to the occupation's O*NET skills profile.
Brookings 2024 finds graphic-design production tasks highly exposed; client discovery, brand stewardship, and creative-direction roles are augmentation-prone.
Similar occupations
O*NET 30.2 lists the following related roles. Each links to its own deep dive where one is published.
- Writers and Authors
- Marketing Managers
- Architects, Except Landscape and Naval
- News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists
- Interpreters and Translators
Industry context
This role sits primarily in the Creative Industries industry. The industry-level rollup includes the cross-occupation exposure profile and the BLS-published industry-level outlook.
How this assessment was made
The full methodology is at /methodology/: ILO 2025 refined index for the gradient, Brookings 2024 rubric for the task tags, BLS 2024-2034 for the growth outlook, WEF 2025 for the skills demand. The pre-empted critiques are at /how-to-argue-with-this/.