Industrial Design Services Industry Profile

Companies in this industry create and develop designs for manufactured products. Major companies include Ammunition, Designworks (owned by BMW), Frog Design, IDEO, RKS, and Smart Design (all based in the US), as well as Alessi (Italy), BUSSE Design (Germany), PDD and Seymourpowell (both based in the UK).

Globally, applications from China, European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), Turkey, the UK, Republic of Korea, and the US had the most registered industrial designs in 2022, according to Statista.

The US industrial design services industry includes about 1,600 establishments (single-location companies and units of multi-location companies) with annual revenue of about $2 billion.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand for industrial design is driven by consumer spending and advances in technology. The profitability of individual companies depends on efficient operations and effective marketing. Large companies have advantages in taking on multiple projects and serving major customers. Small companies can compete effectively by specializing. The industry in the US is?concentrated: the top 50 companies account for about 50% of industry revenue.

Customers and prospects become competitors when they bring design services in-house rather than hire industrial design firms. Freelance designers may be competitors or contract labor.

PRODUCTS, OPERATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Major services are dominated industrial design services for products which account for about 70% of the industry's revenue. Other services include consulting services (about 15%); model design and fabrication services (about 10%); and developing and making prototypes (less than 5%).

Industrial designers ...