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Technicians and associate professionals · code 3432

Interior designers and decorators

Interior designers and decorators plan and design commercial, industrial, public, retail and residential building interiors to produce an environment tailored to a purpose, taking into consideration factors that enhance living and working environments and sales promotion. They coordinate and participate in their construction and decoration. Tasks include - (a) determining the objectives and constraints of the design brief by consulting with clients and stakeholders; (b) researching and analysing spatial, functional, efficiency, safety and aesthetic requirements; (c) formulating design concepts for the interiors of buildings; (d) preparing sketches, diagrams, illustrations and plans to communicate design concepts; (e) negotiating design solutions with clients, management, suppliers and construction staff; (f) selecting, specifying and recommending functional and aesthetic materials, furniture and products for interiors; (g) detailing and documenting selected design for construction; (h) coordinating the construction and the decoration of interiors; (i) designing and painting stage scenery; (j) designing and decorating show windows and other display areas to promote products and services. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Display decorator - Interior decorator - Set designer - Visual merchandiser - Window dresser Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Interior architect - 2161

A few tasks are affected, but the heart of the job isn't. It ranks 292 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • interior designer
  • miniature set designer
  • visual merchandiser
  • merchandiser
  • set designer
  • set builder

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

63.3
Holds up
against AI Minimal Exposure

AI could take on 36.7 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 36.7 = 63.3

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

35.8
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 3 US jobs

25.6
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 31.5 · hand skill 26.8 · cramped spaces 18.6 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on under 50 Less than half hands-on

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

What this number leaves out This job rates 35.8 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 48.5, while the average is 36.7. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 48.5

    Preparing sketches, diagrams, illustrations and plans to communicate design concepts

    Low
  2. 45.5

    Detailing and documenting selected design for construction

    Low
  3. 43

    Formulating design concepts for the interiors of buildings

    Low
  4. 41.8

    Researching and analysing spatial, functional, efficiency, safety and aesthetic requirements

    Low
  5. 34

    Coordinating the construction and the decoration of interiors

    Low
  6. 34

    Designing and decorating show windows and other display areas to promote products and services.

    Low
  7. 33.5

    Selecting, specifying and recommending functional and aesthetic materials, furniture and products for interiors

    Low
  8. 33

    Determining the objectives and constraints of the design brief by consulting with clients and stakeholders

    Low
  9. 31

    Negotiating design solutions with clients, management, suppliers and construction staff

    Low
  10. 23

    Designing and painting stage scenery

    Very Low

10 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

3 Australian jobs match this one, and we've simply averaged them. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

AI helps you
68.3
AI does it for you
35.3

Helping wins by 33 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 2325, 3999, 6395

Compared with similar jobs

There are 82 jobs in the “Technicians and associate professionals” group, averaging 65.4. This one is below that.