
Design Pulse
Main insights 2024
Design Pulse is a labour market and business survey that shows the big picture and outlook for the design sector. The survey brings together the views of design professionals on the current state of the design industry. The 2025 survey was conducted early this year and 509 employees, companies and unemployed designers responded by the deadline.
1. Uncertainty affects people at the beginning of their careers
The increased uncertainty of recent years is now also widely reflected in the workplace. In 2022, 14% of respondents still considered their jobs to be somewhat or very insecure, and in 2025 the figure will be 33%. Similarly, the number of people who rate their job as very very stable or fairly stable has fallen since 2022, from 86% to 67%.
According to the survey, job changes, redundancies and layoffs have occurred in one sixth of the jobs. This year, an increasing number of respondents considered layoffs and redundancies likely compared to last year’s estimates of the likelihood of adjustment measures. One third of designers felt uncertain about their job security.
The unemployed are younger than average, with over 60% of them aged under 40. They also have shorter than average careers, with over 50% having been in employment for less than six years. Among the unemployed, just over a quarter were long-term unemployed who had been looking for work for more than a year.
Tip: Being part of the unemployment fund brings security
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2. Wages grew but only moderately
Design professionals mainly work in large companies in different industries. Up to 70% of the respondents worked in companies employing 50 or more people. The pay gap in the sector is wide, with just over a third earning at least €5 000 per month, while a tenth earned less than €3 000 per month.
Ornamo’s pay tables show the impact of design sector and job role, experience and location on salaries. The information is useful for recent graduates, those preparing for salary negotiations and employers, for example when recruiting.
Tip: Check out the salary statistics
3. Design maturity is in good shape
This year, respondents were also asked to rate their employer’s state of design maturity.
Respondents to the Pulse survey also rated their employers’ maturity, which measures the extent to which organisations are using design. Responses indicate that the use of design is fairly well established in the manufacturing, financial and service sectors. This means that designers in these industries are more often involved in service design, customer experience development and strategic planning, in addition to product development.
In contrast, there is room for more widespread use of design in the real estate, construction and public administration sectors.
Tip: Read more about design maturity
4. Education, experience and age affect pay
In addition to the employer’s industry, the wage development of designers is also influenced by work experience, which is particularly important for men and those with a lower university degree. Age, education level and gender also play a role in the wage development of design professionals.
Wages are also higher in larger firms in different industries, with higher wages in sectors such as finance, technology, digital and public administration. The lowest wages are paid in design firms and in real estate and construction. The most satisfied with their salaries are service designers in the public sector with a postgraduate degree. The most dissatisfied are interior designers with a lower university degree working in private companies.
Tip: Are you ready to talk about salaries?
Tip: Find open jobs at our Design Jobs portal
5. Faith in the future remains strong
Of the respondents to Ornamo’s 2025 survey, 38% were also fairly or very optimistic about the future of the sector. Overall, employees were somewhat positive about the future of the design sector, despite the weak overall economic development and demand situation.
Entrepreneurs who responded to the survey were also optimistic about the economic situation in the coming years. A large proportion of the respondents were micro-enterprises. Of these, 37% believe that the outlook for demand and the business cycle will improve as early as 2025. In the next three years, 60% of the respondents were already of this opinion. Only around one fifth of the respondents foresee a decline in turnover and a deterioration in profitability.
How was the research conducted?
The Ornamo Business and Labour Market Survey was carried out between January and February 2025 and over 509 companies and professionals (employees and unemployed designers) responded by the deadlines.
Design professionals include for example interior designers, service designers, digital designers and industrial designers. Today, designers work for large companies in a variety of industries, including software, higher education, real estate, construction and public administration. A large proportion also work in design agencies.
Design workers differ from all employees in that the proportion of permanent and full-time jobs in the design sector is slightly higher than the national average.
The proportion of permanent and full-time employees in the design sector is slightly higher than the national average.
In the design sector, on the other hand, firms are young and sole proprietor-driven. Although 75% of enterprises employ only self-employed persons, the design sector is not in itself any smaller than Finnish enterprises in general. The vast majority of design firms produce only services or both services and physical products for the market. A minority concentrate only on physical products.
The survey was conducted and the research compiled by researcher Pekka Lith.