What does an exterior designer do?
Exterior designer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real exterior designer resumes:
- Develop customized user interaction models using object-orient prototyping.
- Issue mass production drawings for various parts and vehicles.
- Assist with cost and weight reports for the Acura MDX.
- Create structural concepts, base on style data and underbody negotiation, and develop them into mass production parts.
- Optimize production processes reducing unnecessary part cost without losing functionality and performance by designing new shapes or alterations for manufacturing.
Exterior designer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 51% of Exterior Designers are proficient in CAD, Design Concepts, and Photoshop. They’re also known for soft skills such as Problem-solving skills, Visualization skills, and Technical skills.
We break down the percentage of Exterior Designers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- CAD, 51%
Led design team of six direct reports including Interior, CAD and Graphic Designers.
- Design Concepts, 28%
Created truck exterior and interior design concepts using ProE and Alias.
- Photoshop, 17%
Designed exterior for 4 retail stores and 64-unit condominium building and created 3D rendering presentations using 3D Max and Photoshop.
- Design Presentations, 4%
Supported management with design presentations and brainstorm on advanced engineering studies.
Common skills that an exterior designer uses to do their job include "cad," "design concepts," and "photoshop." You can find details on the most important exterior designer responsibilities below.
Problem-solving skills. One of the key soft skills for an exterior designer to have is problem-solving skills. You can see how this relates to what exterior designers do because "when designing outdoor spaces, landscape architects must be able to provide solutions to unanticipated challenges." Additionally, an exterior designer resume shows how exterior designers use problem-solving skills: "utilize autodesk revit and autocad to produce professional quality renderings and videos to present design solutions. "
Visualization skills. Another essential skill to perform exterior designer duties is visualization skills. Exterior designers responsibilities require that "landscape architects must be able to imagine how an overall outdoor space will look once completed." Exterior designers also use visualization skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "work included buyer research, sketch ideation, 3-d visualization, and model construction on both future concepts and production prototypes. "
Technical skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of exterior designers is technical skills. This skill is critical to many everyday exterior designer duties, as "landscape architects use computer-aided design and drafting (cadd) programs to create representations of their projects." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "prepared engineering drawings; in accordance with naval sea systems command (navsea) technical specification 9090-600. "
Analytical skills. A big part of what exterior designers do relies on "analytical skills." You can see how essential it is to exterior designer responsibilities because "landscape architects must understand how their designs will affect locations." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical exterior designer tasks: "created structural concepts, based on style data and underbody negotiation, and developed them into mass production parts. "
Communication skills. Another common skill required for exterior designer responsibilities is "communication skills." This skill comes up in the duties of exterior designers all the time, as "landscape architects share their ideas, both orally and in writing, with clients, other architects, and workers who help prepare drawings." An excerpt from a real exterior designer resume shows how this skill is central to what an exterior designer does: "provided art direction to all materials produced by the communications department. "
Creativity. While "creativity" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to exterior designer responsibilities. Much of what an exterior designer does relies on this skill, seeing as "landscape architects create the overall look of gardens, parks, and other outdoor areas." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of exterior designers: "required to produce full design packages utilizing inventor and autocad 2d, bom generation and eco packages. "
The three companies that hire the most exterior designers are:
- Window Nation5 exterior designers jobs
- Cavco Industries1 exterior designers jobs
- Tesla1 exterior designers jobs
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Compare different exterior designers
Exterior designer vs. Decorating consultant
A design consultant is an individual who provides expertise incorporating functionality and aesthetics to a space or product based on the evaluation of the needs of customers or clients. Design consultants may collaborate with other professionals such as architects, graphic designers, or fashion designers to cater to the needs of their customers. They assist in improving existing designs, either in interior designs, fashions, or graphics. Design consultants may also work in different work settings like retail stores, architectural companies, or graphic design firms.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of an exterior designer are more likely to require skills like "cad," "visualization," "design concepts," and "gd." On the other hand, a job as a decorating consultant requires skills like "customer service," "in-home sales," "clients homes," and "design consultations." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Decorating consultants tend to reach similar levels of education than exterior designers. In fact, decorating consultants are 2.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.6% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Exterior designer vs. Design consultant
A design specialist is responsible for creating engaging visual images and digital content to improve customers' brand awareness about the organization's products and services. Design specialists may also work for media production, creating graphic animations for viewers depending on production requirements and media demands. A design specialist must have excellent knowledge of utilizing various software tools and programs, coordinating with the whole design team on adjusting plans, improving layouts according to budget limitations, and submitting deliverables within the set deadlines.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that exterior designer responsibilities requires skills like "visualization," "gd," "photoshop," and "grilles." But a design consultant might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "product knowledge," "java," "design process," and "design services."
On average, design consultants earn a lower salary than exterior designers. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, design consultants earn the most pay in the technology industry with an average salary of $94,021. Whereas exterior designers have higher pay in the automotive industry, with an average salary of $86,899.In general, design consultants achieve similar levels of education than exterior designers. They're 2.7% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Exterior designer vs. Design specialist
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, an exterior designer is likely to be skilled in "visualization," "gd," "photoshop," and "grilles," while a typical design specialist is skilled in "customer service," "sketch," "product knowledge," and "adobe creative suite."
When it comes to education, design specialists tend to earn similar degree levels compared to exterior designers. In fact, they're 0.6% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.5% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Exterior designer vs. Building architectural designer
Even though a few skill sets overlap between exterior designers and building architectural designers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, an exterior designer might have more use for skills like "visualization," "gd," "photoshop," and "grilles." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of building architectural designers require skills like "customer service," "revit," "hvac," and "bim. "
In general, building architectural designers hold similar degree levels compared to exterior designers. Building architectural designers are 1.4% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.5% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of exterior designer
Updated January 8, 2025
