Top Skills for This Career
BLS identifies these as the three highest-rated skills for this detailed occupation. TrustInEd adds the plain-language explanations so visitors understand what each skill means.
Developing original ideas, approaches, designs, or solutions.
Adjusting effectively when priorities, conditions, tools, or expectations change.
Communicating clearly through speech while listening carefully to understand others.
How Do You Prepare for This Career?
BLS describes the typical preparation for this occupation. Requirements can vary by employer, state, licensing rules and individual circumstances.
How to Become One
How to Become a Set or Exhibit Designer Set and exhibit designers need interpersonal skills to collaborate effectively with others. Set and exhibit designers typically need a bachelor’s degree in theater design, exhibit design, or a related field. Some employers prefer to hire candidates who have a master’s degree.
Education
Set and exhibit designers typically have a bachelor’s degree, but their field of degree varies. Common courses of study include theater design and exhibit design, fine and performing arts, interior design, and architecture. Employers sometimes prefer to hire candidates who have a master’s degree or allow a master’s degree to substitute for desired experience. Academic programs may train students to research the history, period, and story of a production. They also provide technical instruction in subjects such as reading architectural plans and using computer-aided design (CAD) programs. Other relevant courses include drawing, painting, model building, and hand drafting. Other Experience Employers may seek candidates who have work experience in a creative discipline, such as art or design. Students often have an opportunity to build a portfolio—a collection of completed designs that demonstrates artistic style and ability—while they are still in school. Their portfolio may include examples from classroom projects, internships, or other experiences.
Your Next Step
Compare colleges and education options that can support the typical entry-level education for this career.
Pay
the median annual wage for all workers was $50,980.
Job Outlook
Job Outlook Employment of set and exhibit designers is projected to show little or no change from 2025 to 2035. Despite limited employment growth, about 2,200 openings for set and exhibit designers are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Most of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire. Employment Employment growth of set and exhibit designers is projected to be dampened by technological advancements. Still, set designers are required in the entertainment industry for a variety of projects, such as developing the scenery for a live-action movie or re-creating the landscape for a historical play. Most set and exhibit designers are self-employed as freelancers and are contracted by theater companies, museums, television and film studios, and other entertainment industries. Set and Exhibit Designers Percent change in employment, projected 2025–35 Total, all occupations 3% Art and design workers 1% Set and exhibit designers 1% Note: All Occupations includes all occupations in the U.S. Economy.
What They Do
What Set and Exhibit Designers Do
Set and exhibit designers develop visual and tactile spaces for entertainment productions or for a variety of displays. Set designers work on movies, television, theater, and other productions. Exhibit designers create spaces to showcase products, art, artifacts, or other displays.
Duties
Set and exhibit designers typically do the following:
- Evaluate scripts or objects to be exhibited
- Collaborate with directors, curators, and others about intended audience in order to determine specific design features
- Design sets or exhibit spaces to tell a story based on factors such as narrative, budget, and location
- Prepare drawings by hand or using computer aided design (CAD) programs of proposed sets or exhibits
- Prepare budgets for all necessary sets or exhibits
- Coordinate with the design team and others to create sets or exhibits that include objects, graphics, and media
Set and exhibit designers create spaces that communicate a message to an audience. They may analyze scripts or other research documents to determine how these spaces can best support a story or theme.
In film, theater, and television, set or scenic designers communicate the author’s or director’s ideas to the audience through the look and feel of scenery, furniture, and props. They consider the scene’s historical period, time of day, season, and other aspects of the story.
Exhibit designers take into account the lighting, size of the space, message, and other qualities of a display. For interactive exhibits, they integrate multimedia effects, such as video and sound, into the space to create a multidimensional experience.
Set and exhibit designers may work on traveling shows and displays, such as concert tours and museum exhibits. These sets must be easily erected and dismantled for transport to new venues and must be flexible to accommodate performing or exhibit spaces of different sizes.
Set and exhibit designers may specialize in designing for a particular purpose. For example, set designers for performing arts companies develop stage sets for live shows, while those who work in television or movies design sets for live or recorded programs, in-studio broadcasts, or motion pictures. Exhibit designers may focus on a specific type of museum display, such as artifacts, or on trade shows or conventions to demonstrate products.
Work Environment
Work Environment
Set and exhibit designers held about 31,600 jobs in 2025. The largest employers of set and exhibit designers were as follows:
| Self-employed workers | 66% |
| Motion picture and video industries | 9 |
| Theater companies and dinner theaters | 6 |
Set and exhibit designers may move from one short-term, full-time job to another, working for a series of employers rather than only one. They may be hired on a per-project or contract basis. Some designers, such as those who work on traveling shows or exhibits, need to travel as part of the job. They may be away from home for weeks or months, depending on the project.
Their work may be stressful at times. For example, they may face deadline pressure while incorporating late changes into the final design or completing a project before the scheduled opening.
Work Schedules
Most set and exhibit designers work full time. They may work evenings or weekends, such as when overseeing the installation of a set or exhibit.
Important Qualities
The following are examples of qualities that are important for these workers to perform their duties. For more information, visit the Employment Projections (EP) skills data page. Computer skills. Set and exhibit designers do much of their creative work on computers with specialty design software, such as CAD programs. Creativity. Set and exhibit designers must be able to interpret scripts and use their artistic abilities to conceive a set or exhibit that will help tell a story. Interpersonal skills. Set and exhibit designers must be able to collaborate effectively with directors, curators, craftspeople, and others involved in developing sets or exhibits. Organizational skills. Set and exhibit designers need to keep track of multiple tasks and deadlines related to the design projects they coordinate. Problem-solving skills. Set and exhibit designers must find ways to carry out an artistic vision for a set or exhibit while ensuring that the finished version can be constructed on time and within budget.
More Information
More Information, Including Links to O*NET
Learn more about set and exhibit designers by visiting additional resources, including O*NET, a source on key characteristics of workers and occupations.
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Start with ED →Career data and occupational profile text are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook and Employment Projections program. Education requirements are typical entry-level requirements and may vary by employer, state, occupation or individual circumstance. View the official BLS profile.