(I just got these numbers from Clive Roux, IDSA’s Executive Director):
IDSA has just over 2400 members, but I should preface that with all Associations memberships are down and tend to do so in times of recession. Similarly, we believe AIGA’s numbers are also down, but we’re not exactly sure.
From our most recent membership survey at the end of last year, 70% are Industrial or Product Designers. 30% are related professions such as Design managers, interface designers, design researchers, ethnographers, model makers… almost all are designers except for a small percentage who are affiliate members.
As for designers in the USA, this is a tough one. No one has a definitive answer on that. Estimates range from 15-50,000, but Clive tends to think it is narrowly around 15,000 and broadly defined around 30-35,000.
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