With a background in industrial design, Amanda Schneider explored each side of a product’s trajectory early in her profession, from idea improvement to gross sales, all the time by way of a holistic lens to know the factors of view of producers and shoppers.
Her ideally suited position, nonetheless, was one which emphasised extra than simply the underside line. “It clicked the second I noticed that the true magic occurs on the intersection of creativity and technique,” says Schneider. “I consider that knowledge can empower creatives, and creativity can humanize knowledge. And after we bridge that hole? That’s when design begins altering industries, shaping conduct and shifting the world ahead.”
Schneider is founder and president of SANDOW DESIGN GROUP’s ThinkLab, and since 2018 she has led the one market analysis agency centered on the design and structure ecosystem. She thrives on uncovering sudden insights and translating them into tales that encourage significant motion – indispensable within the ever-evolving world of labor.
Business leaders have taken discover, and right this moment Schneider is a acknowledged thought chief featured on main platforms. Her 2024 TEDx discuss, , has greater than 400,000 views and counting. She can also be host of the hit podcast Design Nerds Nameless, and has not too long ago launched BASELINE, the fresh ThinkLab initiative. This survey and podcast supplies a real-time snapshot of business sentiment and exercise.
When she’s not on the job, Schneider is a mother to a few boys, and will be discovered chasing journey in her Jeep Wrangler. It’s not all the time simple to take care of a really perfect steadiness, however carving out high quality time is indispensable. “If I’m being forthright, I’m not all the time nice at switching off fully, particularly as a result of I really like what I do,” Schneider notes. “However one miniature factor that helps is dinner with my household. No laptops, no telephones, simply actual dialog. It sounds basic, nevertheless it’s grounding.”
At the moment, Amanda Schneider joins us for Friday 5, sharing her favourite stats for designers!
1. The typical designer has 40X the advice energy as the typical American Shopper has shopping for energy. Supply: USDIBR
That’s not a typo. In response to ThinkLab analysis, designers affect buying selections at 40 instances the speed of the typical American shopper. And for those who work at one of many prime 200 Inside Design Giants of Design companies? That quantity jumps to a staggering 140 instances.
Whereas most individuals decide merchandise for their very own properties, designers are making decisions that have an effect on dozens – generally a whole lot or 1000’s – of individuals directly. One spec. One undertaking. Ripple results throughout provide chains, industries, and the way folks expertise area.
That sort of energy typically flies beneath the radar. But it surely shouldn’t. Designers aren’t simply making issues fairly – they’re making selections with actual influence. And once you zoom out, these selections can form how sustainably we construct, how inclusively we design, and the way responsibly we spend. You have already got the affect. The chance? That’s utilizing it for good.
2. By 2050, the inside design business can have affect over roughly one-tenth (10%) of the world’s carbon emissions.
Sure, you learn that proper. One-tenth of worldwide carbon emissions – in a roundabout way, form, or type – will likely be influenced by selections made within the inside design business by the 12 months 2050. Not building. Not simply structure. Interiors. (Shout out to for this stat and their work on the Local weather change toolkit!)
It’s simple to consider sustainability as another person’s job – the architect, the engineer, the consumer. However designers have their arms on the levers that management how lengthy issues final, what supplies get used, and the best way to keep away from sending product to the landfill. Multiply that by tens of millions of sq. toes throughout properties, workplaces, faculties, motels, hospitals – and it provides up rapid.
Don’t let this overwhelm you. Let it empower you. Designers helped create this world. Which means they’re additionally completely positioned to support redesign it for the higher.
3. As of 2025, Gen Z makes up 27% of the workforce.
That’s multiple in 4 workers. And so they’re not coming – they’re already right here. Gen Z is shaping how we work, stay, collaborate, and join. They carry fresh expectations round flexibility, inclusivity, tech, and well-being. And so they’re simply getting began.
Why does this matter for designers? As a result of the areas you’re designing right this moment will nonetheless be in exploit a decade or extra from now. If we’re not being attentive to shifting values, behaviors, and methods of working, we threat constructing environments that don’t resonate – or worse, don’t perform – for the individuals who will really exploit them.
Designing for the longer term means understanding who’s going to be residing in it. Gen Z is your fresh finish consumer. Time to hear.
4. The Inside Design Business is 85% Feminine – However Solely 40% of Its Leaders Are
Inside design is likely one of the few industries that’s not simply female-friendly – it’s female-dominated. Almost 88% of scholars getting into the sphere are girls. And 85% of training professionals are, too. However right here’s the place it will get tough: solely 40% of management roles are held by girls as soon as we get to the biggest companies.
That’s an enormous drop-off – and a missed alternative. When the folks doing the work don’t have a seat on the desk the place selections are made, the whole business loses out on perspective, perception, and progress.
Variety isn’t nearly equity. It’s about making the business higher, stronger, and extra consultant of the folks it serves; particularly after we are main design for the constructed surroundings for all folks. Step one? Consciousness. The subsequent? Motion.
5. The Common Design Committee Has Doubled in Measurement Over the Previous 5 Years
Design selections are now not made in a room of two or three. In right this moment’s world, the typical industrial design undertaking includes double the variety of decision-makers it did simply 5 years in the past. Which means extra voices, extra complexity – and a complete fresh set of challenges.
And right here’s the reality: It doesn’t matter how nice your design is for those who can’t talk its worth. Nice concepts fall flat with out buy-in. Pretty options stall out with out alignment. At the moment’s most profitable designers aren’t simply original—they’re translators. They bridge the hole between imaginative and prescient and enterprise case, between aesthetics and influence.
Good design all the time begins with empathy. If you wish to higher perceive your shoppers – and what’s actually taking place of their world to maneuver tasks ahead – take a look at the Design Nerds Nameless podcast.
