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Classification of Design in Australian Statistical Systems

Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC)

Positioning of design in ANZSIC 1993

ANZSIC (1993)
L PROPERTY AND BUSINESS SERVICES
78 BUSINESS SERVICES

• 782 Technical Services
  7823 Consulting Engineering Services
  (Definition includes ‘boat design’ and ‘product design’.)
• 783 Computer Services
  7834 Computer Consultancy Services (Definition includes ‘web site design’.)
• 785 Marketing and Business Management Services
  7852 Commercial Art and Display Services
  (Definition includes ‘graphic design for advertising’.)
• 786 Other Business Services
  7869 Business Services (not elsewhere included)
  (Definition includes ’fashion design’ and ‘interior decorating’.)

Design Industry Concerns With ANZSIC 1993
The issues for the design professions are as follows:

• Inappropriate positioning of Design services in statistical systems maintains government, industry and community prejudices about the skills and role of designers.
• Current treatment of the design professions prevents correct understanding of the range and size of the design sector in Australia.
• Current positioning prevents government planning from perceiving the economic value of this professional area.
• The lack of a three digit reference to Design Services fails to flag the economic importance of this industry grouping.
• The current classification fails to list many major design disciplines.
• The current classification breaks up this group based on a common process and commercial definition and distributes them in a confusing variety of locations.
• The titling of areas in which design currently occurs provides misleading word associations, for example the title ‘7852 Commercial Art and Display Services’ under which graphic designers (for advertising) (sic) appears.
• The lack of appropriately segmented information about the design professions at the three digit level renders aspects of this significant sector invisible in most industry summaries.

In 2005 the DIA made submissions to the Australian Bureau of Statistics committee working on a revision of ANZSIC. Some gains were negotiated.

For ANZSIC the major changes were:

• Moving design from Property and Business Services to Professional, Scientific and Technical Services.
• Bringing the design professions together within one three digit classification (rather than spread across four).
• Grouping industrial design with engineering and manufacturing related technical services.
• The introduction of ‘Other Specialised Design Services’ as a four digit category.
• The inclusion of the major design professions by name eg industrial design, interior design, graphic design.
• Eliminating the segmentation of graphic design amongst different three digit categories.
• The inclusion of additional design disciplines – textile design and jewellery design.

The new ANZSIC will reveal more information about the design sector and assist government and industry with a clearer understanding of this economically valuable sector. However there are still substantial changes required in the next revision of this classification.

Positioning of design in ANZSIC 2006

ANZSIC (2006)
M PROFESSIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL SERVICES
69 PROFESSIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL SERVICES

• 692 Architectural, Engineering and Technical Services
  6923 Engineering Design and Engineering Consulting Services
  (Definition includes ‘Industrial design service’.)
  6924 Other Specialised Design Services
  (Definition includes:
  'Fashion design service'
  'Graphic design service'
  'Interior design service'
  'Jewellery design service'
  'Textile design service'.)

Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO)

Positioning of design in ASCO 1996

ASCO 2 (1996)
2 PROFESSIONALS
25 Social, Arts and Miscellaneous Professionals

• 253 Artists and Related Professionals
  2533 Designers and Illustrators
  253311 Fashion Designer
  253313 Graphic Designer
  253315 Industrial Designer
  253317 Interior Designer
  253319 Illustrator

Design Industry Concerns With ASCO 2

The issues for the design professions are as follows:

• Inappropriate positioning of design in statistical systems maintains government, industry and community prejudices about the skills and role of designers.
• Current positioning inappropriately reinforces the anachronistic alignment with art rather than commerce.
• Current treatment of the design professions prevents correct understanding of the range and size of design occupations in Australia.
• Current positioning prevents government planning from perceiving the economic value of this professional area and forces it into government portfolios that are unsuited to deal with it as a commercial activity aligned with trade and commerce.
• The titling of areas in which design currently occurs provides significantly misleading word associations, for example the title ‘2533 Designers & Illustrators’ under which both building and manufacturing related designers are included in addition to graphic designers.
• The lack of appropriately segmented information about the design professions at the four digit level renders aspects of this significant sector invisible in most occupation summaries.

In 2005 the DIA made submissions to the Australian Bureau of Statistics committee working on a revision of ASCO. Significant gains were negotiated.

For ANZSCO the major changes were:

• Moving design from an arts category to one associated with technical and commercial professions.
• Achieving the term design at the two and three digit heading level.
• Providing individual four digit groupings for design professions associated with manufacturing, the built environment and visual communication.
• Increasing the listed disciplines from five to eight at the six digit level.
• Significantly improving the definitions associated with each occupation in the classification.

Positioning of design in ANZSCO 2006

ANZSCO (2006)
2 PROFESSIONALS
23 Design, Engineering, Science and Transport Professionals
232 Architects, Designers, Planners and Surveyors

• 2323 Fashion, Industrial and Jewellery Designers
  232311 Fashion Designer
  232312 Industrial Designer
  232313 Jewellery Designer
• 2324 Graphic and Web Designers, and Illustrators
  232411 Graphic Designer
  232412 Illustrator
  232413 Multimedia Designer
  232414 Web Designer
• 2325 Interior Designers
  232511 Interior Designer

Job titles included in 6 digit ANZSCO occupations

This table shows the job titles that are assigned to each occupation by the ABS when analysing the result of a census. Where a job is known to be within an occupational group but is not able to be classified at the 6 digit level it is assigned to the closest occupation group and given a designation of 'not further defined' - eg 232400 Graphic and Web Designers, and Illustrators (nfd)
Specialisation (S)
Alternative title (A)