Design-related skills ranked among the fastest-growing freelance skills in the first quarter, according to data from staffing platform Freelancer.com.

“T-shirt design,” “covers and packaging design” and “corporate identity design” were the fastest-growing job types by total percentage growth when compared to the fourth quarter of 2022. On the other hand, interest in skills such as software development and report writing recorded the biggest decreases in demand.

The report noted an unprecedented surge in freelance creative design. Freelancer.com reported design jobs — particularly logo design, packaging design and T-shirt creation — are typically the starting point for many founders launching a new business. The sudden influx of design, e-commerce and marketing jobs is a key indicator of a boom in startups, according to the report.

“While many speculate whether AI will take design jobs, our latest data shows that this is certainly not the case. Design jobs are the most popular job type on the platform and continue to grow despite advances in hyper-realistic generative AI tools,” said Matt Barrie, chief executive at Freelancer.com. “What’s more interesting in this data is zooming out and looking at the main trend: the startup boom. The most in-demand jobs on the platform for this quarter are all related to the launch of new businesses: new logo, website and branding jobs.”

Overall, the five fastest-growing freelance skills on the platform in the first quarter were:

1. T-Shirt design, up 33.1% to 1,868 jobs
2. Covers and packaging design, up 27.3% to 1,436 jobs
3. Corporate identity design, up 24.2% to 3,073
4. Product design, up 22.9% to 1,493 jobs
5. 3D design, up 22% to 6,135 jobs

The five freelancer skills with the steepest decrease in demand in the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2022 were:

1. Software development, down 34.48% to 1,311 jobs
2. Report writing, down 30.31% to 3,741 jobs
3. Blockchain, down 30.14% to 1,342 jobs
4. Statistical analysis, down 29.20% to 931 jobs
5. Technical writing, down 27.56% to 3,412 jobs

Freelancer.com’s “Fast 50 Index” data comes from 304,000 jobs posted to its platform between January and March 2023.