The resulting aircraft was a conventional single-seat, piston-engined, strut-braced low-wing agricultural airplane.

The 188's airframe is predominantly built from 2024-T3 aluminum, with the chemical hopper constructed from fiberglass.

[2] The initial design of the Cessna 188 was so successful that over its 17-year production run the basic airframe remained unchanged.

[1] The main use for the Cessna 188 series was for agricultural purposes, but many examples were later acquired for use as glider and sailplane tugs.

A total of 3976 Cessna 188s of all four variants were built during its production run, made up of 53 AGpickups, 1589 AGwagons, 1949 AGtrucks and 385 AGhuskies.