What is MDes: Full Form, Course Duration, Admission 2026, Colleges, Syllabus, Salary & Scope

You may already know that MDes stands for Master of Design. It is a postgraduate specialised design degree programme. You can pursue MDes if you have a passion for arts and want to excel in design industry. MDes can be best suited degree for you if you have deep interest in artistic sector and who desire to acquire ultimate standard in area of design.

Admissions process and fees for Master of Design programmes differ from university to university. Cost of a master's degree in design varies from university to university. Private universities may charge a little higher tuition fee for MDes admission, whilst government colleges may charge very little.

An MDes degree course can be completed between INR 2 to INR 10 lakh. Some colleges require entrance tests, while others accept students based on their high school scores.

A Master of Design degree is gateway to specialisation and research as it is an advanced degree to conquer Fashion and Design Industry in different disciplines such as Craft, Textiles, Special Needs, Publications, Media, Lifestyle Products, Graphics, and User Experience Design.

• scope of a Master of Design degree is huge as it opens opportunities in various streams such as Industrial Engineering and Design, Product Research Analyst, Communication Design, Product Design, and Engineering, Visual Design, Animation, and Automotive Designing.
• Every day, world of design evolves, and as a result, demand for motivated and creative designers grows. During this degree, students will have opportunity to work on assignments that will provide them with hands-on experience working in design studios.
• aspirants of MDes can get find better job opportunities after MDes and enhance their pay scale. programme prepares individuals to become entrepreneurs after completing course or having appropriate skills. Following conclusion of course, many graduates have launched their own clothing lines.

Degree is open to students from various streams such as Fashion, Designing,  Fine Arts, Engineering, Commerce, Science and Architecture. However, you should have a basic understanding of relevant design stream that you want to pursue through a Master of Design. 

Many MDes programmes have particular requirements, such as a bachelor's degree in a discipline related to design or appropriate job experience. Students need to check prerequisites of particular MDes programmes they are considering to find out if non-design backgrounds are accepted.

Yes, you can pursue MDes after completing BTech. However, colleges may have their own eligibility criteria that would have to fulfil. Since, MDes is an advanced degree you would be expected to have basic 'Design Aptitude'. You would be able to pursue MDes without much difficulty if you understand terminology and concepts that are covered in a Design bachelor's degree such as BDes, BSc Fashion Design, BSc Textile Design etc.

Master of Design (MDes) programs is offered at IDC School of Design at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Bombay). combined seat intake for theprogrammestands at 31. Check category-wise and specializatio-wise seat intake in table below. 

candidate can apply to CEED 2026 participating institutes after CEED 2026 results. Candidates will be shortlisted for admission based on their merit ranks.

Yes you can get admission to an MDes program without appearing for entrance exams in India. Some popular MDes colleges like Amity University, Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science, JECRC University, Poornima University, Symbiosis Institute of Design, etc. offer admission on merit system.

Yes MDes course is offered in many different specialisations. Candidates can see the list for popular MDes specialisations below -

• Fashion Design
• Textile Design
• Jewellery Design
• Jewellery Design
• Graphics Design
• Interior Design
• Automotive Design
• Ceramic Design
• Game Design
• Multimedia Design
• Leather Design
• Lifestyle Accessory Design

Jewelry design is art or profession of designing and creating jewelry. This is one of civilization's earliest forms of decoration, dating back at least 7000 years to oldest known human societies in Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Jewellery Design course is basically designed for people who can channel their creativity into designing pieces of jewellery for their clients. This course will test candidates in honing their drafting, designing and shading skills. This course can be pursued at various academic levels such as undergraduate, postgraduate and diploma.

Hope this helps!!!

There are many MDes colleges in India which offer best placement options in India. Candidates can see table showing best MDes college options offering best placement opportunities to postgraduates in various fields below -

Note: Info is taken from other sources and can be different.

Yes there are many colleges which offer MDes course in distance mode in India. Candidates can see table showing few college options which offer distance MDes programme in India below -

Note: Info is taken from other sources and can be different.

Master of Design degree in itself is a professional enhancement degree. That's why, professionals with a specialised degree can climb career ladder. Some of popular job positions are as follows.

Note - Avg. salary is taken from Ambitionbox.com.

MDes graduates can get a plethora of job opportunities after completing the course. They can earn the salaries mentioned in the table below at various job profiles:

You can decide which MDes (Master of Design) programme at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) or National Institute of Design (NID) ion basis of your interests, career aspirations and personal goals. Although both universities are esteemed and provide excellent design programmes, their areas of expertise and strengths differ. NID is a leading design-focused organisation that focuses only on design education. It has a solid reputation in industry and provides a large selection of design programmes. However, IIT Bombay is a prestigious engineering college with a well-respected design programme, so it might provide a more interdisciplinary viewpoint. Staff at NID and IIT Bombay are both highly experienced, however IITs frequently place a greater focus on research. Hope this helps!

Both IIT Guwahati and IIT Kanpur offer strong M.Des programs with IIT Guwahati known for prominent faculty and labs (ergonomics, usability) and IIT Kanpur offers interdisciplinary flexibility and good placements (especially in UI/UX).

The choice depends on whether you prefer Guwahati's strong faculty/campus or Kanpur's varied focus because both are highly reputed.