Choosing Design as a career

Today, students have a plethora of career choices in front of them. One of them obvioulsy is Design. While it is still a niche career choice, there is a lot of potential in the sector. In fact, students from top design institutes are frequently jostling with fields like Medicine and Engineering etc, as far as pay scale in concerned. Design is such a vast field that it offers ample opportunities to people with different skills, talents and different educational backgrounds.
There is no subject compulsion to study Design at the undergraduate level. This is what makes the field of Design amazing and versatile. Students with any educational background can dream of pursuing a career in Design. Let us know how to start a career in Design and what factors are important to climb the ladder of success in this field.

Popular Design Specialisations

There are various specialisations in Design which can be pursued according to a candidate’s interest and skills. The field of Design mainly includes the following specialisations: Fashion Design, Communication Design, Textile Design, Footwear Design, Interior Design, Jewellery Design, Automobile Design, Graphics and Visualization, Ceramic and Glass Design, Sculpture Design, Animation, Game Design, Multimedia Design, Architectural Design, Industrial Design, Product Design, Web Design, Sound Design, Robotics Design and many more. Among these, some Design courses which relate to Computer Applications and Engineering require Mathematics as a compulsory subject. Some such Design courses include Web Design, Automobile Design, and Robotics Design.

If one dreams to have a career in Design, then that person should not be thinking about his/her qualification, rather should be making a list of interests and skills which would help in making a right career decision. The very first step to begin a career in the field of Design is to choose a specialisation that a candidate is interested in pursuing and then go further with admission in an undergraduate course. To choose the right specialisation, one should be aware of his/her skills. Innovation is something that is required in every Design course. But if one is not good at innovation and creativity, but is laborious and ready to fly high, he/she can definitely learn the way of innovation through Design education.

Never ever, should anybody feel less of oneself. Yes, it’s a fact that students with innovative minds, good illustration skills and creative ideas have a good aptitude for different Design subjects. But others, who may not possess any of the above qualities, and still have the interest can also perform good or maybe better than others in this field.

As I’ve mentioned earlier, to pursue a Design course there is no restriction or mandate of having studied a particular subject. Those who not have basic skills of an artist can definitely learn to inculcate those skills in themselves simultaneously with the course. After all, every person studying at a Design institute is a budding Designer and not a born Designer!

Eligibility Criteria for Design

In order to be eligible for an undergraduate Design course, a candidate must clear 10+2 from any stream. The percentage criteria varies for different colleges but mostly, revolves around 50% or 55%. For post-graduation Design courses, minimum qualification includes a graduation degree with at least 50% aggregate marks. Those having a diploma are also usually eligible for master’s courses but there are certain terms and conditions. For instance, one of the conditions laid for NIFT PG admissions is that if a student having a diploma is applying for a postgraduate course in NIFT, his/her diploma should be from NIFT only. Other institutes have other kind of conditions.

Popular Design Entrance Exams

There are numerous Design entrance exams through which admissions are provided in different institutes/ colleges. Some of the popular and common Design entrance exams for both UG and PG courses are:

• NIFT Entrance Exam (CAT & GAT)
• NID Entrance Exam (Prelims & Mains)
• UCEED
• CEED
• AIEED

All of the above exams and others have similar syllabus. That is, an aptitude test consisting of English Comprehension and Grammar, High School Mathematics, General Science and Knowledge and Current Affairs. Other than this theoretical part, the creativity test evaluates candidates on their illustration skills, imagination, pictorial perception, color combinations and much more.

There are many coaching institutes that help candidates prepare well for entrance exams. However, if one is laborious and confident enough to prepare and crack the entrance by self-preparation, he/she can do so. Preparing through a coaching institute has its own pros and cons but still, I’ve always preferred to be self-dependent. The theory part of an entrance exam can be cleared by self-practice. Talking about the creativity part, this may need guidance. Students who are not confident about their skills and ideas can opt for coaching. There’s nothing bad in joining some institute for preparation, in fact, practicing for an exam with other candidates will help you get an idea of the completion level. But, on the other side, if one is not able to join any coaching due to any reasons, that student should not think less of himself/ herself. Practice makes a man perfect! And so, an individual can also reach the sky through self-practice and some motivation might be of great help.

Popular Design Institutes in India

Coming to the most popular Design institutes in India, which also are dream colleges for most of the Design students – NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology) and NID (National Institute of Design). Both are government institutes. NIFT was set up by Ministry of Textiles, Government of India. And so, being a part of any of these elite colleges is of great significance. Though, there are many other colleges offering Design courses with great quality education, but securing admission in the two aforementioned colleges is the dream of a majority of upcoming designers! Other popular Design institutes in India are:

• Industrial Design Centre, IIT Bombay
• Pearl Academy
• Symbiosis Institute of Design
• Department of Design, Indian Institute of Technology

Apart from the above mentioned Design courses, Photography and Management are two more categories related to Design. A majority of students loves photography. But, professional photography is always beyond the beauty of nature. Management is something that people find in every field of career, be that Medicine, Wildlife, Media or Politics. In Design, Management is of equal importance as compared to degree of MBA. Every course in Design has its own advantages. The subjects in various Design courses vary accordingly. It doesn’t happen every time that a student comes out to be good in all the subjects. Nobody is perfect. And so, one can cope up by putting in great interest, mind and hard work.

How to get admission to a Design Course

There are many ways a candidate can get admission to a design institute. The most common among these is the entrance exam route.

Some of the popular entrance exams at the undergraduate level include - NIFT, NID DAT, UCEED, and SEED.

Candidates appearing in the NID DAT entrance exam first needs to appear in DAT Prelims followed by DAT Mains. Note that the DAT Mains will include a Studio Test.

An important aspect of design entrance exams is it will test your drawing and observation skills, and design aptitude.