Top 7 Design Specialisations

Want to pursue a career in Design? Know the different design specialisations from which one can choose.

Design is basically the aesthetic solution to any problem,” says Ankur Gulati, associate professor at Pearl Academy. Having different connotations in different fields, Design is applied in about every second field and aspect. From fashion to product, transportation, and even animation, we can find a tinge of it everywhere!

Design specialsations mentioned in this article are considered to be the most popular choice among students and also have good employability statistics. On asking the reason behind this, Seema Mahajan of Pearl Academy explains, “With the changing lifestyles, different people have developed different requirements. People have money and they want to lead a lavish life and so they yearn for well-designed products. Adding to this, globalisation, media awareness and other resources have played a major role.”

She adds that aspirants should first determine what they want to study, determine their caliber and aptitude, and find out the demand of the Design specialisation in the industry. If they figure out their interest, they will do extremely well.”

“Design is the new MBA. The future belongs to creative people and design is the key to success in the coming times. First engineering then management and now design is what will make the difference,” highlights Harshit Desai of MIT.

In this era, various specialisations have emerged under design! However, there are only some that have made it to the point of being hot favorites among students. Check out some of these top design specialisations along with inputs from eminent experts from the industry.

Fashion and Textile Design

One of the most popular and known specialisations of Design, Fashion and Textile Design is highly adored for a lucrative and vivacious career. Students pursuing this as a career have many opportunities to reach great heights. 

Seema Mahajan, professor and HOD, Textile Design at Pearl Academy shares that, “Design is a career only with Fashion. If you have the passion and eye, you can succeed. It is the key to success”.

Colleges offering Fashion & Textile Design Course

Since Design is new to India in terms of education, there are few institutes offering fashion and textile courses. Pearl Academy of Fashion, NID (National Institute of Design) and NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology) are some of the institutes offering such courses. 

Tops Recruiters & Salary offered to Fashion & Textile Designers

Mahajan explains that increasingly, people have started hiring professionals. Also, with the rising demand, the jobs in this sector are increasing day by day. Students from this field are hired by:

• Independent design houses – These houses hire amateurs for creating teams of their own.
• Retail industry
• MNCs look for trained professionals

The scope of this field is determined by the experience one possesses. The more the experience, the more is the scope! 

Indian designs are going global and the world is looking at India for its fashion design and traditional culture. Mahajan suggests that increasing contacts would add value and strength to a student’s career growth. “Do not pursue fashion and textile design for glamour but to acquire much better job opportunities,” she adds.

The average annual salary offered to a Fashion Designer having experience anywhere between 1-4 years of experience is Rs 3.25 lakhs.

Product Design

Efficiently and effectively generating and developing ideas through a process that leads to making products that combine functionality with visual appeal is called Product Design. 

Product designers are an integral part of the ‘business' or ‘design industry'. Their designing skills take care of both the practicality of the products they design as well as their look and feel.

Colleges offering Product Design Course

In India institutes like NID, MIT ID (MIT Institute of Design), and IISc CPDM (Centre for Product Design & Manufacturing, Indian Institute of Science) offer courses in product designing.

Tops Recruiters & Salary offered to Product Designers

Students pursuing this course are hired by design departments of manufacturing firms, industries, and consulting firms. However, specialists in ceramic design work in industries manufacturing tableware, sanitary wares, light fittings, pottery, decorative porcelain, and materials for electrical and other industries.

As for the salary, product designers can get Rs 10-12 lakh annually at the initial stages.

Interior Design

When talking about design, Interior Design cannot be missed! Technically, interior design is the art of designing the interior decor of a room or building. It is a multifaceted profession that deals with designs and layouts of indoor spaces like a home, office, guest house, etc. However, the field is just not restricted to choosing the right floors, windows, etc as part of the design but also aims at making space such that it is both comfortable and aesthetically pleasing.

Colleges offering Interior Design Course

Institutes like NIDs (National Institutes of Design), Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, MIT ID, DJ Academy, and Raffles Design International are amongst some good institutes that offer interior design courses.

Tops Recruiters & Salary offered to Interior Designers

Interior designers mainly get to work with architects or architectural firms. However, some of them may specialise in designing interiors.

At the initial stage, a student might earn a small monthly stipend of Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000. Interior designers may begin with an annual emolument of up to Rs 12 Lakh. Seniors in the profession earn much more. Entrepreneur designers charge for individual projects. 

Graphic Design

A popular form of visual communication design, Graphic Design assimilates the use of words, images, videos, pictures, and graphics. Graphic designing experts integrate elements like illustration, animation, and photographs to create brochures, packaging, and promotional displays for their clients. 

Colleges offering Graphic Design Course

NID, IDC (Industrial Design Centre) at IITs, MIT ID are some good institutes for pursuing graphic design.

Tops Recruiters & Salary offered to Graphic Designers

As far as career growth is concerned, graphic designers end up acquiring jobs in advertising agencies, design studios, publishers, marketing firms, printers and typesetters, audio-visual media, manufacturing, educational institutions, and exhibit and display design firms.

Graphic designers can expect a starting salary package of Rs 8,500 to Rs 15,000 per month. However, anyone with experience of four to five years can easily get about Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000 per month.

Transportation Design

Transportation Design is a broader discipline that covers areas like Automobile Design, Car Design, and Automobile Engineering.

It is primarily focused to cater to the human need for mobility. So, transportation design involves the design of various vehicles’ systems in which the vehicles work. It also covers vehicles for transporting people as well as goods/commodities. Also, sustainability and alternative ways of transportation are given importance. Thus, it is not only limited to automobile design and car design but to design systems that enhance mobility and serve the needs of society.

Along with the regular topics like Aerodynamics, Fluid Dynamics, Automobile engineering, Automotive Modeling, Styling, Colour and Trim Design, Seating Systems – the students are also taught subjects including Sustainable design, System design, Packaging design and design of Special purpose vehicles.

With the rapid growth in the automobile sector, transportation design courses in India have become very popular in recent times. Students get placed in positions like Automotive Concept Design, Automotive Interior and Exterior Design, Vehicle Customisation, Accessory Design, Colour, Trim Design, and Vehicle Styling.

Colleges offering Transportation Design Course

MIT ID, DJ Academy of Design, and DYPDC College are among some good colleges offering courses in Transportation Design.

Salary offered to Transportation Designers

The Salary ranges from Rs 4-7 lakh per annum. 

Animation Design

The field of Animation Design is all about moving images. An individual having special skills and techniques of animation such as Personality and Caricature, Kinematics, Illustration, Visual Scripting, Story Boarding, Pixilation, and Model Animation Design can pursue this course.

Ram Warriar, business head, MAAC explains, "The scope is unlimited, we have traveled a fair distance since the first animation movie on DD, India with low cost of labour and skilled manpower offers an attractive environment to foreign studios, many foreign studios's like Dreamworks have already set up their R&D in India. The key is to be in the best to be hired by these studios as their hiring standards are quite stringent. Apart from this, Indian animation producers have the spunk to invest in Animation movies and that’s paying off from the reviews we have for Arjun – The Warrior and Chotta Bheem".

Harshit Desai of MIT informs, “Product, Transportation, and Graphic have been the disciplines that cater to the manufacturing and communication industry, respectively. Since these are two of the largest sectors of the industry, they have been at the top. Animation and user experience are relatively new disciplines but driven by the growth in the media and IT industry”.

Colleges offering Animation Design Courses

"There are a plethora of animation training institutes to join from, MAAC, Arena, Frameboxx, Manipal, ICAT, Image, etc (not to mention the local regional institutes). However, which institute to choose depends on a combination of factors like cost, infrastructure, faculty, placement, industry linkages, track record, etc. At the end of the course, it is important to get your showreel and if that happens, you would be hired and do well in your career," informs Warrier.

Salaries offered to Animation Designers

In Animation, starting salaries can be anywhere between Rs 10,000- 12,000, but students with genuine talent can grow manifold at a much quicker pace within 2 to 3 years.

User Experience Design

User Experience Design is a discipline that deals with a person’s experience with the system including the interface, graphics, and physical interaction.

It is a multi-disciplinary field, incorporating aspects of psychology, anthropology, architecture, sociology, computer science, graphic design, industrial design, and cognitive science. The most important role of a User Experience Designer is in the IT field where the software application, websites, portals, and various interfaces between human and computer & mobile devices need to be designed. It is the user-experience that is responsible for the success of Apple products. An in-depth study of the user context and environment is the key to create successful products that are user-friendly, innovative, and exciting.

Job Profiles & Salary offered to User Experience Designers

Students get placed as User Experience Researchers & Designers, Interface Architects, Visual Designers, Human Factors Specialists, etc. The salary ranges somewhere between Rs 4-7 lakh per annum.

Read More:

• Fashion Design Courses and Eligibility
• Fashion Designing as a Career
• Fashion Designing Can Provide Huge Job Opportunity