What to expect in BDes course at NIFT?

Find out what is the BDes course curriculum at NIFT. Also, know what all is taught in different design specialisations at NIFT.

The NTA will conduct the NIFT 2025 exam on February 9, 2025. The exam will be conducted in 82 cities across India. The candidate can select their choice of NIFT 2025 exam center when applying for the exam. The NIFT 2025 application form is currently open till January 6 (regular fees) and January 9 (late fees). The application edit window will be available from January 10-12. Candidates who qualify in the written exams will be invited for a Situation Test/ PI. The final result of NIFT 2025 will be prepared by giving weightage to the written exam and Situation Test/ PI. The NIFT 2025 merit list will be used for NIFT 2025 counseling and seat allotment. The results of the NIFT 2025 written exam will be declared in March. Are you all set to join NIFT? You need to get a good rank in NIFT 2025. If you make it the NIFTs, the design world will fascinate and enamor you. Keep reading to learn more.

NIFT Admissions: Know your BDes Curriculum

The study of design is a complete departure from all the conventional education that you have been going through up till now. Design is largely a practical field that majorly concentrates upon “learning by doing” methodology. There are only few subjects which are entirely theoretical. The four years of college aim at grooming you into complete professional fit enough to shoulder the responsibilities & demands of the industry. This is achieved through holistic training not only in terms of subject knowledge but also practical application of the same. The BDes course grooms you to have creative ideas & skills, technical approach to transform your illustrations into products, industrial aspects like production planning, quality control, merchandising, visual merchandising, marketing et al. While the latter part of the curriculum is taught across all departments, the former shall vary as per the technical specialisation that you choose.

The first year of curriculum is a common foundation programme where the students are apprised of the basic of drawing, sketching, rendering techniques, visual & representation techniques, material exploration, all types of colour medium handling, world art appreciation, Indian art appreciation, History of fashion, elements of design, colour theory which any design student should be knowing irrespective of their specialisation.

The next three years shall concentrate on the specific field as per your choice during counselling, which you get to choose from the range of Fashion design, textile design, knitwear design, leather design, accessories design(this too offers a variety of choices) & fashion communication.

Let us get acquainted with what does each specialisation hold:

Textile design: This is where designing begins, the fabric design. Right from the fibre stage which is spun into yarn then further woven into fabric, followed by various finishing processes, dyeing, printing, embroideries & surface embellishment techniques are studied.

You can expect subjects like fibre science, textile science, dyeing, printing, various embroideries, surface ornamentation techniques, CAD as a part of the specialisation.

Fashion design: From where a textile designer ends, does a fashion designer pick up. This is all about garment designing- the wearables. The subject focus shall be on Fabric knowledge, elements of fashion, fashion art, illustration, pattern making, draping, grading, garment construction, embroideries, CAD etc.

Knitwear design: This entails fabric as well as garment designing using knitting as a technique, both coarse knits (flatbed knitting) & fine knits (circular knitting). Where textile & fashion deal with fabric design & garment design separately, knitwear design deals with both fabric and garment design but with exclusive knitting technique.

Expect to study knitting technology, flat bed knitting machine, circular knitting machine, elements of fashion, fashion art, illustration, pattern making, draping, grading, garment construction for knits, CAD etc.

The textile & knitwear design are highly technical courses.

Leather design deals with leather finishing & garment designing again dealing with leather processing & finishing techniques, elements of fashion, fashion art, illustration, pattern making, grading, garment construction CAD etc.

Accessories are the things that we use apart from our basic clothing like jewellery, footwear, bags, belts, head gears, handicrafts, fragrances, perfumes, interior accessories etc. This is a product design course hence requires a great deal of 3D visualisation. You study form & material exploration, fabrication techniques, illustration etc.

Fashion Communication is a very promising field giving a variety of specialisations like fashion photography & advertising (with inputs in graphics & animation, in limitation), fashion event management, fashion journalism & visual merchandising. People who are good with language, communication & interaction skills may pursue this field.

Learning by doing also means a lot of real hard work...so NIFTians, gear up!!! Next we shall be discussing the details of BFtech & MFM courses & the career opportunities that await you after your Bachelor’s / Masters from NIFT...

Till then enjoy being a NIFTian!!!

About the Author:

Shipra Anand is the Founder Director of Academy for Fashion Careers in Lucknow.

Read More:

• List of NIFTs in India: Rankings, Admissions, Courses and Fees
• Fee Structure for UG and PG Design Courses in NIFTs
• Why join NIFT – How is National Institute of Fashion Technology different from other design colleges