Designing Career Opportunities: Tips For Aspiring Students & Parents

Over the last 5 years, 'Design' has emerged as one of fastest growing careers in India. The appeal of design careers for both students and parents has dramatically increased over the last decade. About 8-10 per cent of students in the age group of 14-18 years in India consider pursuing a career in design. We believe a good education choice leads to a good career, i.e. Right Career Choice = Interest + Personality + Aptitude + Opportunity.

And here, we clarify the many myths and misconceptions about Design education and careers. For the benefit of students and parents, it is important to present facts and realities about Design Education and Career Opportunities.

Here are 9 important 'Facts and Tips' about Design education and Career opportunities:

1. What is Design: Design is fundamentally about identifying and solving human problems. Design is created keeping the user at the center of the solution. It is a very broad field and it affects almost all aspects of our lives, right from where we live, what clothes we wear, what products we use, what vehicles we ride in, what entertainment we watch, what Apps we use and so on. Design plays an important role in all of it. It also includes creation of graphics, visual effects, moving images for the purpose of communication and entertainment. Children who are curious, creators and problem solvers can consider pursuing a career in design.
2. 50+ Career Options: Design is a small word but a vast field. Design offers more than 50 career specializations in 6 different faculties, i.e. Industrial Design, Communication Design, Fashion Design, IT / Tech Design, Architecture & Fine, Applied Art. Some of the fastest growing / in demand careers are, UX / UI Design, AR / VR Designer, System Design, Strategic Design Management, Game Design, Technology Product Design, VFX Design etc. Design is still a niche career area and there is little awareness about the variety of options and which option is most suitable for a child. To understand these multiple options, do your own research on the internet, follow popular designers on social media and connect with an expert counselor, who focuses on creative careers.
3. Design Aptitude & Interest: Just like any other career or profession, to pursue an education and career in Design, you should have a basic Aptitude, implying a natural ability, and Interest, which can be deciphered as passion, for it. There is a misconception that being a good artist is enough to pursue Design. Another misconception is that Design is only about how things look. Design is not only about how things look & feel, but also about how they work. Design is 'Form + Function'. Hence, Designers require not only art and aesthetics skills but also scientific and logical abilities. Designers need curiosity, empathy, and problem-solving ability, to identify and solve problems. It is advisable to go through a scientific, design-oriented aptitude test before considering design as a career option. Regular psychometric aptitude tests fail to test creative aptitude, hence cannot assess for design careers appropriately. 
4. Inter-Disciplinary Education: The question usually asked before choosing any career, is whether it is rewarding? Unlike any other field, design education is interdisciplinary. A designer can do multiple types of design work, e.g. a Product Designer can also double up as a Graphic Designer or UX / UI Designer. Since Design follows a 'User Centric Approach', corporates recruit designers for strategic and management roles. This unique interdisciplinary potential makes the careers of design professionals future-proof, i.e. their careers are able to navigate the ups-and-downs in the industry across different disciplines.
5. Design Education Boom: In the 20th century creative education in India was limited to Fine Arts, Applied Arts and Architecture. At the beginning of the 21st century, there were only a handful of Design Schools across India, viz. 2 NIDs, few NIFTs, few IITs, few Private Design Schools. Over the last 2 decades, more than 150 Government and Private Design Schools have opened in India. Today, there are 7 NIDs, 16 NIFTs, 6 IITs, 8 FDDIs and many prominent Private educational groups like MIT, Srishti-Manipal, OP Jindal, NMIMS, Somaiya Trust, D.Y. Patil, Atlas, Karnavati, among others that offer design programs at Bachelors (B.Des) and Masters (M.Des) level. Setting up a design school requires heavy infrastructure, mainly due to the practical nature of learning. The fact that Government and Private players are investing heavily in building design education infrastructure should give all of us confidence that they believe in the future of design in India.
6. Higher Starting Salaries: The industry has recognised that creative problem-solving skills are required to deal with complex customer demands of today. Design professionals are fundamentally more 'industry ready' due to the “learning by doing” nature of education they undergo. The industry is prepared to pay premium salaries for these design thinking, creative problem solving and industry ready skills. Fresh Designers can expect an average annual salary of Rs 6-8 lacs at graduate level and 10-12 lacs at post-graduate levels. These salaries are at least 50 per cent higher than those of Engineering graduates and post-graduates. To some extent, these higher salaries justify the higher fees of design education. Fees in design schools can be anywhere from Rs. 3 to Rs. 6 lacs per annum. Parents must consider this return on their investment, i.e Fees versus Salaries, when investing in their child’s future.
7. Internships, Placements & Top Recruiters: Design education fundamentally works on Projects-Internships-Placement model. During the 4 years of Bachelors program or 2.5 years of Masters program, students have to complete multiple projects and internships. These mandatory projects and internships give them real work experience and often lead to placements. Designers are recruited by top companies across industries like Technology, Consulting, Manufacturing, Fashion, E-Commerce, Design Studios, Advertising agencies, Industrial Products, Consumer Products, Automobile, Gaming etc. Design Schools also focus on creating entrepreneurs, not just job seekers.
8. Demand vs Supply: India creates only 10,000 designers and 20,000 architects per year, compared to China which creates 3.0 lacs every year, and even a small country like South Korea creates 25,000 new design educated professionals. Demand far exceeds the supply. A report suggests that CII predicts designers will soon be 1% of all employment. There is a definite requirement to discover those students who have the right aptitude and interest for Design and help them develop this into a rewarding career.
9. Govt Initiatives: The Government has recognised the importance of design for global competitiveness, driving economic growth, creating products and brands, better standard of living etc. They have promoted design education with 4 new National Institutes of Design, added 'Design' programs to 6 IITs, started critical initiatives like 'Make in India', 'Smart Cities' etc. The central Government has established the 'India Design Council' to promote design education and profession in India. These initiatives should give comfort to students, parents, educational institutes and industry alike.

To pursue an education in design, you should aspire to join a Top Design School. Each institute of design has a different entrance exam and admission process for B.Des & M.Des programs. NATA and JEE Paper 2 are the entrance exams for B.Arch admission and MAH-AAC-CET for BFA admission. These entrance exams are competitive and test students on multiple aptitudes like Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, Observation, Visualisation, Problem Solving, Aesthetic Sensitivity, Logical Ability etc.

Start with assessing your Aptitude & Interest and then consider preparing with the right institute for the exams. It is also very helpful to do a course with a company which will help be your guide to these exams.

Chiranjeet Rege

Guest Author The author is Director, SILICA - Your Design Career Guide