For a youngster contemplating a career in design, there are a plethora of options available today. When a student is passionate about design but is not sure of the stream of design he/she would like to pursue, it makes sense to join an institute that provides a basic foundation in different areas of design. The foundation course is meant to make a student thorough in hands-on activities such as 2-D sketching, life drawing, observational drawing, sculpting, etc.
Interior Design
Interior designing is the arrangement of living space, which entails organising, managing and planning of the interiors of homes, offices, retail shops, showrooms, hotels, airports, exhibition halls, conference rooms, theatres, TV and film studios, and commercial establishments. The objective is to achieve functionality, and to create the right kind of atmosphere at the right budget. Most interior designers specialise in a particular area. For example, some may concentrate on business design, while others may focus on residential design and landscape design or even on particular rooms such as kitchens or baths. Keeping a client’s taste, needs, and budget in mind, interior designers prepare drawings and specifications for non-load-bearing interior construction. This includes decoration of walls, floors, roofs, placement of furniture and other indoor objects, window treatments, lighting, and control of visual and sound effects. There are only a few reputed institutions offering programmes in interior designing in India.
Fashion design
Fashion design is the applied art devoted to the designing of clothing and lifestyle accessories. On the one hand, the fashion industry satisfies both the creative fancies and the materialistic needs of the people. On the other, it promises glamour, fame, success and a high pay package to talented people. However, it is also a demanding career as fashion designers need to combine their creativity with managerial skills to sustain in this industry.
Graphic design
A career in graphic designing can take many different flavours because it touches upon many areas of visual output. Graphic designers work with letters, colour, patterns, illustration, photography, information and physical materials to create everything from annual reports to corporate logos, from maps and diagrams to album and book covers, from product packaging to digital interfaces.
Some graphic designers focus on certain areas of design, such as book sleeves, corporate identity, typography or design for screens. Others specialise in particular areas of the industry such as graphics for property development or FMCG packaging. But a number of graphic designers are versatile and can bring their understanding of visual elements and composition to work in many different areas.
Following are the job profiles you could consider: graphic art managers, creative director, art director, art production manager, hands-on graphic designer, brand identity developer, broadcast designer, logo designer illustrator, visual image developer, multimedia developer, content developer, visual journalist, interface designer, web designer or package designer.
Product design
If you want to be a product designer, you can make a huge difference to the form, function and style of many of the objects we use in our daily lives — from notebooks to cell phones to glassware or products from a specific industry such as electric boards. A product designer combines his/her talent for design with a global understanding of the production and marketing of consumer goods. A student of product design should gain a thorough understanding of the products, their cycle of production and cost estimation based on the materials involved, among other things.
Product designers often become commercial artists, cost estimators and product manufacturing executives.
The writer is Director, LISAA School of
Design, Bangalore.
