Make a career as a product designer

Says Sudhir Athreya, chief design engineer and the coordinator of the programme, "Selling a product in a competitive market requires superior design quality and better packaging and advertising design. Even the small scale industry has realised the importance of design in selling. Hence the demand for design personnel has sky rocketed. We hope to cater to this demand."

Explains Athreya, "Unlike other degree/ diploma courses that require several years of monotonous studies, ours is offered in a condensed package that will save the participants’ time and money."

He says that the six-month course is sufficient to join the design bandwagon.

The programme offers three specialisations — product design, visual communication and fashion and apparel design. Students are also required to do an industrial project and undergo industrial training during the second half of the course.

Product design deals with consumer products. Adds Athreya, "Though many of them are engineering oriented products, the design manager’s role is also important. He acts as a coordinator between the market, the company, the specialist engineers, and the manufacturing units."

There are various areas that can be explored by a designer, such as vehicle design, domestic appliances, office equipment, consumer durables, toy design, furniture etc.

The visual communication stream deals with corporate design, digital graphics, image processing, animation, printing technology, ad films, package design, multi-media, web-page etc. This helps the participants get suitable employment in advertising firms, newspapers and other media establishments. The third specialisation, fashion and apparel design, is on offer from the next academic session onwards.

Karta Technologies, a prominent recruitment and industrial consultancy firm, has offered placement to the first batch of students. J R Pai, general manager of Karta Technologies, says "Companies are looking for people with innovative ideas — who can give a new angle to the products. So there is a tremendous scope for design professionals."

Pai adds that salary at the entry level is in the range of Rs 6,000-13,000. Says Athreya, "Our programme is unique, as presently no other institution in the country provides design education at this level. This course is a skill-based one. Industry recruits, technical personnel and design consultants find jobs on the basis of their work, skill and portfolio and not by degrees. Our students stand a good chance in the job market."

Admission to the programme is conducted through an aptitude test and interview. Classes begin in March provided you part with — hold your breath — Rs 75,000 (as course fee).