The need for personalization, increased online activities and technology such as virtual reality and 3D printing have driven designers to leverage user-centric data for better product development. Skills including research, prototyping and testing make up a designer.
The short rental period during the pandemic has not affected the demand for design professionals. The world has shifted to a virtual mode, and organizations are hiring user experience analysts, UI/UX designers, graphic designers and design application consultants, among others. Some of the new job profiles emerging in design include user research, digital product designer, information architect, usability analyst, voice interface designer, design strategist and creative technologist.
Tingbin Tang is an award-winning designer, a serial entrepreneur and a global design educator with over two decades of design experience across continents. As the new Dean, School of Design, Pearl Academy, he shared his unique perspective.
“Design education is about researching target consumers, applying creativity to solve issues, creating prototypes and testing them as solutions. Designing is a horizontal field, requiring students to learn a range of skills. In addition to technical knowledge, a designer needs to know the psychology of the market. More than one product, a designer deals with mass markets. Global design educator, Tang says, “Today creating functional products across different categories of design. key aspect.”
A misconception about the field of design is that it is driven only by technology. “A designer’s job is to understand human emotions and transfer them into products that help solve an issue,” shares Tang.
Manvendra Shukul, CEO and co-founder of game art creation company Lakshya, says that today, an increasing number of students realize the need to study design.
“Indian parents push children towards engineering. But, with technology and artificial intelligence (AI), an irreplaceable skill today is creativity. Developing a winning strategy for a designer requires a combination of future-ready skills including compassion,” says Shukla.
Web designer Yashu Maitreyi feels that there are no rights or wrongs in designing. “My parents inspired me to become an engineer, but web designing is a passion. After a few years as an engineer, I took a part-time course to understand the basics of design, and learned skills that I think are important for personal and professional development. ”
Maitreyi is happy with her decision to follow her passion and become a designer, as her current salary is competitive and she has the option to be creative professionally.
The tech-driven era requires companies to pay impressive salaries to undergraduate and postgraduate design students, making the field lucrative. Design is considered one of the least likely professions to be affected by automation, says Tang, which evolves into a hybrid industry that is considered technological and creative.
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