Highest Paying Design Careers in India: Salary, Colleges and Hiring Companies
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Design is one of the most dynamic industries in India. This industry is showing a massive increase in employment and job opportunities for people. Read in detail to know about the highest-paying career opportunities in India.
Highest Paying Design Careers in India
Making a career in Design demands a creative mind and soul, along with hard work. As this industry is booming very fast, it is offering lucrative salaries to people. One can become a Fashion designer, Footwear designer, Jewellery designer, Textile designer, Apparel Developer, Knitwear Designer, Sampling Coordinator, Pattern Maker, Fashion Stylist, Visual Merchandiser, Photographer, etc, if he/she pursues Design as a career in India.
- Top Highest-paying Design Career Opportunities in India
- Salary of Design Careers in India
- Colleges and Exams to get Admission in Design Colleges
- Skills every Design Graduate must have
- Top Companies Hiring Design Graduates and Post Graduates
Top Highest-paying Design Career Opportunities in India
Some of the highest paying careers in Design are given below.
- UI/UX Designer: With the rising demand of IT companies, e-commerce services, apps, etc, UI/UX designer is trending. It focuses on understanding user needs and designing user-friendly interfaces.
- Graphic Designer: This specialization is trending because there is an increase in demand for branding, marketing, advertising, etc. Graphic Designers work on illustrations and layouts. They use various graphical tools, like Adobe Photoshop, Figma, CorelDRAW, etc.
- Advertising and Brand Designer: Here, the main work is to design ad films, short films for brands for promotion. Big companies hire brand designers for their brands and pay them really well.
- Product Designer: This specialisation opens the door to industries like consumer electronics, tech innovations, etc. Many startups are also emerging, which require a Product designer to bring new products to the market. It required designing physical or digital products.
- Animation Film Designer: It is one of the most trending fields as there is a boom in the OTT and gaming industry. It focuses on creating animated content for short films, documentaries, games and social media. Brands like Vodafone, Disney, Mc Donald's hire Animation film designers.
- Fashion Designer: This career can never go out of trend. The fashion industry is dynamic and creative, with new trends every day. It focuses on apparel design and market trends. For example, the revival of Benarasi Saree or Sustainable clothing by famous brands like H&M and ZARA, all comes under Fashion Design.
- Interior Designer: With the increase in infrastructural development, like apartments, studio apartments, cafes, and restaurants, there is a demand for Interior and Spatial Design graduates and post-graduates. They focus on eco-friendly and modern designs.
- Sustainable Designer: The world is now focusing more on curbing the effects of globalisation. More focus is now being given to making recyclable and sustainable products, which are eco-friendly. A career in Sustainable Design helps in getting into organisations that focus on creating such products and services.
- Game Designer: The Gaming industry has seen tremendous growth in recent years. This career focuses on designing games and interactive experiences. This industry is growing at a very fast pace and offeres good salary.
- Social Impact Designer: Social Impact Designer is the new trend as big organisations, NGOs and even the government are hiring professionals to solve social problems by designing products and services that will help in curbing social problems. Graduates with this specialisation will need to focus on solving social, environments and community challenges with their products and services.
Commonly asked questions
The expected cutoff for NIFT 2027 for B.Des is:
| Category | Expected Cutoff for B.Des |
|---|---|
| Open | 30-80 |
| EWS | 26-29 |
| OBC | 26-29 |
| SC | 22 |
| ST | 19 |
Yes, candidates from all streams can fill the application form of UCEED. Also, note that Biology will not be considered in place of Mathematics. The application form for UCEED 2027 must be filled out by candidates after ascertaining their eligibility. IIT Roorkee has the same eligibility criteria as IIT Guwahati.
The NIFT Daman Cutoff 2026 for the fourth round for students falling under the General AI category were from 764 to 3489.
For other categories, please see the table given below:
| Category | 2026 Cutoff range |
| OBC | 831-6176 |
| SC | 8307-10045 |
| EWS | 7757-9670 |
Salary of Design Careers in India
The average salary of design careers in India is given below.
| Career | Average Salary |
|---|---|
| UI/UX Designer | 5.6 LPA |
| Graphic Designer | 1.7 to 6.3 LPA |
| Advertising and Brand Designer | 3.8 to 19.0 LPA |
| Product Designer | 3.5 to 26.0 LPA |
| Animation Film Designer | 4 - 8 LPA |
| Fashion Designer | 5 - 10 LPA |
| Interior Designer | 9 to 25 LPA |
| Sustainable Designer | 4 to 20 LPA |
| Game Designer | 4.7 to 15 LPA |
| Social Impact Designer | 4.5 to 6 LPA |
Colleges and Exams to get Admission in Design Colleges
Some of the top institutes to study design are given below.
| Exam Name | Conducting Body | Top Institutes | Course Offered (B.Des and M.Des) |
|---|---|---|---|
| NID DAT | National Institute of Design | NID Ahmedabad, NID AP, NID Haryana, NID Madhya Pradesh | Graphic Design, Animation, Product Design, Textile, Film & Video, Exhibition, etc. |
| UCEED | IIT Bombay | IIT Bombay, IIT Guwahati, IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IIITDM Jabalpur | UI/UX, Product Design, Visual Communication, Mobility Design, etc. |
| NIFT Entrance Exam | National Testing Agency (NTA) | NIFT Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, etc. | Fashion Design, Textile, Knitwear, Accessory, Leather, Fashion Communication, Apparel Prod. |
| SEED | Symbiosis Institute of Design (SID) | SID Pune | Communication Design, Industrial Design, Fashion Communication, Fashion Design |
| AIEED | ARCH College of Design & Business | ARCH Jaipur | Fashion, Interior, Product, Graphic, Jewellery Design |
| Pearl Academy Entrance | Pearl Academy | Pearl Academy (Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Jaipur) | Fashion Design, Product Design, Communication Design, Interior Design |
| IIAD Entrance Exam | Indian Institute of Art and Design | IIAD | Fashion Design, Communication Design, Interior Architecture |
| Srishti Entrance (SMEAT) | Srishti Manipal Institute | Srishti Manipal (Bangalore) | Animation, Industrial Arts, Digital Media, Visual Communication, Contemporary Art |
| MIT DAT | MIT Institute of Design | MIT Institute of Design, Pune | Product, Transportation, Interior, Graphic, Fashion Design |
| UPES DAT | University of Petroleum and Energy Studies | UPES School of Design, Dehradun | Game Design, Product Design, UI/UX, Interior, Animation |
Commonly asked questions
NIFT master's programme is offered in Master of Design (M. Des. ), Master of Fashion Management (M. F. M) and Master of Fashion Technology (M. F. Tech. ).
The cut-off would be released separately for all these courses. This means, if the candidate meets the cut-off criteria for M. Des but fails to meet the cut-off for M. F. Tech, in that case the candidate will only be eligible for admission to the M. Des programme. So, the candidate needs to check out the cut-off or closing ranks for the programme they are seeking admission to. The cut-off would be determined by considering factors like total applicants, seat intake, merit ranks of the applicants, and also admission category.
NIFT Bengaluru has 190 BDes and 38 BFTech seats. NIFT Bengaluru is one of the leading fashion design colleges in India. The admission cut-off for the institute tends to be higher, so the candidate must have a high merit rank to have a good chance of admission. Admission to both the BDes and BFTech courses at the institute will be conducted on the basis of the merit rank of the candidate in the NIFT 2023 exam. Candidates seeking admission to the BDes programme need to appear in the CAT GAT and Situation Test. However, BFTech applicants only need to take the GAT exam.
The candidate will be able to select their choice of NIFT participating institutes (in the order of priority) at the time of filling out the NIFT counseling registration form.
- Online registration for NIFT counseling will start soon after the final results are declared.
- The counseling registrations for NIFT will be open to candidates who have qualified in the NIFT entrance exam.
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Skills every Design Graduate must have
- Creative Thinking: This is one of the most important skills for a design student. It is a natural skill, but it can be polished. Design students must think creatively. They must bring original ideas, explore art and architecture, and participate in various design challenges.
- Sketching and Visualisation: Sketching skills never get old. This has to be developed and polished. Students should regularly practice sketching, especially perspective drawing, human figures, shapes, layouts, etc. Sketching helps to express ideas in a better way.
- Design Thinking: Every design student must think in this way. It is a way of providing solutions through design. It includes developing problem-solving skills and helps to create solutions.
- Digital Skills: In this world, design students must have good knowledge of software and tools that are used in the industry. This will help in preparing them for better opportunities. Some of the software are Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Figma, etc.
- Attention to Detail: Design students must develop this skill of giving attention to the tiniest thing present in a textile, sketch, product, painting, etc. It will help them in determining the quality of design and the needs of the customer or examiner.
Explore more Design exams with upcoming dates
12 Sep '26
1 Jan '25 - 30 Sep '26
3 Dec '25 - 30 Sep '26
1 Oct '26
10 Sep '26 - 30 Nov '26
6 Aug '26 - 31 Dec '26
1 Nov '26 - 31 Dec '26
8 Dec '26 - 16 Jan '27
24 Aug '26 - 30 Sep '26
Top Companies Hiring Design Graduates and Post Graduates
Some of the companies which hire people from design background are given below.
- Raymonds
- Arvind Garments
- Levis
- Madura Garments
- Omega Designs
- Pantaloon
- Shahi Exports
- Spykar
- Uni Style India
-
Pearl Global
-
Kimaya
- Indus League Clothing
- United Colors of Benetton
- ITC Ltd.
- Lifestyle
- Modelama Exports
- Orient Craft
- Proline
- Span India
- Swarovski India
- Texport Overseas
- Shoppers Stop
- Mahajan Overseas
- Gokuldas Images
- H&M
- Zara
- Marks and Spencer
- FabIndia
- Aditya Birla Fashion
- Myntra
- Nykaa
- Ajio
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Sayeba Naushad is a commerce postgraduate from Banaras Hindu University. She has over five years of experience in content writing and editing. She has a nose for current events in design field. At Shiksha.com, she s
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