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mumbaifirstHOT CAREERS > DESIGN
Sketching the future
DESIGN MANIA Subodh More quit mechanical engineering to follow his dream of designing new-age products.
He devises innovative products for major brands, and in his free time, he designs some more
PUNEET CHANDHOK/HT
✂
newsyoucanuse
HOW MUCH DOES THIS PAY?
ENTRY LEVEL MIDDLE LEVEL SENIOR LEVEL
`3 lakh to `6 lakh to `9 lakh to
`6 lakh pa `8 lakh pa `12 lakh pa
Designers make product You will design products and You will be responsible for
concepts, sketches and supervise junior designers, business development and
conduct field work that check on the progress of managing projects, handling
includes doing consumer and projects, monitor deadlines clients and supervising
user studies. and give feedback to in-house designers.
entry-level designers.
SKILLS REQUIRED
■ Problem solving ■ Creativity and an ability to think out of the box ■ Technical drawing and sketching
skills ■ Ability to look at problems and solutions from different perspectives ■ Basic engineering
✂
knowledge ■ Knowledge of manufacturing materials and processes
BEST COLLEGES
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN CENTRE, Class 12 students, subject to clearance of
IIT-BOMBAY, Powai, Mumbai-76 institute tests. The post-graduate diploma is
Course fee: Rs 40,000 per semester for the open to anyone with a Bachelors or
two-year Master’s in Design; Rs 40,876 per equivalent degree in specific areas,
semester for the four-year PhD in Design, depending on the disciplines selected.
both inclusive of hostel and mess fees. Tel: (079) 26623692
Eligibility: Open to graduates in design, Website: nid.edu
architecture and engineering.
Tel: 25767801; Fax: 25767803 SIR JJ SCHOOL OF ARTS, Dr DN Road,
SUBODH Website: www.idc.iitb.ac.in Fort, Mumbai – 01
Course fee: Varies from Rs 450 per year
MORE (29) NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN (for students from Maharashtra) to
(NID), AHMEDABAD, Paldi, Rs 35,000 per year (for students from out-
PRODUCT DESIGNER
a day in his life Ahmedabad – 380 007 side the state) for the four-year Bachelor’s
HAS DESIGNED EVERYTHING Course fee: About Rs 2.10 lakh for the degree course in Fine Art or Applied Art.
FROM SHAMPOO BOTTLES AND 8 AM 9.30 AM 10.30 AM 1 PM 6 PM four-year graduate diploma in design; about Eligibility: Class 12 graduates with at least
Wakes up Gets to Attends Has lunch Leaves Rs 2.55 lakh for the two-year post-graduate 50% may apply, but must also clear the
SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS TO
and has work, meetings, with for home, diploma in design. Maharashtra Common Entrance Test.
MOTORBIKES AND WATER breakfast checks brain- colleagues. also in
PURIFIERS FOR DESIGN Eligibility: The graduate diploma is open to Website: jjsa.in
CONSULTANCY
with his wife. mail, networking sites
and design websites.
storms, designs,
builds client base.
Finishes off dull
documentation work.
Malad (West), and
has dinner with ✂
FIRM DESMANIA Checks the day’s his wife.
schedule.
HT-SYNOVATE POLL Hindustan Times and Synovate India conduct-
ed a survey of 730 people to gauge what
matters most to young Mumbaiites when it comes to choosing a career.
Tasneem Nashrulla Strandbeests — skeletal animals pow- so do their pay scales. More earns Rs
■ htmetro@hindustantimes.com ered by wind to walk on sand. As designers, we relish 8 lakh a year, a reasonable income if THE TOP FACTORS INFLUENCING CAREER CHOICE IN MUMBAI
MUMBAI: A strange creature, constructed
It’s this sort of feverish passion
for design that led More to quit
the initial stage where we you don’t compare it to the Rs 12 lakh
that MNCs pay their in-house design- Work life Job Opportunity Intellectual Mobility Social Quality of Quality Scope for
entirely of plastic pipes and lemonade mechanical engineering in favour of a come up with radical ideas for ers at his level. balance security to grow Money stimulation (Ease of status companies of people working in
products that our clients want and changing (Perception
bottles, glides across a beach on Master’s degree in Industrial Design But money seems to be secondary (Challenging opportunities of social different
Subodh More’s computer screen. at the Indian Institute of Technology- for design fanatics like More. stability and creative and availabili- status of functions
“It’s a kinetic sculpture built by Theo Bombay’s Industrial Design Cell four to create or reinvent. “As designers, we relish the initial 19%
work
environment)
ty of opportu- employees in
nities with sector) and roles
Jansen,” says More, mesmerised by the years ago. SUBODH MORE (29), stage when we come up with radical 17% reputed com-
panies)
beautiful, bizarre contraption playing Now 29, he heads a team that cre- product designer ideas for products that our clients 13% 12% 12%
on a YouTube video. ates products for some of India’s lead- want to create or reinvent,” he says.
A what? Built by whom? “Theo ing brands. In his four years at space and market share in India’s tril- “The challenge lies in realising these
Jansen,” he repeats, staring in wonder Desmania, More has designed every- lion-dollar-plus economy, the design radical ideas within their practical 8% 8% 7%
that someone would not know the thing from shampoo bottles and sci- industry is thriving. constraints.”
world-renowned Dutch artist. entific instruments to motorbikes and “There is finally the realisation that In the designer’s wonderland then, 2% 1%
When he isn’t working as the design water purifiers. design can play a vital role in the busi- even the humble sharpener can become
and business head at Desmania, a “It’s nice to see your product on the ness sector,” says Anuj Prasad (46), a raison d'être, as it once did for More.
design consultancy firm in Malad, shelf,” he says. But it’s the journey from CEO of the Delhi-based Desmania. “A “It was highly technical stuff; you won’t
More spends his time trying to repli- problem to product that truly excites whole lot of Indian market leaders have understand,” he says. What’s not to
cate one of Jansen’s wondrous cre-
ations. “This thing literally walks by
young designers such as More.
As multinational brands and Indian
started in-house design cells or engaged
the services of agencies like ours.”
understand about a blade that sharp-
ens pencils? “We had to design new expertspeak | ANUJ PRASAD,
itself,” he says, of Jansen’s companies furiously compete for shelf As the demand for designers rises, ways in which the sharpener’s hinges CEO of multi-disciplinary design firm Desmania, offers an industry
opened and slid. It involved highly com-
plex mechanisms,” he says, smiling con- insider’s view on today’s career with respect to the above parameters
‘Be versatile, and always
spiratorially.
While most Indian companies still WORK-LIFE BALANCE: The working demand for good designers is exceeding
prefer to play it safe when it comes to hours are quite long and designers have supply, so there is scope for very success-
design innovation, there are niche very tight deadlines. They definitely ful designers to move around the field.
update your design portfolio’ RAJENDRA GAWANKAR
projects — such as developing an
unconventional source of energy,
something More and his team are cur-
work harder than they would in most
other jobs.
JOB SECURITY: It’s a fledgling industry,
SOCIAL STATUS: Unfortunately, people
don’t understand what product designers
do, so the social status for product
Imran Ladak, 26, has been dabbling rently working on — that keep the
in graphic design for five years. He designers excited. but as far as designers working in com- designers is not that high.
recently took up a full-time job at a Based on the client’s brief, they panies are concerned, they are secure. QUALITY OF COMPANIES: There are
design studio in Khar. He continues brainstorm and ‘doodle’ 30 to 40 Those working for design consultancies still very few companies in the market
freelancing and has worked on every- sketches of each product. Once man- may not have as much job security, that hire product designers. Only young
thing from logos and menus to ufacturing and cost constraints have depending on their performance. companies have full-fledged design
brochures and hoardings for restau- been factored in, one of the designs is
rants, spas, paint companies, archi- approved and a 3D model presented OPPORTUNITY TO GROW: Career departments.
tectural firms and BPOs. to the client. “It’s usually a milder, sub- growth is limited currently but the possi- QUALITY OF PEOPLE: The quality of
tler version of our original concepts,” bilities are endless in the near future. designers is still not high, because edu-
What kind of formal training do you says More. MONEY: In the larger organisations, cation in many design schools has
have in design? As an outlet to some of that sup- designers get good salaries. In design not matured and there is a short-
After my BCom, I went to the pressed creativity, he works on his own
consultancies, salaries are between what age of good faculty. There is a
London College of Communication designs in his spare time.
for a little over a year, where I did a His pet project at the moment is a engineers and MBAs would get and less lack of effort to improve the
graduate diploma course in visual new-age street-cleaning machine. than what corporate designers earn. quality of work and people.
communication. But formal So when he’s not designing beach INTELLECTUAL STIMULATION: There SCOPE FOR WORKING IN
training is not a prerequisite. beasts or futuristic stationery, what is enormous scope for intellectual DIFFERENT FUNCTIONS AND
does the recently married More do? stimulation as this is creative and ROLES: There is limited scope in
Is this a growing industry in Mumbai? “I design,” he says. intellectual work. this area. Designers per se do
Absolutely. Five years ago, I would graphic design? very rewarding. Monthly retainer-
get hired mainly by established busi- Diversity is good. It shows that ships can go up to Rs 60,000, and you MOBILITY: Mobility is limited and only not want to shift over to
nesses, to do stationery and visiting you’re versatile. I began my portfolio can easily take up four or five brands To find yourself a job in possible for very talented designers. The other functions.
cards. Now I get commissioned to with college assignments and hypo- at a time. One logo can net Rs 60,000 A HOT CAREER IN MUMBAI,
make a personalised clock, an invi- thetical campaigns, then replaced to Rs 90,000, depending on the client.
tation for an anniversary party, a
series of walls in an industrialist’s
them one by one with real-world work.
Always keep your portfolio updated, What’s the toughest part of your job?
log on to
http://hotcarersinmumbai.shine.com
industrynumbers
home — all this along with the usual
corporate stuff. Design is now sought
after by individuals too.
may be with a little write-up or
concept note about each design.
Abandoning perfectly good con-
cepts and designs just because the
client thinks they are no good.
$12 bn
The Indian design market has a
$8.97 bn 20%
Revenues from the Very The Indian design market
What is the pay like? TALK TO US potential annual revenue of more registered a compound annual
What is considered a good portfolio in Monetarily, graphic designing is — Bhairavi Jhaveri Large Scale Integration
■ What did you think of our overview of this than $12 bn, with applications in (VLSI), board design and growth rate of 19% to 20% in
career? Is there anything else you want to aerospace, chip design, consumer embedded software 2009-10
know about? Write in and tell us. durables, ship-building, construction markets touched $8.97 bn
TOMORROW EVENT MANAGEMENT: A big bash, every day htmetro@hindustantimes.com and the automotive industry. in 2009-10. (Source: Design Market India 2009-10)