Why are students opting for offbeat courses like Design Technology, according to an expert

Unconventional career choices could be tough at first, but, the perks linked with these are promising. Today's work opportunities were not available just a few years ago. Similarly, the rate of technological advancement would continue to create millions of new employment in the future that we are unable to imagine today.

Equipping oneself with relevant, distinctive, growing, and out-of-the-box talents, is thus, a vital feature for young graduates hoping to establish their own businesses or acquire solid employment. Students have gained the confidence and fortitude to pursue their interests as parents, educational institutions, and the government encourage them to go the additional mile, think of new ideas, and seek new career paths.

Years ago, whenever you encountered the word ‘ DESIGN’, you had visions of fashion design, interiors, and graphic design. Maybe Car design, too. You would imagine the discipline to be visually exciting and aesthetically appealing.

Design aspirants are now seeking out design programmes that have a new emphasis on problem-solving, critical thinking and systems design. They want to move from human-centric design to planet-centric design. They are looking to work on social issues and strategy building.

The other new development of design disciplines is the blurring of borders. Designers who are stuck in silos are now looking to do projects across several disciplines of design. Interdisciplinary design is the current favorite amongst students who are looking to have a broader view of design issues and have the ability to collaborate with not only different designers but also different professionals like engineers, management professionals, anthropologists, scientific professionals et al. This new kind of designer has the ability to work across new disciplines and offer multi-dimensional solutions to problems. Interdisciplinary designers are also sought after by start-up businesses who look to hire one kind of designer who can handle product, packaging, website, showrooms, and space design and would rather deal with one kind of designer than five different ones.

Not just your regular UI/UX design, Interaction design straddles the disciplines of product design and digital design. Better interactions are designed, taking into consideration the interaction between man and device, device and device, and device and cloud, also known as the Internet of things or IoT. It is this new cutting-edge, technology-led discipline that has students seeking out such institutions.

Design is morphing into new disciplines and Integrated Communication Design is one such discipline. Traditional programmes of Graphic design and Communication design have lost their mojo, as anyone with knowledge of software apps like Canva and Figma can make excellent graphic design. Graphic design has become templatized so much that you do not need a 4-year course on the subject. Therefore, the emergence of new programmes like Integrated Communication Design focuses on communication with words, visuals, and data. Discovering new ways to present data, where communication is paramount, including video, print, and films. The new integrated communication design is called so as it integrates the analog with the digital, the old with the new, and the pencil with the pixel. Students who already come to join these programmes are proficient in photo manipulation and illustration, so one can avoid repeating these in class.

Design students who look forward to solving the world’s problems like water and sanitation, education, and gender issues are advised to look for Systems thinking courses that are offered in the design programmes. They need to study the importance of small changes making big differences. They develop a bird’s eye view of the problems and are better equipped to give creative solutions that can bring about systemic changes.

Students are advised to seek out such institutions that cater to new-age programmes that are future-ready and current. You will realise their true worth when you look for placements four years after you have joined. Design is headed that way.