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Mansi Jain, the East Delhi student with the NIFT 2025 All India Rank 1, stands at a critical juncture. Topping India's biggest fashion entrance test would be the icing on the cake for most, but Mansi remains undecided — owing to another superlative achievement: ranking AIR 10 in CEED 2025, which has paved the way for a Master's in Design from IIT Bombay.

Talking to ET.com, the Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate revealed her preparation process, academic course, and the special place she is in today.

"For most, design isn't the initial career aspiration," Mansi said. "But for me, it was a natural course of things. I'm from a fine arts background and I always knew I wanted to do design seriously." She shared that she spent 2–3 hours a day on sketching practice, employed resources such as ChatGPT for design aptitude, and learnt intensely on creative problem-solving versus contemporary issues.

Though she had a definite interest in design, Mansi is still not sure which college to choose. "I will go for the counselling in NIFT first. Then i will check out which branch i am getting then i will decide"

Mansi's strategy was to use her strengths. "I did not give too much time to GK. I worked more on developing my creative thinking through my blog and observing other art works," she replied.

When asked what sustained her during the gruelling preparation period, she gave credit to her fine arts studies. "Fine art studies meant I was always drawing. It never seemed like an added load," she said.

Her message to prospective contenders is uncomplicated but compelling: "Stay assured and don't lose your potential. Your attitude is as important as your preparation."

With 19 schools and top-of-the-line campuses such as Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, NIFT offers a tempting opportunity. But so does IIT Bombay, generally considered India's best design school.

From Victorian grain warehouse to factory-chic campus, take a peek inside these stunning schools of thought that are creating tomorrow's design masters.

From Philippe Starck's dreamlike product design to Zaha Hadid's curvaceous building forms, the world's most acclaimed design schools have constructed our world with built environments on six continents. Not only have these schools of design produced iconic alumni, they've even spawned full-fledged movements, from Bauhaus modernism to Scandinavian minimalism. It was in the corridors of Design Academy Eindhoven that Marcel Wanders' then-blaphemous Knotted Chair was conceived, and it was in the corridors of the Rhode Island School of Design that Airbnb was conceived when three students envisioned the potential to reimagine the rooms for hospitality. These are 10 sanctums of holy corridors, sometimes within miraculous structures of architecture themselves, where destinies are made. 

Royal College of Art, London, UK

The RCA has served as a platform for design heroes, from James Dyson to Thomas Heatherwick.

Herzog & de Meuron (2022 completion) Battersea campus boasts a striking skinnable-brick tower with angled cut-outs for sunlight pouring into studio space. Dating back to 1837, this campus school is famous for being the first time a multidisciplinary curriculum was incorporated into its curriculum, incorporating art, design, and technology and opening doors onto the first design interaction course to explore human and computer interface interaction that went on to inform everything from smartphone screens to car dashboard systems.

 Design Academy Eindhoven, Netherlands

With the enduring influence of Dutch fashion on current style, it's no wonder that among the world's best schools of design is located in the Netherlands.

Design Academy Eindhoven is perhaps one of the riskier options provided, and rich soil for fresh talent and creative thinking. Consider Drift Studio, Formafantasma, and the entire Dutch Design Week celebration, it's where concepts are so in your face because they're an epiphany. It is only appropriate that it assumes the space of the former Philips light bulb factory redeveloped as "De Witte Dame" (The White Lady), a modernist icon redeveloped in 1927 by Dirk Roosenburg and restored in 1998. The academy founded in 1947 has Marcel Wanders, Maarten Baas, and Piet Hein Eek among its graduates. Practice of DAE theory has played an important role in providing Dutch Design with its own distinctive mix of experimentation, minimalism, and functionality.

Rhode Island School of Design, New York, USA

Who first comes to mind when one considers the best school of design of the world is New York's Rhode Island School of Design.

Social environment is impacting Parsons School of Design's social influence. Established in 1896 as Chase School at Fifth Avenue and later consolidating with the New School in 1972, it currently boasts buildings such as the Joseph Urban Building and the University Center by SOM in 2013 with its typical brass-shingled exterior and arched glass windows. Parsons hired style icons Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, and Alexander Wang to fashion and revolutionized the education of fashion with the first program in fashion design, bringing an artisanal approach to an academic subject through the utilization of scientific pattern-making and construction methods. ÉCAL (School of Art of the Canton of Lausanne), Switzerland This is a former stockings factory with an uncertain past it would rather forget, but which now hosts the headquarters of ÉCAL, renovated by architect Bernard Tschumi (2007) so that an industrial building present can be open to being remobilized as far as creative synergy.

It was founded in 1821 and has seen designers such as Ronan Bouroullec and Adrien Rovero pass through its doors, with particular note along the way being made of its groundbreaking digital fabrication. Our Editor selects to emphasize:.

ÉCAL transformed furniture design production processes, and its research laboratories pioneered some of the first uses of robot manufacturing in architectural products. Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, USA If arguing that the world's finest design school is Providence-based New York-New England's Rhode Island School of Design, one is immediately impressed by.

Established in 1896 as the Chase School of Fifth Avenue, subsequently merged with the New School in 1972, it currently consists of buildings such as the Joseph Urban Building and SOM's University Center in 2013, whose brass shingle facade imitates the building and with sturdy glass windows. Parsons debunked and dispelled myths regarding fashion design professionals such as Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, and Alexander Wang and mapped the fashion students' learning process anew by creating the very first curriculum in fashion design, analyzing an art of trade into a course of study with linear pattern-making and construction procedures. Politecnico di Milano, Italy Politecnico di Milano philosophy is in its walkway wherein the new buildings are being incorporated into conversation with the old buildings. It was established ages ago in 1863 when Milan design firm expanded and students were literally neighbors to Salone del Mobile with legendary firms like Alessi and Kartell walking distance away.

It is a special environment and one that is populated by the likes of Achille Castiglioni and Gio Ponti.

Their contributions – the contributions of thousands of Politecnico graduates – took ordinary items from office chairs to coffee machines and transformed them into intelligent tools for the good that became lifestyle in Italy and made Milan a world design capital. Aalto University,INK. Helsinki, Finland Formed in 2010 through the merger of Finland's Helsinki University of Art and Design, widely respected (founded 1871), Alvar Aalto and Eero Aarnio are among the alumni. Väre Building, Verstas Architects (2018) is Finnish design excellence achieved through the subtle fusion of wood, concrete, and light via an atmospheric atrium.

Its people-focused nature and sustainable ethos, Aalto University is resplendently Nordic design instruction.

The university has an inter-disciplinary co-operation environment where design and architecture students are instructed to employ both the conventional and the newer tools. RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia Sean Godsell Architects' Design Hub (2012) features a motorized glass disc revolving facade with control of solar gain that creates dynamic patterns. RMIT, dating back to 1887, has had renowned alumni like industrial designer Marc Newson. RMIT initiated practice-led design research methods, subsequently taken up by schools globally, transforming the production and distribution of design knowledge with its initial school of design research. Central Saint Martins, London, UK

One of the cornerstones of Britain's design capital, Central Saint Martins in London has a cherished teaching faculty of design legends: from design genius Thomas Heatherwick and furniture gods Terence Conran and Mathilde Wittock to fashion royalty Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Stella McCartney and Mary Katrantzou.

King's Cross is upstaged by Central Saint Martins in turn, which dominated the remodeled King's Cross area when Stanton Williams Architects converted a Victorian grain warehouse into a beacon campus for the arts in 2011. The dramatic, point-of-punctuation "street" cuts across the Granary Building to create an open public promenade with gallery exhibitions and glass-wall studios – literally echoing the school's passion for cross-fertilisation of the mind.

As it has been in use since 1896 when the two vocation schools of art were combined, this London design school can have space for numerous courses such as performing and photography and animation, curation, 3D design, fashion communication and creative computing.

The £200m campus outside the original transit sheds and granary consists of two new four-storey buildings containing classrooms, workshops and a library. And a 350-seat student theatre. OCAD University, Toronto, Canada The final but by no means least on our roll call of the world's top design schools as sweet as they are crucial to the creation of tomorrow's design stars is Canada's longest-standing and most prestigious art and design school. OCAD goes far too far with a statement building in Will Alsop's 2004 Sharp Centre – a pixellated black-and-white box clumsily balanced atop brightly hued stilts towering over the old university building.

It started as the School of Art, Ontario, in 1876, OCAD went through several different incarnations before it was constituted a full university in 2010 and came out with firm object strands in aboriginal design themes and colours and in green practice.

By drawing on heritage successes such as Group of Seven artist Arthur Lismer, the university itself has carried on pushing the envelope with new ventures such as Digital Futures, where it's breaking new ground at the cutting edge of newer technology at the nexus of art, design, and media.

The Indian School for Design of Automobiles (INDEA) is India’s first automotive design school, and is set to begin operations in 2026. Developed by XLRI’s Centre for Automobile Design & Management (XADM), the design school will focus on developing a uniquely Indian design philosophy for the automotive sector, says Avik Chattopadhyay, Founder of INDEA and Chairperson of XADM.

The 'Groundbreaking' and 'Foundation Stone Laying' ceremony was held at the XLRI Delhi-NCR campus on June 16, in virtual attendance of Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, XLRI Delhi-NCR director Dr. K.S. Casimir, and Avik Chattopadhyay.

• INDEA courses will not be in a traditional classroom arrangement
• Final term project to be a a working prototype that is collaborative
• INDEA curriculum, classes, courses and more
• CAD, 3D modeling, clay modeling, and a number of other skills that will be imparted
• Behind the vision is XLRI's new school, which will depart from the traditional classroom mode.

"What we are constructing is not a classroom; we are constructing a working studio," Chattopadhyay stated. "From paper sketching, to CAD, to 3D modeling, to clay modeling to scale, to 1:1 clay modeling, to prototyping — all will be learned there." The course would have management and design incorporated into it and taught by practitioners from around the world. "Number one is design plus management. Number two is practitioner taught. And number three, it's in a working environment," he said. "There are not class rooms in school, only a single big hall where the 25 students will be seated. Otherwise, they will be in the room working on clay modelling, the CAD-CAM room, the prototyping workshop, or the additive manufacturing lab."

First year to have 25 students with faculty from Japan, Germany, and India

The Centre will start in the first year with 25 students and teachers from Japan, Germany, and India. The students will complete the two-year program through the process of working together on a working prototype. "Your last term is going to be an assignment where all 25 students in a batch come up with a working prototype. Create it. Show it to the world," he declared.

Call for an Indian design school

'Make in India' will be doomed to fail if put alongside 'Design in India', feels Chattopadhyay

Chattopadhyay focuses on India beyond 'Make in India.' "'Make in India' won't be successful unless you pair it with 'Design in India', he said. "As long as you don't treat a design as an investment, you'll always treat it as a cost. We treat production engineering as an investment, we treat a new assembly line as an investment. Why not design the same way?

Building an Indian design identity

To him, it is a journey to develop an Indian design identity that may span decades, possibly even three decades. "Perhaps three decades from now we can be creators of something so called Indian Design DNA, very distinctive way of designing something or very distinctive way of seeing mobility, which is very Indian," Chattopadhyay described.

Chattopadhyay equated the aim to the way Italian cars are identifiable independent of the brand. "Even if you remove the Ferrari or Lamborghini logos and tell people where in the world this is from, they'll most likely guess Italy. There's something about their design language that's beautifully stereotypically Italian.". There is a bit of edginess to Italian style, and you need to study the Romans at a cultural level in order to understand why Italians build their machines the way they do, be it a tractor, a car, or a motorcycle. That's why a Cagiva does not resemble a BMW.

Chattopadhyay feels that Indian culture is already rich enough on an aesthetic level to produce an original car vocabulary. "We have it in our architecture, our food, our music, our art, our clothes, so why can't we have it in our cars?" he asked. "I'm not saying that it has to look very Indian, but very subliminally, the Indian design DNA has to seep in, maybe in the way you design your interiors, the kind of materials you use.".

Chattopadhyay also wishes industry players will appreciate the business value of good design. "Design is not necessarily costly. If you get it right, design is very lucrative," he emphasized. "Consider Tata Punch: People purchase it primarily due to its design, both exterior and interior. And you're selling mountain loads and mountain loads of this vehicle. So you're making profits."

He also stated that India requires better coordination between automakers, studios, and research organizations to be capable enough to explore its design potential fully. "Whether it is an automaker, a studio, or a research organisation — that coordination is very much needed to support our own strength in design," he further stated.

In a source of pride for Indian schooling, Ekya School JP Nagar has been selected to the Top 10 Most Innovative Schools in the World in T4 Education's World's Best School Prizes 2025. Revealed on June 18, the announcement places Ekya alongside world-class education thought leaders based on its innovative education and pedagogy.

This prestige international award honors schools that are revolutionizing how to make a difference in education. For Ekya, that difference is in having incorporated Design Thinking into its K–12 curriculum — teaching students about the power of applying systematic, creative problem-solving to real problems of waste management, public health, and social inclusion.

We are completely grateful for this award from across the globe," added Dr. Tristha Ramamurthy, Founder of Ekya Schools. "We always hoped to provide our students with the mind-set and capabilities to innovate and bring lasting positive change.".

Ekya was established in 2011 and, since then, has had a great reputation for high academic standards combined with innovation. Its approach is a blend of challenging academics and experiential, interdisciplinary learning — wherein not only are students educated in essential subject matter, but they are also immersed in design challenges and launch projects beyond the classroom.

By cultivating a culture of discovery and collaboration, the school does not just prepare students to pass tests but to lead in the world.

T4 Education Prize also means prioritizing schools to lead the change. Ekya's award is not just a reflection of its excellent learning standards but of its broader vision for education transformation — one in which learners are creatives, problem-solvers, and agents for change.

Through this acknowledgment, Ekya Schools join the world education map, showing how the innovation art can start in a classroom and ripple throughout communities.

To parents and educators who envision tomorrow, Ekya offers a powerful example: where every student is not just a learner, but a potential innovator.

Design, designers, and the core principles of design are among the most searched topics in 2025.In a world where success depends on creating intuitive, engaging, and effective experiences, visual design has become more important than ever. Visual design is no longer just about making things look good, it now focuses on providing an experience, a pull, and something creative. Whether you’re an aspiring designer, a design student, or a professional looking to enhance your work, understanding the basics of visual design and its guiding principles is essential in today’s competitive world.

What Is Visual Design?

Visual design is both an art and science of shaping the appearance of information, products and brands. It is a way to blend aesthetics and usability, using color, typography, layout, and imagery to convey thoughts and lead users through the digital or print experience. With the graphic design industry worth over $45.8 billion worldwide and increasing, India is in great need of professionals in visual designs in the tech, media, advertising, and education industries.

Who is a Visual Designer?

A visual designer is a creative professional who crafts engaging visual experiences for websites, apps, advertisements, and more. They blend creativity with technical expertise, collaborating with UX/UI designers, marketers, and developers to ensure every visual element serves a purpose. In 2025, Indian companies are actively seeking designers who can create not just beautiful, but also accessible and functional designs.

Visual Design Main Features

• Before diving into principles, let’s look at the building blocks:
• Line: Guides the viewer’s eye and creates structure.
• Shape & Form: Defines objects and spaces in a design.
• Color: Sets the mood, attracts attention, and builds brand identity.
• Typography: Conveys level and voice; makes it easy to read.
• Texture: Gives real dimension and touch.
• Space (White Space): Prevents clutter and improves focus.
• Value: It means how light or dark an object is, which gives depth and accentuation

Principles of Visual Design

The art of visual design has proven strategies, which assist designers to sequence and group items in the most effective ways. Here are the most essential principles you need to know:

Why are Principles of Visual Design Important?

Once such principles are wisely used, information can be found easier, brands seem reliable, and designs are memorable. To give a little more detail perhaps an intelligently designed homepage, which embraces hierarchy and intelligent use of color can be proven to increase user interaction by as much as 30% in recent studies within the industry.

Fast Rules to Future Visual Designers

1. Learn from the best: Analyse websites, applications, and adverts you are fond of- how do they incorporate balance, contrast, and hierarchy?
2. Practice with purpose: Redesign everyday items (posters, menus, social posts) using these principles.
3. Keep informed: books, blogs, and online communities will help you stay abreast of trends and tools you can exploit.
4. Create a portfolio: Present your knowledge of visual design concepts through actual or dummy work.

The core of effective communication in the digital era is visual design. This will not only make your work appear good but it shall also make your work perform well- which opens rooms to great heights of the design world that is blooming in India.

Innovation has become a critical trend in the corporate environment of the modern world, as well as in the creative career field and the overall life of individuals living in it. Some of the most revolutionary concepts tend to be created at the juncture of art and science as the creativity and analytical thinking are paired. The described synergy is not a theoretical construct only, it also is supported by the recent research, trends, and facts that demonstrate how professionals and aspirants can become real top designers in 2025.

Art-Science is the Engine of Innovation

Recent studies across the world reveal the contribution of art and science interplay which is spearheading some significant inventions. As an example, in 2025, scientific teams are using AI in order to decode the human brain, and it is expected to have detailed brain maps that will transform healthcare and cognitive sciences.

All these developments owe to the actual collaboration between scientists and artists/designers to bring these complex data to perception and available to the general population thus resulting in better communication and resolution to the problems. For instance, the Princeton University Art of Science exhibition illustrates how art and science in combination extend limits of human imaginations and knowledge and lead to innovations in any field of life.

Understanding Design Thinking in 2025

The idea of design thinking, which blends the approaches of empathy, creativity, and scientific interpretation, has turned into a point that changes everything in organizations all over the world. The Design Management Institute has also made claims that firms that took design thinking seriously have been able to outperform the S&P 500 by an unimaginable 219 percent in the last ten years. 

There was a research carried out by IBM indicating that design thinking can save one 75% of risk related to the project, shorten time to market by 50%, and enhance the efficiency of the team by 20%. Though it’s an old report and the numbers would have drastically changed, what matters is taking the average and understanding where the market has reached, and where it will go  in the coming years. The industries of countries in the world are expected to augment the global design thinking market at a compound annual growth rate of 10.67 in the period between 2023 and the year 2030, with over $2.5 billion anticipated to be spent on its application by 2028 in both start-ups and existing businesses. 

Roles And Skills of Designers in 2025

There is an utmost need for skilled designers, and the role they perform is changing awfully fast because of technology and change in consumer expectation. UX/UI designers, motion designers, product designers, and AR/VR specialists are the most requested careers in design where creativity and technical skills are needed. 

In order to become a successful designer one would have to learn a wide skill set:

1. Corporate insight and inter-team charm: It is essential to know business terms and it is also beneficial that there should be a smooth transition in different business departments.
2. Technical ability/knowledge: You need to know how to code, integrate AI and new design programs such as Figma and Sketch.
3. Understanding the users: To develop solutions that will really appeal to end-users, top designers carry out deep user research and introduce empathy to their tasks.
4. Flexibility and unceasing education: As the new waves of creativity based on the use of artificial intelligence, the culture of immersive cultures through the use of AR/VR, and the idea of more environmentally friendly design methods gain momentum, being up to date is no longer optional.
5. Inclusive and Emotional design: In the 2025, the development of emotion-invoking experience that can be accessible to all users becomes a major concern.

The undeniable fact is that innovation space is changing rapidly even though the level of investment in science and innovation in the world declined in 2023, advancements in technology in areas such as AI, genome sequencing, materials science and where interdisciplinary research is fostered are healthy. 

In design, AI has become an addition that has not only automated mundane activities, but also increased creativity and popularized design and thus the industry has experienced a boom in the number of new entrants and new ideas in the field. This will be mirrored by the UX market growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.2% between 2021 to 2028.

What to Do to Become a Best Designer: Practical Advice

In order to become the best in this changing world, professionals and hopefuls ought to:

1. Develop Curiosity in Other Areas:  Be inspirationally motivated by art and science in exploring innovation.
2. Obtain mastery of analytical and creative tools: Remain tight with design software, AI, and the fundamentals of coding.
3. Put empathy and user research in first place: Put user needs at the center of each design decision.
4. Embrace continuous learning: Keep in touch with trends, attend workshops and seek criticism to be ahead in the industry.
5. Be an access and sustainability champion: Ethical, accessible and environment-friendly design.

Art and science do not just have to be fused as a theoretical desire of creativity sometimes, but as an already tested and effective pattern of innovation and career advancement. The adoption of this interdisciplinary approach by businesses and developers opens new horizons, contributes to business prosperity and determines the future of design. 

If you are the person who hopes to become a leading designer in 2025, the advice is simple: learn to be creative but scientific at the same time, be curious and never ever stop studying. It is where real innovation and career success starts.