Design Education Council News Today | Stay Informed with Edinbox

A career in design today is like walking on a bridge between traditional art and the digital world of high technology. To the Indian students wondering how they can graduate by sketching on paper and creating eye-catching apps and interfaces, the process is exciting and full of possibilities. This is a step-by-step breakdown of the question that anyone who has ever wondered, How can I make it big in design, whether it is classic art or digital UX/UI, wants to know.

Is a Career in Design lucrative? 

Design can be found everywhere: movie posters, packaging, mobile applications, e-commerce websites, etc. The Indian design business is a booming industry with an annual growth rate of close to 25% and digital expertise is becoming as valuable as pencil talent. The need of the creative minds capable of thinking visually and working with digital tools is higher than ever.

Digital Design vs. Traditional Art: What is the Real Difference?

All design careers are based on the traditional design values of creativity, colour, balance, and form. Technology has introduced a new dimension: skills in graphic design, animation, and, above all, UX/UI are now sought after.

• Traditional Art: drawing and painting, sculpture, craftwork; develops background creativity.
• Digital Design: Designs graphics, websites and apps using software, such as Photoshop, Figma, and Illustrator.
• UX/UI Design: Dedicates its efforts to the appearance of a digital product (UI) and its functionality to end users (UX).
• Many professional designers begin with simple tools and then move to digital-based tools. This is not an abrupt transition, but a continuum.

How to transform Art to UX/UI career?

• Get the Fundamentals: Learn how to draw, compose, understand color, and tell a story with an image, and you will become any designer you want to become.
• Get Formal Education: Both B.Des or Graphic Design diplomas and online UX/UI bootcamp can provide the gateway to further study.
• Master the Tools: Learn to use digital design tools, such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, Sketch, and Canva, which are essential today.
• Create a Portfolio: Accept freelance work, internships or self-projects and post on Behance, Dribbble, or your personal site.
• Always Curious: Design trends and technology are constantly evolving. Subscribe to blogs about design, tutorials, social media pages, and social networks.
• Know the User: In UX/UI, you should solve user problems rather than simply make things pretty. 

Top Career Paths 

In short, if you feel passionate about creating a rewarding, future-proof career, now is the time to start combining your classical art background with digital UX/UI design competencies. Make use of online classes, participate in design groups, create a portfolio, and go techy. Indian design is not merely expanding, but is also accessible to all those who are interested, inventive, and willing to study. 

FAQS

What should I study after 12th to get into a design career?

Any stream is okay, but Arts or Science with design projects is helpful. Top courses: B.Des, BFA, or a diploma in Graphic Design/UX/UI.

Do I need coding for UX/UI?

Basic HTML/CSS helps, but is not compulsory. What matters most is understanding user needs and having strong visual skills.

How can I build a portfolio with no experience?

Start with college/class assignments, redesign popular apps/websites for fun, intern with local brands, or enter design contests.

Are design careers stable in India?

Yes, major cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, and Hyderabad are booming with jobs. Remote freelance opportunities are also huge, especially for UX/UI.

Will AI take away design jobs?

AI will automate routine visual tasks, but creativity, user insight, and problem-solving can’t be replaced. Instead, designers who use AI tools get hired more quickly.

What are the must-have skills for modern designers?

• Creativity, adaptability, user empathy
• Digital tool proficiency
• Storytelling and presentation
• Basic understanding of AI-powered design apps

Can I switch to design from another field?

Absolutely, as long as your portfolio shows talent and initiative, recruiters care more about work quality than degree label.

Design innovation is about looking for easy, smarter, and creative ways to solve problems, making things not just productive but also attractive, aesthetic and impactful for everyday life. As an aspiring designer, one of the most important aspects of having a successful career is to understand the real-life need by the industry of developing design innovation and how to build a successful career in the future as the education sector of India transforms in accordance with the world market and with the councils.

What Is Design Innovation?

Design innovation does not merely involve the appearance of things but it is a process of applying creativity to problems, enhancing functions, and user experiences. Design innovation, in contrast with routine designing, is a process that requires different ways of thinking, breaking of rules where necessary, and the introduction of new uses of technology - whether that be AI in UI/UX or sustainable materials in daily items. It is based on the knowledge of people and their behavior, culture, and goals, placing the users at the center of the problem-solving.

Key Aspects of Design Innovation 

• User-Centric Approach: It begins with real users, through research, empathy, and feedback at all times, designers build ideas that will actually benefit people.
• Problem-Solving Process: It is a process that involves identifying the correct problems, brainstorming of solutions, refinement with prototypes and testing, and is designed with design thinking.
• Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration: The most successful innovations today are issued when design teams collaborate with tech, business, or healthcare professionals.
• Technological Integration: The tech of 2025 will enable designers to design personalised, inclusive, and ethical solutions, thanks to generative AI design and immersive UI, among other low-code tools.
• Sustainability and Ethics: Councils and institutions are introducing sustainability and ethics into their programs as the modern world is requiring responsible design.

Why should Design Aspirants Care about Design Innovation?

Aspirants need to understand that design innovation is not only about beautiful appearance, but also intentional concepts that can improve the lives of real people and communities. India’s creative economy and council initiatives are driving demand. Through partnering with organizations such as the World Design Council, it has broadened learning and career prospects, such as internships, workshops, and global design competitions. That’s not it, innovation, creativity and interdisciplinary learning is being encouraged by National Design Innovation Networks and council supported programs in order to equip students with future employment prospects.

Skills of the Future Designer

• Design Thinking: The essence of innovation is empathy, problem definition, idea generation, prototyping and iteration. 
• AI-Literacy: Becoming familiar with the new technology touchpoints (e.g. design using generative AI or sustainable systems) will provide an advantage to aspirants. 
• Teamwork and Communication: It is essential to share ideas, listen to feedback, and work in different teams. 
• Sustainability Mindset: Top recruiters and councils are all starting to prioritize the development of eco-friendly ethical solutions.

Latest Trends 

• AI-Driven Design: Artificial intelligence is not eliminating designers, but enhancing their artistic abilities, whether in clever design layouts or in movement graphics.
• Hyper-Personalization: Interfaces are increasingly getting user-oriented such as applications or learning experiences.
• Inclusivity and Accessibility: Making it accessible to all, even the users with disabilities, has become a part and parcel of council requirements and international design competitions.

To design aspirants, it implies that it is a golden age to be an imaginative, empathetic, and creative problem-solver--a blend of imagination and empathy, technology, and a real sense of purpose. The recent curriculum reforms in India alongside council-supported initiatives, have enabled learning, networking, and an employment-resistant career in design innovation like never before. 

Design is no longer merely about appearance in 2025, but it is driven by insights, creativity and, more and more, information. With advanced AI tools, smart analytics, and user-focused research changing the course of literally everything from product sketches to immersive digital experiences, the best designers today don’t just listen to their gut feeling about what customers want, they figure it out accurately. A research on the topic “Data-Enhanced Design: Engaging Designers in the Use of Quantitative Data for Product Development,” by K. Gorkovenko and team, published in International Journal of Design, 2023, reveals exactly that. 

What is this research about? 

The research paper discusses how designers, in particular, those with no data specialist expertise, can apply various types of real-world data, sensor data and video, to get a better picture of how people use products, and how to generate new ideas at the very beginning of the design cycle. 

The authors of the research established a workable test in which designers analyzed cycling data and video recordings to identify patterns, highlight significant moments and pose questions, demonstrating that one can move between technical and creative reasoning with straightforward annotation and visual means. In short, the paper concludes the fact that when the right approaches are used even non-expert designers can use the data to power their creative ideation and problem-solving making the design process more thoughtful and user-oriented at the very stage. 

You might be a student getting started in your design career, or you might be a veteran professional who needs to keep on top of the curve, either way, it is important to learn to understand design and data to develop solutions that really would shine in the creative environment of India.

Why Designers Should Care about Data?

Huge amounts of data like , speed, location, or even rider posture of a GoPro on a bicycle, are produced each day with every smart device and digital product. The research based on “Data-Enhanced Design: Engaging Designers in the Use of Quantitative Data for Product Development,” International Journal of Design, 2023, by K. Gorkovenko and team examines how such data in the form of multimodal information can be used by designers, even if they lack skills in statistics or code writing, to design superior products and more relevant user experiences.

How Was  the Research Done? 

• It involved 20 designers, engineers, and developers who held sessions where they got to look at actual cycling data (such as speed and GPS) and videos of actual bike rides.
• Participants were allowed to ask the cyclist questions directly, in a practical, imaginative manner.
• The goal: to find out whether designers can create helpful and human-focused product brainstorms based on data and simple analysis, with the help of user-friendly tools.

Key findings for the research 

1.To innovate, designers do not have to be data scientists.

Visual data, context, and personal observations (even of new statistics users) could be used by brainstorming, identifying issues, and even developing new bike and accessories designs.

2.Annotation and Marking Techniques Are Potent

Designers liked marking interesting moments in the data/video (“annotation”), which helped them stay creative and focused. This manual tagging of “aha!” moments bridges the gap between technology and the human side of design.

3.Simple Machine Learning Goes a Long Way

Even simple AI, such as data clustering or the identification of anomalies (such as a sudden halt or a bump in the road), was finding real value by the participants. They recommended that with automation they would have time saved and be able to think creatively.  

4.Visual, Flexible Tools are Better than Complex Dashboards.

Things like easy-to-use graphs, overlays with scene recognition, and the skills of questioning (“Show me every sharp turn”) made the data accessible and actionable for all, not just those people who are data experts.

5.Inspiration behind Personalisation and Safety.

The first thought that designers came up with was about bikes that are designed depending on their types of riding, alerts against risky situations, and functions that help in the maintenance and technology to promote fitness, and all this was based on the data on actual individuals.

6.The Future of Digital Twins and A/B Testing.

Best practices identified in the study include digital twins (a virtual representation of a real-world product) and A/B testing (comparing versions to determine which users like them the most), and which are highly data-scalable and are currently having an impact on mainstream design thinking.

What Does This Mean for Indian Design Aspirants and Firms?

1. Data-enhanced methods are not only for the engineers. Storyboarding, annotation, and barebones statistics can open up options in UX, product, or interaction design to every design student or professional.
2. Accepting data does not require an act of abandoning creativity, but it provides more potent information to design everything, bicycles included, and digital products. 
3. As India is quickly becoming digital, these international lessons can provide local designers with a competitive advantage in user centered, evidence-based design; in design schools, startups or established studios. 

To conclude, as an Indian design student or teacher or professional, you do not have to be a hardcore data scientist to utilize data. Begin with basic tools, visualise and annotate key moments, and collaborate across skills and you will find new ways of creatively and effectively solving real-world problems.

To read the full research, refer to this link:: Data-Enhanced Design - K. Gorkovenko et al. (2023).

The pioneer of fashion, Giorgio Armani, the legendary Italian fashion designer that transformed the world of fashion with his ground-breaking relaxed fashion and classical elegance, died in Milan at the age of 91 due to an age-related illness. The Armani Group confirmed his passing on Thursday, expressing “infinite sorrow” at the loss of their founder and creative leader.

A Life of Elegant Innovation.

Armani was born in 1934, Piacenza, Italy, and didn’t start as a designer initially. He began his career in the fashion industry as a window dresser at Milan after graduating in medicine and serving in the military in the late 1950s. By the year 1975, Armani started up his own label with the support of his partner, an architect by the name of Sergio Galeotti and soon after that, the label became an international juggernaut.

Armani was most recognized with unstructured jackets and power suits which used soft materials and natural forms instead of strict tailoring. His designs added a new lightness and comfort to business attire in both men and women, and his attention to subtle luxury had an impact on red carpet fashions and the choice of clothing in the modern workplace. His designs were soon adopted by Hollywood, with such stars as Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, Cate Blanchett, and others sporting Armani on film and at big events. 

Legacy and Industry Influence

Armani created a group that extended much further than clothes, over a period of more than fifty years. He had accessories, fragrances, home decor, and even restaurants as part of his empire, and also did major charities. Armani is one of the most impactful and successful personalities in world fashion because in 2024 the brand was estimated to be between 8 to 10 billion euros.

Armani was a well-known designer who retained independent and private ownership of his brand, which was one of the few large family-owned luxury brands in an industry that had been dominated by large corporate conglomerates. He guided young talent, fostered a “family” culture within his firm, and remained creatively active until his final days, only recently missing a Milan Fashion Week show due to illness.

Efforts by Family and Remembered Worldwide

In its official announcement, the Armani family and Group acknowledged him as an unstoppable driving force and pledged to pay tribute to his legacy with a spirit of respect and love. The funeral will be conducted privately as he wishes but there will be a public funeral room in Milan at the Armani/Teatro.

His death is being grieved by fashion houses, stars, and fans all over the world, as he left a great legacy in the style, culture and the essence of Italian creativity.

A New Generation, Inspired

The idea of Giorgio Armani, to blur the distinction between masculine and feminine style, to let people be free to express themselves in a way that is both elegant and comfortable will remain a source of inspiration to designers, students and fashion enthusiasts well into the future. The beauty of chasing his love and the timeless strength of creative boldness are in his works as his life.

Fashion was never just about style in history but a practical response towards health issues and prevention of diseases. Some of the most iconic trends in today’s fashion might surprise you with their real origin. The following are 5 interesting examples of fashion trends that were actually disease prevention methods or just a way of hiding it or an unwanted desire.

High Heels: No contact with germs with feet

High heels origin can be traced back to the 10th century in Persia, when horse riders (soldiers) wore them to keep their feet in the stirrups. But more than style, high heels, also called pattens, kept people out of muddy, dirty, human and animal-infested streets, which were frequent sources of infection until sanitation was invented. High heels, later called Chopines, in medieval Europe ensured that nobles could keep their feet out of dirty streets and provided them with a practical advantage over diseases transmitted by filth.

Beaked Plague Mask: Early Germ Shield

The 17th-century bubonic plague epidemics saw doctors disguised in masks containing beaks shaped like birds that had long, and stuffed with aromatic herbs and spices. It was a way of airing out the bad air that was thought to carry disease and it also provided some level of protection against miasma. The beak is a shocking fashion accessory, but in health, the masks are primitive yet one of the first attempts to prevent airborne infections.

White Face Powder: Concealing small pox marks.

The pale complexion of Queen Elizabeth I was not merely a fashion statement: it was a way to hide the scars of smallpox, a fatal illness that could leave smallpox patients with marks on their faces. Women and aristocrats fixed their appearance with the help of white powder (made from lead) that was applied to the face and body to look perfect and hide the signs of the disease, to maintain their social positions. This cosmetic trend was toxic, but it helped people conceal the signs of illness during the time when there were not so many medical therapies.

Corsets: Emulating the sickly look

Tuberculosis in Victorian Europe was widespread and influenced fashion of the era deeply. The disease caused pale skin, rosy cheeks, red lips, silky hair, weight loss and fragile body leading to preference called "consumptive chic”. Women thus wore tight corsets to imitate the thin waist of the sick even though tight corsets worsened health by reducing the amount of air they could breathe. This demonstrates how illness influenced the ideal of beauty and tried to avoid or conceal the signs of illness influenced fashion.

Kohl Eyeliner-Egypt: Defensive of Eye Infection.

Thick black eyeliner was popular amongst ancient Egyptians who not only used kohl as a cosmetic product but also as a form of medicine. According to modern research, kohl had antimicrobial effects, which served to prevent eye infection common in desert conditions. It was also believed to protect against the evil eye and UV rays by Egyptians. These cosmetics were a mixture of tradition, fashion and disease prevention thousands of years earlier than modern medicine.

These fashion trends remind us that style often reflects social realities that include disease, environment, and survival instincts in a culture that is mixed with each other. The knowledge of their origins changes the way we perceive fashion as a form of vanity into something pragmatic with curious implications of how history intersects health.

The relationship between fashion and disease prevention is an exciting, and sometimes unexpected tale with its share of heroism, invention, and adaptability, which remain essential today as we work through global health crises. These trends show how humans’ desire for self-protection can lead to the most unexpected styles that gain popularity simply because they pass the vibe check.

Three engineering students from Surat, Gujarat, have made headlines by building India's first driverless AI bike. Unlike other bikes in the market, they have made this bike a masterpiece by adding incredible, intelligent features and keeping its design sustainable by sourcing 50% of its parts from scrap materials.  

The three mechanical engineering students, Shivam Maurya, Gurpreet Arora, and Ganesh Patil, spent nearly a year and ₹1.8 lakh to come up with Garuda, a driverless AI bike. The bike is driven by a Raspberry Pi system that serves as its brain and allows it to listen and obey voice commands via Wi-Fi. Riders can operate this driverless Ai bike using minimal verbal instructions, and the bike can manage its speed, sense obstacles, and brake itself when it detects chances of accident, all with the help of its artificial intelligence similar to that of Tesla cars. 

Garuda's design centres on safety. It is always aware of what is going on with two sophisticated sensors. When something or anyone gets within 12 feet, it reduces speed. When something is at a radius of three feet, it instantly stops regardless of whether the rider is using the brake. Garuda is the state-of-the-art AI technology that seeks to lessen accidents significantly and ensure rider safety.

Garuda also features some intelligent rider-friendly options. It has a prominent touchscreen display that features navigation using GPS, music control and phone handling. It has front and rear cameras that give live traffic feeds and provide wireless mobile charging of smartphones when on the move. With a lightweight lithium-ion battery pack, the Garuda has a maximum useful range of 220km in eco mode and roughly 160km in sports mode. Its battery can be quickly recharged within two hours, faster than most retail commercial e-bikes today. 

These innovative engineers drew inspiration from Tesla and other autonomous vehicles, building a futuristic two-wheeler that is both affordable and advanced. The bike's name is Garuda, representing the powerful transport of lord vishnu 'Garud', a mythological bird that symbolises power, vision, and the Indian legacy of innovation. 

This innovative AI Bike has gone viral on social media, and its success points to India's youth engineers' ability to innovate with intelligent, environmentally friendly transportation technologies. They have shown the country that transportation design is a lucrative career best suited for design and tech enthusiasts. 

Garuda is the prototype of what can change urban transportation using artificial intelligence, green technology, and functional engineering at affordable costs using local resources. However, if this technology is widely adopted and properly implemented, it can revolutionize transportation in India and beyond. 

For design students and technology enthusiasts, the Garuda is a thrilling glimpse of where creativity and technology can converge and redefine transportation, sustainability, and envision a safer future of two-wheelers as well as their drivers.