In the 21st century, product design is moving fast as lighting by the influence of technology, sustainability, and user demands. As a design student, whether you are creating a research project or planning your next entry to the portfolio, it is important to adopt new innovative ideas in order to become unique. The following are five exclusive and innovative product design concepts that are quite applicable to a student's research based on the most popular trends and queries made by professional designers across the globe.

  1. AI Driven Customized Products

Design Idea: Create items that utilize artificial intelligence in delivering bespoke and flexible experiences. Whether it is a smart device that adapts to what the user likes (think a kitchen appliance or a wearable assistive device powered by AI) or it is a mobile application that is customized based on AI, the designs are finding their popularity in the increasing consumer demand of personalized offerings. Conduct a study on responsible AI, data protection, and more people-oriented AI design.

  1. Sustainable and Cyclic Design

Design Idea: Create sustainable products or packaging that not only exist as a part of the circular economy, but also have a life cycle. This consists of products made with biodegradable materials, modularity that allows ease of repair or upgrade, and packaging that minimizes wastes. Seaweed packaging, decomposable containers or even products that you take apart is a great place to start- wreaking havoc as a researcher.

  1. Modular solutions for urban life

Design Idea: As city space shrinks, there is high demand for modularity and multi-purpose products. Such research designs as modular furniture, space work that can transform to generate the maximum utility with minimum square feet, or even stackable storages. Use durable materials and even smart technology to perform better.

  1. Smart Health and Wellness Wearables

Design Idea: The designing of products is more and more centered on enhancing the well-being of the user in a holistic approach. Explore the latest types of wearable health tech that balance out between comfortability, beauty, and improved biosensors- stress trackers, checkers, hydration trackers, or sleep analytics that are not intrusive. Investigate how to make wearables more sustainable and intelligent through modular upgrades or a biodegradable strap.

  1. Accessible Design & Emotional Design

Design Concept: Functionality is one feature that is going to be adorned by tomorrow's products, which are focused on evoking emotional response and inclusivity. Find out how you can fuse narrative, playful touch points, or accessibility options that are tactile and visually engaging to various users. Examples of projects could utilize emotionally intelligent interfaces, products to help people with disabilities, or even sentimental objects that bridge the generations between them digitally.

Exclusive Tip: With every idea, base your research on up-today user needs, compared with case studies of award-winning designs, and use round-and-round testing and feedback which is essential in modern design work.

By choosing such innovative designs you will not only enable your portfolio to reflect content that will interest top design schools and potential employers, but also to assist in solving real-life problems in innovative and human-centered ways.

Ranked amongst the state of Gujarat's finest design schools is the NID Gandhinagar, which is actually quite well renowned for its experiential learning process across all areas of design. Being one of the finest amongst the design schools in course variety, faculty and campus quality at par with the world, the NID Gandhinagar is amongst the most premium ones amongst the students.

Courses offered

No courses offered at the undergraduate level

Postgraduate level: seven specializations: apparel design, lifestyle accessory design, new media design, toy and game design, photography design, strategic design management, and transportation and automobile design. The course lasts 2.5 years, and it is conducted full-time.

PhD level courses designed for three years full-time, five-year maximum extension; five years part-time, seven-year maximum extension

Highlights of placement

Maximum salary at NID Gandhinagar for 2023–2024 was Rs 23 lakh (LPA).

Mid salary is Rs 21.3 LPA.

Minimum LPA of Rs 12

Most preferred recruiters: Adobe, Amazon, Apple, BMW, Google, Microsoft

Why Join?

Great academics for its niche PG course, world-class campus, and specializations in niche streams of design such as Toy & Game Design, Transportation & Automobile Design, and Strategic Design Management

Global exposure with academic exchange with 50+ leading world universities

NID Gandhinagar is DPIIT-government-sponsored Institute of National Importance, i.e., well-funded by the government both sides, accredited, and quality faculty talent both sides and some decent recruiters, so much.

Whether 3D printers and CNC routers in quick-prototyping labs or Innovation Centre for Natural Fibre, campus has state-of-the-art facilities to let your imagination take shape.

Design is everywhere: the phone in your pocket, the chair you are sitting on, the websites you visit daily with the help of this world and many more. But how then can the word ‘design’ be defined and what are the various types of design? Have you ever asked questions about the world behind the things you use and see? If not, this article shall provide you with the answers you didn’t yet seek.

What is design? 

Design is essentially the practice of construction of usable solutions which are at the same time aesthetically pleasing. Design is the solution to a problem as well as the question to make life better and beautiful: that is whether in the form of an app interface, logo, or on a building.

What Do You Need to Know About Types of Design?

The understanding of the types of design can help people, students, professionals, or any other interested individual to learn about the roles and the skills that are required to design the world people live in. It can also advise your career choices in case you are planning to join design. 

Types of Design

  1. Graphic Design
  • Focus: Imagery.
  • Examples: business cards, logos, book covers, posters.
  • Scope: To convey messages using images, typography and layouts.
  • The colours used in graphics and fonts and shapes are used to attract your attention and present information in a legible way.
  1. Product Design
  • Focus: Designing all types of products.
  • Examples: smartphones, kitchen appliances, furniture, decor, etc.
  • Purpose: Producing new products that are worthwhile, appealing, and intuitive.
  • Product designers hear the voices of users and enhance the attributes of products to share the experience.
  1. Web and UI/UX Design
  • Focus: Online life.
  • Examples: Web sites, applications, dashboards. 
  • Mission: To simplify digital products and make them attractive.
  • UI (User Interface): As regards the appearance: buttons, icons and displays.
  • UX (User Experience): Makes the product effortless and pleasurable to utilize.
  1. Interior Design
  • Focus: Indoor spaces.
  • Examples: Residences, workplaces, hotels. 
  • Objective: To design comfortable, functional, and beautiful surroundings.
  • Interior designers use space, lights, colours, and furniture to create inspirational interiors.

5.Fashion Design

  • Focus: Fabric clothing, accessories.
  • Examples: Clothes, jewels, purse, shoes.
  • Purpose: To fuse fashion, comfort, and trends on wearable art.
  1. Industrial Design
  • Target: Mass-marketed products.
  • Examples: vehicles, home appliances, electronics.
  • Purpose: To be both efficient as well as cost effective and aesthetically appealing.
  • Industrial designers make it so that mass-produced commodities are safe to use and can be manufactured in large quantities.
  1. Motion Graphic Design
  • Focus: Image visualisations.
  • Examples: Titles of movies, animated videos, explainer videos.
  • Use: To bring illustrations to life and to clarify concepts with movement.
  1. Architectural Design
  • Focus: Design the architecture 
  • Target: Buildings and constructions.
  • Examples: Houses, schools, shopping centers.
  • Purpose: To unify purpose, safety and the art of our built environment.

New Types of Design

There are new forms of design that are becoming more significant as technology advances:

  • Game Design: The design of the engaging game to mobiles, consoles, and computers.
  • Service Design: To make services (banks, hospitals) more user friendly.
  • Environmental Design: To design the environment including the indoors, outdoors, and other spaces. 
  • AI-powered Design: Designing something like an ad, videos, graphics, etc with AI to make it more impactfully creative. 

Design touches our lives in ways we often do not recognize, whether in the design of simple items, or grand spaces. Knowing its forms assists us in knowing the ingenuity and work that went into the things we are using and makes us act as designers in our lives.

Whether your aim is to make a career or just be up-to-date, awareness of various kinds of design is step one. Keep your eyes open, you never know where the next awesome design idea will come.  

If you thought this was useful, recommend it to someone interested in learning about design. More creative minds are required in differential!

National Institute of Design (NID) Bengaluru campus is unique in that it is located in the midst of India's IT city and therefore provides the students with industry advantage as well as learn-to-innovate advantage. The institute, being internship-based, experiential school of design, is a practice-based practitioner putting the students in a role where they can solve actual design problems.

Courses Offered

While the Bengaluru campus is underdeveloped at the undergraduate level, it is well developed at the postgraduate and Ph.D. levels:

Master of Design (MDes):

5-semester postgraduate program with five specialist character specialisations:

Design for Retail Experience

Digital Game Design

Information Design

Interaction Design

Universal Design

PhD in Design:

Full-time: Max. 3 years (extendable to 5 years)

Part-time: Max. 5 years (extendable to 7 years)

Placement Highlights (2023–24)

The institute has a good placement record

Highest Package: ₹35 LPA

Average Package: ₹15 LPA

Minimum Package: ₹6.5 LPA

Lead Recruiters: Adobe, Axis Bank, Ashok Leyland, Myntra, Philips, Reliance, and others.

Why NID Bengaluru?

India's First and Only R&D Campus for Design: Postgraduate MDes and PhD courses in future-proof design specialisations.

Location Advantage: Bengaluru's tech and innovation capital provides special access and opportunities for industry interaction and project-based learning.

Global and National Reputation:

2nd in India among design schools in the 2024 IIRF Rankings

Top 51–100 in the world in "Art & Design" by QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025

Unexperienced Teaching Staff: Domain subject experts with high levels of pedagogic intensity and creativity freedom.

NID Bengaluru then completes the journey with the right-amount mix of serious studies, industry readiness, and international ranking to be among India's leading institutions to study postgraduate and doctoral studies in design.

Luxury fashion brand, Dior, is facing serious online backlash after presenting a coat made exclusively with mukaish embroidery, an ancient and detailed hand-embroidery art originated in Lucknow, India, as part of its latest collection, that was priced nearly 1 crore Indian rupees (roughly 200,000 US dollars). The coat was created by Jonathan Anderson in his first collection as the creative director of Dior and is presented with phenomenal craft where 12 artisans in India were involved and it took them more than 34 days of work. But Dior has been severely criticized for not recognizing the craftsman or giving any background line to the Indian tradition surrounding this rich handcraft.

What is Mukaish Embroidery Craft?

Mukaish, also known as Badla work, is a highly delicate, intricate, traditional form of Indian embroidery that is made with the help of fine metal wires making shimmering motifs on fabric without using thread or glue. This form  of embroidery originated in Awadh region of the state of Uttar Pradesh and was traditionally linked with royalty making it a legacy of Indian textile and handicraft. Mukaish embroidery is similar to that of chikankari because making it is a technique  that is not fast and easy; it needs a lot of patience, expertise, and exactness which increases the value and price of this hand embroidery.

Criticism and Outcry On Social Media

The backlash on Dior was escalated further when fashion commentator Hanan Besnovic posted on social sites showing the artisanship behind the coat by stating the immense labor and artisanal capability behind the coat. Although the designing of this piece was granulated and precise, Dior never said that it was made by Indian artisans, in the official promotional content. This gave rise to a slew of cultural appropriation and artisanal erasure allegations across social media outlets such as X (previously Twitter) and the general trend was of people requesting that proper attribution be given to the Indian artisans which are keeping this craft alive.

The CEO of the Edelweiss Mutual Fund (and a judge of the Shark Tank India show) Radhika Gupta went public with her frustration with this situation, because it is a common pattern that Indian craftsmanship is being celebrated and liked all over the world but the people who actually make it, the artisans, cannot be seen.

Radhika Gupta posted a tweet saying, “One more handloom, one more headline. Dior sells a $200K coat using Lucknowi mukaish embroidery. 12 Indian artisans. 34 days of work. No credit. No context. No mention of India. The world loves Indian craftsmanship —But rarely credits the craftspeople. And almost never shares the value.” she further added, “Because the branding, storytelling, and pricing power stay elsewhere. The hand that creates remains invisible. Culture is soft power. Japan did it with design. Korea did it with pop culture. India must do it with craft. From sourcing destination to storytelling nation.  A home of global brands. The lion has to come out.  And roar.”

Overlooking Indian Craftsmenship is a Pattern  

This Dior controversy precedes closely on the heels of an uproar against Prada who displayed at Milan Fashion Week some leather sandals that were similar to Indian Kolhapuri chappals, but failed to credit its Indian roots first. Prada was subsequently forced to make a statement attributing the skill to the traditional craft after the outcry caused by the public. However, cases like these show broader systemic issues in the global fashion industry, where Indian crafts and designs are used for their aesthetic looks but often without any  ethical attribution, recognition or meaningful credit to the communities responsible.

Recognition and Cooperation in Ethics

The Dior fiasco has rekindled the discussion about ethical fashion and calls to be more open about sourcing and respecting indigenous craft. Advocates call for: 

  1. Acknowledgment of craftworkers and communities behind the traditional arts in everything they convey and market. 
  2. Just remuneration and other profit share-based systems, so artisans gain economically through commercial exposure in different parts of the world.
  3. Partnerships where the artisan communities become co-creators and partners and not suppliers.
  4. Stronger policies that  are necessary in luxury brands to prevent cultural appropriation and endorse respect and genuine appreciation of culture.

Aftermath of this Controversy 

  1. Prolonged criticism across social media: Human representation across the social sites, such as Influencer, social media users, and Indian industry voices criticized Dior due to cultural appropriation, and failure to recognize it fairly.
  2. Amplified Debate in Media: Larger news sources such as The Times of India, News18, and Business Today picked up the topic and devoted their coverage to the moral aspect of the situation, as well as the overall history of the industry using Indian artisanship without giving them credit or paying suitable amounts of money.
  3. Sparked the pressure for ethical collaboration: The event renewed the discussion of the cultural necessity to acknowledge source cultures and pay craftspeople, with most commentators insisting on transparency and fair Camaraderie on the parts of larger fashion brands.

Dior Apology For Lucknowi Coat

There is no evidence in any report that even after mounting criticism, Dior has issued a formal apology, or have attributed the artisans or the country for the design. Altogether, the central implications of the backlash on Dior were reputational marked by negative press coverage, widespread indignation, and a demand to follow design ethics, but despite it all there are still no concrete measures or formal self-assessment of the situation that have been undertaken. 

In summary, the Dior coat made of Lucknowi mukaish embroidery tagged as 200,000 dollars piece, is evidence of exquisite India crafts available to a global luxury shoppers, and the lack of recognition of artists highlights current issues of cultural appropriation and invisibilization of artisans in the world arena. With heightened awareness of the need to value ethics in sourcing and issue of credit where it is due, the fashion industry continues to pressure to accommodate the rich heritage and creative work which really make these luxury items a soul and highly valued.

This controversial case of fashion industry concerning design ethics is a wakeup call to the fact that when we have celebrated the genius of the Indian artistry, it should not be limited only to the eye-catching inspiration but should be given proper acknowledgment, respect, and an equitable platform for the skilled hands that preserve age-old traditions in a modern world and inspire generations to come. 

Communication design is becoming an effective and future-proof career option, which brings together creativity, technology and connection with the human being. To those students who are interested in design and want to have a productive, successful career, communication design might be the best career option. 

What is Communication Design?

Communication design is both an art and a science of creating messages that reach people visually, digitally, and in person, via media. It is about thinking beyond appearance to make things pretty, and it concerns the effects of design on understanding, engagement and emotional response. Communication design manifests in everything, this could be through the use of a website, a mobile application, branding, or social media and how the messages or information are communicated effectively and with impact on the platforms.

How does it work?

Communication design works by making meaningful, appealing, and clear messages through the use of visual communication, text, and sometimes sound or movement so as to reach out to the people. It means knowing the audience you, what you need to say, what is the message you need to get through and how do you get the message through, so that it can be seen and understood and remembered.

One prominent example illustrating the power of communication design is Spotify Wrapped, an innovative campaign that transforms user data into an emotional narrative. This is not a pile of dry numbers. To make the data an emotional experience, designed to be shared, communication designers use catchy colours,subversive layouts, oversized fonts and storytelling approach. When your “top songs” or minutes are listened to, that is exhilarating and special, since a person can relate data to a personal feeling. The design is functional since it appeals directly to the emotions of the user, is aesthetically confusing and simple. It is an ideal combination of creativity, psychology, and technology at work. 

On a larger scale communication design frequently includes:

  1. Analysing the target audience and what is important to them. 
  2. Planning how to capture attention and communicate. 
  3. Presenting a hierarchy of messages by using tools such as typography (the font, the text style), color, pictures and layouts so that the eyes of viewers are guided by it. 
  4. Integrating various media such as websites, apps, posters, advertisements, videos or animations to present a story or disseminate information. 
  5. They keep testing and improving their designs with the aim of making them efficient in conveying the message and appealing to the audience.

So, basically Communication design works by effectively translating concepts and knowledge into visual and interactive means that will be easy for people to understand within a short period of time and resonate to them emotionally so that the approach is memorable and highly effective. Remember a brand, an app, a campaign that had your full attention as soon as you saw it, it was most likely communication design that did its job in the background.

Why is Communication Design The Future? 

  1. The Demand is Driven by Digital Explosion: The online economy continues to expand, and no one can afford to communicate with customers without using direct, interesting design that will attract their attention. The related jobs, such as UX/UI design and digital product design, are also expected to grow rapidly. This expansion indicates the high level of importance of communication design skills as the key to successful user-friendly experiences and visual storytelling.
  2. The Blend of Creativity and Technology: The advanced communication designers utilize the state-of-the-art tools, such as AI-related processes, interactive digital platforms, and design software, to develop innovative solutions. This combination of a creative plus technical field explores various work opportunities as digital strategist, content designer, and user experience (UX) designer. This is because a technology driven design exists not as a choice but as a necessity and therefore communication design remains a future proof skill.
  3. Good Employment Prospects and High-Paying Salaries: The communication design graduates get employed in advertising agencies, tech companies, media houses, and startups. Competitive employment opportunities that are secured by the fact that there is a need internationally of a designer who has an appreciation of the value of the design coupled with understanding the mind of the user.  
  4. Versatile Work That Reaches People: Communication design is not only about being beautiful, it is about being kind and understanding. Designers are creating experiences fulfilling user requirements, creating brand loyalty and even creating social change of any kind. Whether it is about health campaigns, learning portals, or enriched communication products, communication designers are also important to make information useful, less ambiguous and compelling.

What is covered in a Communication Design Degree?  

The UG/PG degree in communication design can provide the students with a versatile skill set as follows:

  • The principles of visual communication: layout, color theory and typography. 
  • The digital tools to be used are motion graphics, prototyping, and AI-assisted design. 
  • User interface (UI) design methods and user experience (UX). 
  • Strategic communication and brand development. 
  • Design thinking and storytelling as problem-solving. 

It is this fusion that equips the students not just to design work that is appealing to the eye but to consider critically the influence of design on behavior and decisions.

How does the communication design course align with students?  

Currently, students are interested in careers that are future-oriented, flexible as well as meaningful. It relates to the functional requirements, including the following: 

  1. Creativity was coupled with problem solving in the real world. 
  2. Collaborative and interdisciplinary roles, which retain work interesting. 
  3. Entrepreneurial, global and freelance working opportunities. 
  4. The opportunity of turning a social difference by means of accessible design. 

Communication design is a profession that is long term and has the scope of growth because it blends innovation, technology and human-centered approach. With the world growing digital, no skill is more valuable as creating messages that will resonate, engage and inspire.

In case of design aspirants, communication design is actually the field of work giving them an opportunity to be part of the creative, living industry and have the thrilling career options along with good employment opportunities and the possibilities of making individuals experience the world in a certain way.

Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) students have designed 20 chipsets and eight of them have already been "taped out" and dispatched to international foundries and the Semi-Conductor Laboratory in Mohali for fabrication, IT and electronics minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Saturday.

Addressing the 14th convocation ceremony of IIT-Hyderabad, Vaishnaw also reaffirmed that the first made in India commercial-scale semiconductor chip would be constructed this year.

IIT students have developed the chipsets using tools available under the government's India Semiconductor Mission.

A chip is a single semiconductor material piece, usually silicon, onto which an electronic circuit is engraved while a chipset is a collection of interconnected chips that will work as a team to control and guide the data flow between the processor, memory, storage, and other peripherals within a computing machine. Taping out is finishing the design process prior to shipping to a manufacturing plant or foundry to have a fabrication.

India currently has six approved or in-development semiconductor fabrication facilities (fabs) as of July 2025. The Semi-Conductor Laboratory, which is government-owned and established in 1976, continues to operate but only at legacy technology nodes.

"The manner in which we are entering the capital equipment and material building to produce semiconductors, India will be among the top-5 semiconductor countries in the next few years," Vaishnaw said.

He attributed the boom in research on semiconductors to the government offering the newest electronic design automation tools (EDA) to 270 colleges and 70 startups. A total of 700 students at IIT-Hyderabad worked with these tools for a total 300,000 hours in the last half-year, the minister stated.

The Centre's open-source artificial intelligence resources platform, AIKosh, now has 880 data sets and 200-plus models available, he said.

India's exports of electronics have crossed $40 billion, an eight-fold growth over 11 years. "In 11 years, we have raised our electronics production six times. That is a double digit CAGR, which any company would be jealous of," he said.

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