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Fueled by a spate of large-scale, design-led initiatives, Telangana plans to emerge as India's Design Capital by 2030 by entwining creativity and innovation into governance, industry, infrastructure, and education. One such important proposal to achieve this goal is the creation of a Centre of Design Excellence in Hyderabad that will support design innovation, research, communication design, and skill development in all sectors.

The plan was highlighted in view of the Telangana Global Summit 2025, scheduled to take place from December 8–9 at Hyderabad Future City near Meekhanpet. Another significant summit, Design Democracy 2025, promises over 120 luxury brands and 80 speakers, placing the state as a platform for global design dialogue. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s Mega Master Plan 2050 places design at the centre of Telangana’s growth story, with a strong focus on AI-based innovations, smart infrastructure and sustainable urban development.

It proposes a 30,000-acre Bharat Future City, India's first net-zero greenfield smart city, over an area of 765 sq km. Among others, the amenities that were proposed in the township include industrial clusters, Artificial Intelligence City, Young India Skills University, sports hubs, and innovation corridors aimed at decongesting Hyderabad while it fosters a strong design ecosystem.

Further firming up the vision is a proposed design competition for an iconic ‘Gateway of Hyderabad’ at Himayath Sagar under the Musi Riverfront Project, along with the development of 1,174 km of national highways and the Regional Ring Road to boost connectivity. The state’s 2025–26 budget has also earmarked ₹24,439 crore for agriculture, signaling a design-based approach towards bettering rural productivity and sustainability.

Industry bodies like CII and FICCI have hailed Telangana's blueprint that merges modern design thinking with the traditional sectors. A new Telangana Bhavan in Delhi, designed by Creative Group LLP at a cost of ₹482.25 crore, further reflects the state's commitment to design-led identity. With these strategic developments, Telangana is creating a new benchmark in creative and innovative design solutions while redefining urban and economic planning for sustainable development.

The International School of Design, Bhopal, brought together creativity, culture, and futuristic design at one platform by hosting a very vibrant fashion show along with the Freshers' Event. The event was an attraction in the city's design circuit, where students from the Fashion Design Department presented three spectacular themes: Space Walk, Cultural Fusion, and Elements.

The space walk sequence took the audience into the world of galaxies, cosmic colors, and futuristic silhouettes. The unconventional technological fabrics, reflection textures, and bold structures designed by the students allowed the audience to experience the taste of space travel. This theme stood out because it was so imaginative with respect to storytelling and innovations, therefore becoming the talking point as a highlight of the evening.

The three basic forces of nature that came to the fore with the elements were fire, air, and earth. Each had striking colors, dramatic patterns, and a streak of modern styling. The presentation shifted dramatically from fiery tones with fluid drapes to earthy textures, reflecting the strong understanding of design principles and artistic expression present in the students. 

The fresh batch 2025 was welcomed by INSD Bhopal along with the fashion show. The college announced freshers' titles wherein Priyanka Uikey was crowned as Miss Fresher INSD and Tushar Sharma earned the title of Mr. Fresher INSD, marking the beginning of their design journey. The guest of honor at the event was Radhika Vasant Jetha, a recipient of Sarva Shakti Women's Club's award-the Shining Star of Bhopal and crowned Bhopal 2016. Her inspiring feats in the field further motivated budding designers and made the celebration all the more memorable. Once again, the grand showcase reminded one that INSD Bhopal is amongst the leading design institutes that give a platform to the students to innovate, experiment, and shine in the competitive world of fashion.

Masters students at Mumbai’s JJ School of Art, Design and Architecture, particularly those in the design wing, say they are still struggling with inadequate facilities on campus, despite classes beginning in September 2025.

In a letter to the administration, first- and second-year students flagged delays in the start of their third semester — originally scheduled for July–August 2025 — along with last-minute timetables and a shortage of faculty. The second batch, they said, has also faced repeated miscommunication regarding lecture schedules and coordination.

Students said the campus lacks basic and specialised infrastructure. “Design students need labs, sound studios and AR/VR facilities. We barely have a functional computer lab. Even the fans and elevators don’t work. JJ School of Design is prestigious, but the facilities are not what we expected,” a master’s student told mid-day.

Unclear processes have also added to their problems. Timetables are often released at short notice, inconveniencing outstation students. 

A student said they had to courier a physical form from North India to Mumbai just to enrol, despite the availability of online processes. “We were promised multiple provisions and technical subjects. We hope the college builds a proper online system to keep students updated,” added another student.

Responding to mid-day, an institute official said visiting faculty are being appointed for pending lectures and infrastructure concerns have been raised with the administration, with work currently underway.

UNESCO recently emphasized through the web article the importance of lifelong learning while taking an interdisciplinary approach in the preparation of the students for the complexity that lies ahead. This has therefore made it urgent to revisit higher education with regard to disciplines as the world navigates rapid technological, environmental, and social changes.

Within such a rapidly changing context, by 2030, the role of design schools around the world would be completely different from what it is today. Most design programs focus on theoretical notions and outdated cases, further pushing the student to master tools and techniques like typography and sketching.

On the other hand, the demand for designers who can create systems to solve complex challenges is growing. Indeed, the whole industry of design is changing-from one centered on sketching, ergonomics, and prototyping toward one which must make room for new subjects such as artificial intelligence, bio-design, extended reality, robotics, and sustainability technologies, now part of the new must-haves in a creative curriculum.

The top design schools of the world, like MIT Media Lab (USA), L'École de design Nantes Atlantique (France), Parsons School of Design (USA), Royal College of Art (UK), Stanford d.school (USA), and The Design Village (India), are already taking long strides to adapt themselves to these changes, and the transition needs to be emulated by other design schools around the world. In the future, the curriculum at d-school will have to adopt a different framework with a focus on: Transdisciplinary knowledge in the preparation of designers for the increasingly complex, interconnected problems of today's world requires a way of knowing and practicing inclusive of methods and perspectives on technology, social sciences, environmental studies, and the arts.

Big Data: inform design decisions through big data analysis and testing of its impact. Robotics: understand technology, create interactions for adaptive systems, wearables, and responsive environments. Ethics and Policy: The rapid transformation of the creative industry, together with recognition of the design process in non-creative industries, will require design schools to institutionalize courses related to IP rights, legal implications of creative work, policy-sensitive design, and ethical literacy, among others. New Material & Fabrication Practices: By 2030, design schools will have to turn the focus of regular material and prototyping courses toward such themes as circular materials, computational fabrication, net-zero prototyping, and embedding of sustainability metrics. Future courses will have to stress both 'creative' and 'critical' lenses whereby students test ideas and explore material behavior but also understand ecological, ethical, and technological implications of production. Not until global d-schools rise to this extended role of designers will the world be able to harness the power of design.

In a path-breaking move to break barriers in cultural participation, for the first time, 24 Durga Puja pandals were made accessible for persons with disabilities in Kolkata this year. For a city that reverberates with and lives on Durga Pujo, this effort redefined celebration-entwining art, empathy, and accessibility into one seamless experience. It was born as a pilot project led by massArt in collaboration with UNESCO, IIT Kharagpur, and the United Nations, with this simple yet profound vision: making the world's largest public art festival universally accessible. 

Ramps and lifts came up on temporary structures, Braille signage guided visitors, QR codes gave access to sign language interpretation, and calm zones came into being for those wanting relief from the festive crowd. Each thoughtful addition spoke volumes, turning inclusion into life. During the recording of Make Calcutta Relevant Again, educationist and planner Dr. Haimanti Banerji spoke about how the movement took shape, along with sign language educator Priyanka Ghosh and United Nations Resident Coordinator Shombi Sharp. Priyanka Ghosh pointed to another critical dimension: that of emotional accessibility. 

According to her, from the training of volunteers to the availability of interpreters, inclusivity has ceased to be merely about physical access and grown into domains of communication and belonging. From the perspective of global policy, Shombi Sharp framed the initiative within the guiding promise of the UN- "to leave no one behind". But his most striking reflection came from the story of a father who, for the first time, took his 17-year-old daughter, a wheelchair user, to a Durga Puja pandal. For them, it was not just a visit-it was participation, a shared moment which made accessibility a matter of joy. 

At this crossroad of design and humanity, Kolkata offers a new vocabulary for relevance. In truth, the city's experiment in accessible celebration shows us how art, education, and urban design combine in teaching society empathy-not as charity but as culture. Because when inclusion becomes integral in how a community celebrates, then festivals evolve into powerful civic classrooms-teaching us not only how to build better spaces but, more important still, how to become better people.

The careers of design are in fast transition: from what once was a focus on print and product aesthetics to now UX for AI products, sustainable systems, and immersive AR experiences. That makes design education a tempting but tricky choice: Which design trainings will actually lead to steady jobs? Where is demand growing, and where is it shrinking?

Design education can promise a shining, vibrant career by 2025 and beyond, fueled by rapid technological changes, shifting consumer tastes, and strong focuses on innovation and sustainability. Large-scale growth in demand for design professionals, other than in graphic design, is reported through research and industry reports in multiple specializations like product design, UI/UX, and interior design.

Indeed, among the high-growth jobs, a number of digital and product roles feature in the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025, as companies invest in customer experiences and AI interfaces. Strong demand for jobs which combine design with fluency in data/ AI was also noted in the report. The Future of Jobs Report 2025 looks at how macrotrends are shaping jobs and skills across 2025-2030.

Growth and demand in design careers

The market for interior design shows excellent growth prospects. According to a report by Amordesign, published in September 2025, the global interior design services market is valued at USD 145.01 billion in 2025 and is expected to reach up to USD 186.22 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 5.13%.

It was confined to the tech hubs, but it has now begun to reach into industries such as media, marketing, and design. And it is restructuring job markets within those industries. Reports by Burning Glass Institute have shown how AI and data skills make their way into both marketing and product roles and into design-the number of companies looking for designers who are fluent in AI or with data skills keeps growing.

 Equally, Burning Glass notes that such shifts by employers to competency-based hiring are a mixed bag for degree programs without specific skill training. Automated generative tools do routine design work, such as layout and templating, but increase demand for higher-order design skills: strategy, systems thinking, ethics, and human-AI interaction design. Burning Glass maps the diffusion of AI into design and marketing jobs. Businesses now compete on experience and hence product teams employ designers who understand research, analytics, and A/B testing. 

The World Economic Forum and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics data also point out that this is a structural shift. Sustainability, circular design, mobility, and health systems require design thinking at a systems scale hence opening roles in policy, product strategy, and service design that traditional studio courses may not cover. The World Economic Forum has also highlighted the green transition as one of the big job shapers. Employers increasingly screen by demonstrated output and skills, including Figma prototypes, GitHub, and case studies rather than degree titles alone. 

This means that programs which produce strong, hireable portfolios do better. Burning Glass' skills-based work documents this trend. In a blog dated July 2025, Mahindra University has mentioned that this innovation-driven approach to design education is now changing the way designers work around the world: real-world problem-solving lies at the heart of the approach, supported by cross-disciplinary collaboration and user-centered design thinking. This transformation opens up new career options related to sustainable design, immersive technologies, and more. Further, the blog has focused on how such a model of education will prepare students to address modern challenges and changing industry needs. 

Technological influence and specialisation of skills With recent transformations, there is an increasing focus on UX/UI design, motion graphics, AR/VR design, and data analytics to interpret user behavior so as to create personalized experiences. Remote work also reshapes the design job market, enabling greater flexibility and wider pools of talent. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 4% job growth rate in design fields from 2020 to 2030, driven by AI, automation, and the need for specialized design skills. 

On LinkedIn, articles as far back as 2024 indicate that this will manifest as jobs being developed around the emergence of AI tools like Adobe Sensei, which enables designers to automate mundane tasks and focus their time on creativity. Jobs merging design thinking with machine learning, such as that of an AI Design Strategist, will become essential. A 2020 paper entitled Educating the Designer of 2025, published in the journal Design Studies, made a case for expanded design education-one that deals with grander societal challenges and increasingly interdisciplinary solutions. What this points out is that innovation-led education will better equip designers to proactively solve complex problems with user-centered approaches. Similarly, the 2025 U.S. Design Industry Benchmark Report by Think Lab, featured in the January 2025 issue of Architecture & Design, yielded insight into a number of developing themes: the growing use of designers and AI tools; shifting employment landscapes; and a growing interest in sustainable and client-driven design solutions. It therefore follows that education programs will have to mature to equip the designer with technological and sustainable competencies in order to thrive. 

All in all, design education will be a robust, future-ready career choice in the year 2025 and beyond. Digital transformation, integration of AI into processes, demand for sustainability, and growing scope across design specializations drive this. Academic institutions embracing innovative, interdisciplinary, and technology-integrated teaching models will be in a good position to equip the next generation of designers.