Every year a large number of students get admission to design colleges in India due to the growth of career options in the field. The two most sought after fields in design are fashion designing and graphic designing. Fashion designing and graphic designing are growing rapidly due to their high salaries, scope and careers. Though both belong to the stream of designing, they both have certain strict differences that students need to understand to make a better decision in their career.
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Particulars | Fashion Design | Graphic Design |
Deals with | Garment production, retail, fashion shows | Business cards, logo making, advertising campaigns |
Courses available | B.Des, M.Des. Diploma, B.Voc | B.Des, M.Des. Diploma, B.Voc |
Common Entrance | NIFT, Pearl Entrance Exam | UCEED, NID |
Expected salaries | ||
Job roles |
Fashion designing is a course/ profession that deals with mainly designing garments, accessories and other things related to fashion. Fashion designers deal from runway shows, Bollywood celebrities, to retail markets.
On the other hand, graphic designing is a course of professional pursuit by graphic designers who deal with designing logos, business cards, website elements etc for a company. They convey messages easily through visuals by design process. Graphic designers need to work for advertising campaigns, designing the logo, and improving the presence of the company online. The demand for both the courses have been burgeoning because of the growing internet culture which has opened up a wide range of jobs for the professions.
Most colleges for the intake into the course make the students appear for an entrance exam that is designed to test the student's design aptitude and other skills required for the course. Top entrance exams for both the courses are listed below:
NIFT entrance exam: NIFT, the National Institute of Fashion Technology, is a popular choice for students interested in pursuing a career in fashion design. The National Testing Agency (NTA) organises this entrance exam to select candidates for the 18 NIFT campuses across India. The fashion design admission process at NIFT involves two stages. First, students take the GAT and CAT exams, which test their aptitude in design and creativity. Then, selected candidates need to appear for the situation test, which evaluates their ability to handle materials.
Pearl Academy Entrance Exam: The Pearl Academy conducts the Pearl Entrance to choose students interested in studying fashion design. Like the NIFT entrance exam, students must take the GPT and DAT exams, which check their skills in drawing and aptitude. After this, there's an interview round to finalise the fashion design admission process. The exam is conducted five times yearly.
SMEAT: Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design, and Technology (SMI) conducts this exam to select students who have the potential to become fashion designers. The entrance exam happens five times a year.
UCEED: The UCEED exam is conducted once a year by IIT Bombay and offers an admission to graphic designing courses in many institutions. The paper has two parts -Part A tests the aptitude of the students, Part B tests the drawing skills.
NID DAT exam: The National Institute of Design conducts NID DAT exam once every year, to intake students for the graphic design aspirants. Many colleges accept NID DAT results to intake students. It consists of Prelims and Mains.
JET: Jain Deemed to be University conducts Jain Entrance Test. This university-level test is held to select the most suitable candidates for the course. It lasts for 2 hours and 30 minutes, and the fee is Rs. 600. The test is online and conducted once per year. The exam is in English.
The courses offered in these fields are the same in nature, they just are specialised either in fashion or in graphic designing. The courses can be noted as one of the fashion design and graphic design similarities. Some of the popular design courses offered are:
B.Des: Bachelor in Design is an undergraduate course. The duration of this course is 4 years, and it is offered by many reputed institutions. This course is designed to teach students the subjects from scratch.
M.Des:Master of Design is a postgraduate course offered by many colleges to pursue after an undergraduate course Students who want to go for higher studies or want to change streams opt for this.
Diploma: Diploma courses in fashion and graphic designing are one- or two-years course specifically made to teach the students very basics of the field and help them get jobs.
B.Voc: Bachelor of Vocation (B.Voc) is a three year undergraduate program that aims to teach the students practically to face the real life problems of graphic designing. It has a duration of usually three or four years.
Both fashion design and graphic design courses are from the design field. They have courses that teach the students very basics of design. Courses which are in Bachelor's/diploma which are taught from scratch and are common in both. Some of such courses are Fundamental elements of design, colour theory, basic illustrations etc. If we come to the difference in courses, fashion designing courses teach skills like fashion illustration, draping, pattern making, and a few software related to fashion designing. Graphic designing on the other hand includes courses such are 3D Form Studies, Learning Computer Graphic, Design, Media and Technology, Branding etc.
Please check:
Top 10 Popular Indian Graphic Designers
The students while choosing a career first need to understand what the career options are available to them after the course. What fields can they expect the jobs in and how their lifestyle is going to be.
Fashion Design Career Opportunities: After a degree in fashion design students can go for career options like- fashion designer, fashion illustrator, fashion stylist, fashion merchandiser, fashion journalist, etc.
Graphic Design Career Options: Graphic design graduates can find job opportunities as graphic designers, multimedia artists, layout designers, film/video editors, etc.
Fashion Designers salary varies in between R.s 32,902- Rs. 1,95,000 per month which depends on the skills and experience one has. The graphic designers can earn between 1-2 lakhs per annum, and it can increase up to 10 lakhs per annum.
Experience | Graphic Designer | Fashion Designer |
Beginner (0-3 years) | 1-2 lakhs per annum | 2.5-3 lakhs per annum |
Intermediate (3-5 years) | 5-8 lakhs per annum | 6-8 lakhs per annum |
Expert (10+ years) | 10 lakhs per annum | 10-20 lakhs per annum |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Graphic design is creating patterns on computers which can be used on apparel.
Graphic designers work in the advertising industry business and other E-Commerce platforms.
In fashion, it depends on experience and skills to determine the salary. However, fashion designers, fashion stylists, and e-commerce managers are some of the well paid fashion jobs.
Yes, graphic design has a very stable future because of the increasing dependency on the internet for shopping and business.
A fashion designer can earn up to 1.2 lakhs to 8 lakhs depending on the skills and experience.
On Question asked by student community
Here are top BDes (Fashion Design) colleges in Bangalore:
National Institute of Fashion Technology , Bangalore – Top choice
JD Institute of Fashion Technology
Vogue Institute of Art and Design
IIFA Multimedia
Army Institute of Fashion and Design
Taking a second drop is not an issue if you clear the required entrance exams or meet the eligibility criteria.
FLAME University Pune is a good option for B.Des if you’re looking for a creative and interdisciplinary learning environment . The university offers a well-structured design program combined with liberal arts, allowing students to explore multiple interests It has a beautiful and modern campus with strong academic support and personalized attention due to smaller batch sizes. However, it is more know liberal arts and business programs, so if you want a purely design-focused education, you might also consider institutes like MIT-WPU or Shiv Nadar University. Overall, FLAME is suitable for students who want a broad, flexible design education and can afford the higher fees.
CUET qualifies BDes Fashion Designing students.
The basis for admission is the CUET score.
Hello,
No, for B.Des Fashion Designing , CUET is not always needed.
Some colleges take admission through CUET, but many top fashion institutes like NIFT have their own entrance exam. So, it depends on the college you are applying to. Always check the admission process of that particular college.
Hope it helps !
yes, Indeed, CUET qualifies BDes Fashion Designing students.
Admission CUET score is very important.
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