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    Fashion Design vs Graphic Design: Check Complete Overview Here
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    • Fashion Design vs Graphic Design: Check Complete Overview Here

    Fashion Design vs Graphic Design: Check Complete Overview Here

    #B.Des
    Team Careers360Updated on 26 Feb 2026, 03:43 PM IST

    Every year, a large number of students get admission to design colleges in India due to the growth of career options in the field. Both fashion design and graphic design are popular design specialisations. 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 better decisions in their career.

    This Story also Contains

    1. Fashion Design vs Graphic Design: An Overview
    2. Fashion Designer vs Graphic Designer: What are they?
    3. Fashion Design vs Graphic Design: Entrance Exams
    4. Fashion Design vs Graphic Design: Courses
    5. Fashion Design vs Graphic Design: Subjects
    6. Fashion Design vs Graphic Design: Career Scope
    7. Fashion Design vs Graphic Design: Salary
    Fashion Design vs Graphic Design: Check Complete Overview Here
    fashion design vs graphic design

    Fashion Design vs Graphic Design: An Overview

    Particulars

    Fashion Design

    Graphic Design

    Deals with

    Garment production, retail, fashion shows

    Business cards, logo making, animation and 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

    Fashion Designer vs Graphic Designer: What are they?

    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.

    Fashion Design vs Graphic Design: Entrance Exams

    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:

    Popular Fashion Design Entrance Exams

    • 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.

    Popular Graphic Design Entrance Exams

    • 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.

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    Fashion Design vs Graphic Design: Courses

    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.

    Fashion Design vs Graphic Design: Subjects

    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

    Top Fashion Design Colleges in Delhi

    Top Fashion Design Colleges in Bangalore

    Fashion Design vs Graphic Design: Career Scope

    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 Design vs Graphic Design: Salary

    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.

    Fashion Designer vs Graphic Designer Salary

    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)

    Q: Is graphic design used in fashion?
    A:

    Graphic design is creating patterns on computers which can be used on apparel.

    Q: Where do graphic designers work?
    A:

    Graphic designers work in the advertising industry business and other E-Commerce platforms.

    Q: Which is the highest paid job in fashion?
    A:

    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.

    Q: Does graphic design have a future?
    A:

    Yes, graphic design has a very stable future because of the increasing dependency on the internet for shopping and business.

    Q: What is the minimum salary of a fashion designer?
    A:

    A fashion designer can earn up to 1.2 lakhs to 8 lakhs depending on the skills and experience.

    Upcoming Design Exams
    Ongoing Dates
    AIEED Application Date

    1 Nov'25 - 25 Mar'26 (Online)

    Ongoing Dates
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    29 Jan'26 - 16 Mar'26 (Online)

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    Questions related to B.Des

    On Question asked by student community

    Have a question related to B.Des ?

    No specific stream is required in Class 11 for BDes admissions. You can join B.Des (Bachelor of Design) with any stream in Class 11th (Science, Commerce, or Arts/Humanities). Top design institutes like NID ( NID DAT scores) and NIFT ( NIFT Entrance Exam ), as well as IITs (via UCEED),

    Hi Paavni,

    You can change your course from Bachelor in Fashion Technology to Bachelor of Design in NIFT. Please remember that Physics and Mathematics are compulsory in Class 12 for BFTech. However, BDes programme is open to all streams. Click on the link below for details:

    Yes, you can secure admission into BDes or similar programmes without appearing for an entrance exam. Institutes such as the Army Institute of Fashion and Design offer direct admission based on marks in 10th and 12th. Additionally, you can also apply to private universities such as UPES, which offer design

    Hello, the UCEED cut-off marks is expected to be higher this year. The UCEED 2026 Part A cutoff score is 83.76 marks which is higher than last year. After also, accounting for marks in Part B, 120-125 marks is expected to be a good score for IIITDM Jabalpur. Additionally, you

    Hello,

    Getting admission in IITs or NID for BDes depends on a few things: your entrance exam score, portfolio, and sometimes your interview performance.

    • IITs (for BDes) : Admission is mainly through UCEED . You need a good rank in UCEED to get in.

    • NID : Admission is through NID