NIFT Gandhinagar Alumni Interview - Nishita Bokolia - “Be true to yourself”

National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) is one of the preferred choices for students who wish to pursue a career in designing. Careers360 brings you an interview with Nishita Bokolia, who pursued masters in strategic management from NIFT Gandhinagar. In an interview, Nishita shared her experience or life at NIFT Gandhinagar. Further, she has also shared tips to crack the NIFT entrance exam. Read the full interview to know how’s life at NIFT, placement process, and more.

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Careers360: Tell us something about yourself.

Nishita - I am Nishita Bokolia and I have done my Bachelor's in Journalism and Masters in strategic management from NIFT Gandhinagar. Currently, I am working as a Design Manager at NH1 Design.

Everyone is often astonished by my switch from journalism to designing. I started my journey as a communication designer but with time I realised that research and strategy is my forte and I should learn more. That was the time I decided to do masters in designing and appear for design entrance exams in India. I came across various design entrance exams in India such as NID DAT, CEED, and NIFT.

Careers360: How was Life at NIFT?

Nishita: Life at NIFT was absolute fun filled with lots of learning. I have done my Masters from NIFT Gandhinagar in Strategic Management. It was a good experience as half of the people are unaware that NIFT actually gives an opportunity to do masters in strategic management. This course is expanded in terms of curriculum.

Careers360: Did you take any coaching?

Nishita: No, I did not take any coaching. I think some people make their technical bend for a particular thing. I always knew what to do and where to go. I was aware of what kind of questions are asked in the entrance exam and rules that need to be taken care of. I hunted and appeared for many mock tests on Google. Moreover, I am good at sketching, and therefore, I didn’t need coaching at that point of time.

Careers360: Preparation tips for upcoming design students

Nishita: One thing that I would like to tell everybody is to be true to what you know and what you don’t. If you don’t divide out the NIFT syllabus accordingly, you lose out on real knowledge. Paper is sometimes straight forward, however at times it tests you. Eg: They might simply ask you “What’s your favorite color and why?” Basically, they wish to understand your thinking and color theory.

Having a good knowledge about typical Logical reasoning a little quant and general awareness. But at the same time, it’s important to have your own touch when it comes to sketching and scene creation. As the NIFT question paper can include any scene or situation that you need to sketch, visualization and skill to translate thoughts into paper is extremely important.

Careers360: What are the common mistakes one should avoid while preparing for the entrance exam?

When you are given continuous NIFT sketching questions, you get to see that sketching questions are personality or perspective based, so you keep on practicing similar questions. As a result of this, we become habitual and are unable to think beyond that. NIFT mocks should be taken as a challenging thing and not to stick to a particular format.

Careers360: How has your journey been till date? From getting admission to NIFT to working as a designer.

Nishita: It has always been a learning thing. I won’t say that it is too lucrative and fancy but the thought of it makes you motivated. There are very few people who really like what they do and there are even fewer people who actually end up doing what they learnt in their college. But that’s not my thing. I am doing exactly what I learnt. Therefore, my journey from my learning days to becoming a designer has been great. I still use the same design methodologies and what my professors told me. If you do what you like, your journey will always be smooth.

Careers360: What are the key learnings from your college days?

Nishita: Whenever we are in college or school, learning becomes monotonous or we are obliged to learn it. Basically, we need to study every subject even if we don’t need to take that as our career option. However, this is one thing that you can overcome in NIFT or any other design colleges in India. We are not obliged to follow any particular path. We are free to learn and experiment or even build our own design methodologies. So, my learning included:

• My own ways to research

• My own ways to build inferences

• Own ways to do insights

Careers360: Portfolio is an important aspect for designers especially at the start of their careers. What is your advice to them in this regard?

Nishita: Fun fact is that there is nothing like a concrete portfolio. If we define a portfolio then it’s a way to depict yourself in a structured form. Best part about design is that there is no limit or there is no particular way a portfolio should be. While making a portfolio, make sure that you are keeping your work in a structured form. Moreover, it should explain who you are and what you do in a quicker manner. Further, it is advisable to add case studies and learnings of your work as a person won’t have much time to go through it. You will have 5 or 10 minutes to showcase it. So, keep it crisp.

Careers360: What’s the placement process at NIFT?

Nishita: Placements at NIFT are fine enough but I would like to suggest everyone to keep looking for placement outside a campus. As far as the placement process is concerned, there are CMS portals which are highly structured. There are a number of chances you can apply for placement. If you get accepted by one, you can’t sit for another.

Students have to register to the portal and upload resumes. NIFT placement cell updates all information on when and which company is visiting campus. Students have to sit on that particular date to be a part of the placement process. One fun catch at NIFT is that there is nothing like you can sit for placements in your own campus only. It is decentralized in that manner. Anybody from NIFT can sit at any NIFT campus on any date.

Careers360: How was your interview at NIFT?

Nishita: Kind of questions that were asked to me in my NIFT interview were not at all related to the curriculum. It was a kind of normal chitchat. But at the same time, they did ask details. One standard question is “Why do you want to do it?”. Apart from that they also asked me questions related to my liking, what do I like and do? Be prepared for counter questions as well. During an interview, they just want to know if you are passionate about whatever you are saying.

Careers360: Finally, before we end this interview, is there anything else that you would like to share with design students?

Nishita: I would just say that if you are planning to pursue design, just go for it. Focus on your skill set and build unmeasurable skills such that you can do anything. Moreover, be open about your confusions. Reach out to your family, teachers, friends for any smallest doubt. Solving everything solely can be frustrating.