About 15 years from now when there was this chaotic hype of engineers and doctors, and those parents boasting about their sons and daughters graduating as one of the above professionals to the parents whose didn’t. Amidst this rush of choosing either between computer science or economics, there was this interest that some of us possessed, it was art, a field which has least importance but highly criticized, by who? Of course, by the ‘Indian Parents’. Let’s say your parents didn’t really impose much pressure on you for the path of career you wanted to pursue (a little different from that lot).
So you studied the creative field, ‘Humanities’ as we say. But peer pressure, social influence must have made you feel that there was really no future, like you really should choose a career that takes you to either the United States or UK. After all the only thing you want is to make a mark in your lifetime. Just like any of us, I was in this race of building an identity, so I chose to pursue Architecture, away from home.
Mid way somewhere I began to question that why despite of doing fairly well, why isn’t it satisfying enough? We always feel there is something that is not bringing us enough satisfaction, that is what happening with many people in the country who are engineers and doctors and architects but could only then be happier as a writer, designer (fashion/graphics). So suddenly students now have realized their creative potentials, they are choosing the path less taken, a path that will not only bring them an intrinsic happiness but also a certain glory in what they are doing. Design has been one of such booming fields of real display of creativity, in fact I’d say one of the most influential form of businesses currently in the country.
There have been instances and platforms where now designers were given opportunities to define the real creativity of the country’s identity. Today, design and design-related fields are amongst the most sought-after careers, with a recent article in The Economic Times says that design students are being hired at 50 per cent higher pay rates at IT companies than the engineering students, anywhere and everywhere. Metro cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, New Delhi and Ahmedabad remain centered hubs for design, quite a choice eh! Look around you and you can say how demanding design is, be it the Indian or Multi-National branding, it is omnipresent and highly efficient. One of the most renowned name in the Ad world Piyush Pandey, who is the Executive Chairman of Ogilvy and Mather is a classic and inspirational example.