The emergence of designing careers in IT – an Interview

There has been a lot of advancement in the field of Information Technology. While the usual trends are significant in terms of market with jobs and careers into mobile, could computing and testing, a new creative revolution has begun to pick up widely in the economy, making for a full time career.

The designing jobs are ruling the roost in the current job market, with wide range of clients and unlimited opportunities to imagine and create. VFX, UI, Photoshop, Graphic Interface etc. – many names exist with a single approach to tap the best of creative minds available.

The Hans India speaks to George Chiramal Davis, a young Design Lead from an emerging IT company to explore the vastness of the space.

What is the conceptualization of a design?

Design is the solution to a problem. When the solution is visual, you can call it Graphic Design. Design has been a key part of history.

Tell us about the evolution of basic designing. When did it start?

I you look back in time some of the earliest traces of Graphic design can be found in Heraldry, Coat of Arms and Flags it was primarily used by royalty. Over time the when business started to become more competitive, they needed a way to distinguish themselves from others and stand out and made beautifully carved sign boards to place over their shops. The Coca Cola logo which derives its style from medieval times is one of the most recognized logos in the world. This encompasses the Symbolism side of Graphic Design. The other is Typography (the art and technique of making text appealing, relevant to the context and legible. Together they communicate a statement to viewer whatever that maybe.

Graphic Design got a big boost with the dawn of Print making it cheaper and easier to replicate text or designs. This also pushed Press houses to print news and books, resulting in a more educated and politically aware society.

Graphic Design in more recent times was popularized as an art form by Andy Warhol a famous Pop Artist (A type of Fine Art catering to public interest rather than pure self -expression which the layman couldn’t comprehend).World War II Posters were used to inspire patriotism into the citizen. Today graphic/ visual design is so important that if a startup doesn’t have well designed website and presentation, no investor is going to take them seriously.

Tell about the advancements in the past decade, specifically with the job market.

With computers and easy to use software like photoshop, illustrator etc, the common man now has access to design tools which used to be expensive and a privilege of few large companies. Anyone can make a poster, website, book cover or packaging with the help of such software. Though there are some who also see that it has also resulted in the dilution of creative and good design, nonetheless I believe that every child and adult should be given an opportunity to exercise their creative flair.

What are the different kinds of career options in graphic designing industry?

After passing out of a design school you may enter a role called Graphic Designer, Visual Designer or Creative Designer. You could be working in an Advertising & Design Agency churning out the next Fevicol Ad or perhaps you could be designing the next coca cola bottle. You could be working in an animation studio if are good at character design, storytelling, designing the next HBO logo reveal. Or perhaps like myself you could designing User Interfaces in the booming App Industry… in the creative field ther are no bounds telling a designer to stick to print and not design products or get into fashion, etc. As long as you are creative and have some insight in the specific creative industry you can setup a career in it.

How is the career progression in this industry? Any longevity indicated?

The career progression can be quite good if you are creative, you know that you are creative and have your street smarts about you. A creative usually enters the industry as a junior graphic/ visual /creative designer in three years he becomes an assistant or associate designer and so on to Art Director or Creative Director/ Head or VP of Design, providing he/she is good enough. It’s important to note that many Advertising/ Design agencies pay peanuts to interns or even experienced candidates including some of the biggest names in the industry. Many designers start their career at 10,000 to 18,000 in such companies. Recently though this trend is changing as they competing with IT companies who often pay a starting salary of 20,000 to 30,000 to good creative designers, especially if the designs you create plays a key part of their product or service.

What is the difference between regular designing jobs and the animation jobs in entertainment?

You would certainly need to know animation and 3d software along with common design skills such as hand skills (drawing) , storyboarding and creativity. Coming to the job itself, as a fresher you may not get the chance in the initial stages to showcase your creativity as you would probably animating someone else’s designs. This is especially relevant to large animation studios. Competition to move up in the company is a lot more difficult as there are more than 100s of you in the same firm. You are better of being an animator for a TV network/ channel, ad or design agency… where you have better chances of being noticed for your creative output.

What are the courses one needs to take for getting certified in UI?

I would recommend a course in Graphic Design / Visual Communication which is most relevant to what your job requires. There are those who do a course in Fine Arts and jump into User Interface/ Graphic Design when they realize, not everybody can paint horses and make a million bucks.