Aspirants for design studies should work for a couple of years after completing bachelor's

An NID Ahmedabad alumnus, industrial designer Peter Alwin gained hands-on experience as a design student in Sweden


I left my hometown Vadodara, Gujarat in 2010 in a student exchange programme to Hannover, Germany, for three months as a student of National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, where I also won an international design competition by Electrolux in 2010.

For the contest, I created 'The Snail' - a portable heating and cooking device based on principles of magnetic induction, which could directly stick to any vessel. The innovative design got me an internship and eventually a job at the Electrolux headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden, where I worked for almost one and a half years.

During that time I heard about the Umea Institute of Design in Umea, Sweden, where I applied for Master's in Advanced Product design. I was among a handful of designers picked from all over the world. I am very grateful for making it through. The design methodology is not very different from schools in India but working with international students and projects with the industries makes a huge difference. I interned with Microsoft, Samsung, BMW design-works, in US and Germany respectively.

Selecting the right institute
Aspirants for design studies should work for a couple of years after completing bachelor's to make an informed decision. At the end, it is your design portfolio that matters.

The schools can be a great platform for exposure to industries, but one should chosse it on the basis of teaching methodology.

India versus Abroad

During my course in Sweden we designed projects in collaboration with the companies while studying, which helped in acquiring a pragmatic approach to design solutions.

In India, design education is still at a nascent stage while it should be introduced at school-level to give clarity in design thinking. Also, design education in India is influenced by the west. It is good to have a global approach but India being a culturally rich nation has a great potential in gaining its own design identity.