Preparing for undergraduate design entrance exams in India
Design is shedding its former status as an under-appreciated career choice, especially among apprehensive parents who view artistic professions as career suicide. In India, the number of individuals aspiring to pursue design is steadily rising, and we can see that through design institutes popping up in India faster than Max Verstappen’s Spanish Grand Prix lap time.
Hey everyone, I’m Yash, a recent graduate with a degree in Industrial Design from NID. Back in 2018, I went through the rigorous process of preparing for design entrance exams like NID DAT, UCEED, and MITID. It took me six months of dedicated preparation leading up to the exams. Today, I’m here to simplify the preparation process for design entrance exams through the lens of my experience, although I must emphasize that what I’m sharing is not the complete picture.
I gave the exams in 2018, and the patterns keep on changing. This article will cover the fundamentals of what you need to know, but ALWAYS refer to official communication from the respective colleges’ websites in order to know exactly what to expect in that year’s exam.
Design entrance prep is different for everybody
I’ve seen incredibly talented classmates, seniors, and juniors who cleared the exam with minimal preparation. Some even approached the exam casually, just for fun, and still succeeded. So, I’m not here to insist that you absolutely must put in extensive effort to succeed.
Unlike those naturally gifted individuals, I didn’t have the same level of innate talent, so I had to work hard to succeed. I dedicated every spare moment for preparation from the moment I made the decision to prepare. By the time I walked into the exam hall, I was brimming with confidence, knowing I had left no stone unturned. I encourage you all to strive for that same level of readiness when you sit for the exam.
You’re preparing for a design entrance exam, not to be a designer
Here’s a controversial opinion I have to share, and this comes from my own experience. Design entrance exam preparation is far from being a designer.
While preparing, I went down the rabbit hole of design, checking out a thousand other designers, spending hours on Behance and even reading design books, thinking the exam will judge my design skills. I should have spent that time on doing those mundane logic exercises, reading the newspaper and practicing my sketching etc.
I’ve even spoken to aspirants who worry about choosing the ‘right’ discipline, getting internships to sharpen their CV in order to get the best design job they can, even before clearing the exam. Bro why?
Your aim right now is to get through the exam. Not worry about whether you know design, whether you’re inclined towards the right discipline, about getting internships and whatnot.
Thoughts on coaching institutes
I have had a horrible experience with coaching institute for the first round. The material they provided was error-ridden and the faculty was not skilled at what they were doing. After a point, I left attending classes and prepared on the content I’ll share below.
When I got through the first round, I joined a different batch in the coaching institute for second round aspirants, which was a great experience. The faculty was skilled and their direction was productive.
This experience is prone to vary with respect to the individual, so I’ll only suggest you to be super concious of what you’re learning and try not to learn the wrong thing.
First round
Your first round will mostly be an MCQ exam along with a drawing section. This round comprises vaguely current affairs, general knowledge (general and design specific), english, mental aptitude and basic math.
PS: This might change and vary, please refer to the particular entrance exam’s website for the details for that year.
Current affairs
This can be learnt through reading the newspaper daily and collecting important events, and practicing quizzes on the internet on websites like indiabix.com
General knowledge
The Manorama Yearbook, newspapers, highschool textbooks and our good old friend — the internet will give you enough of what you need to know
Design-specific general knowledge
You can pick a vibe of what’s asked in the previous year question paper and find your direction to learn there. You’ll be expected to know famous logos, paintings, products, designers, most of the time, the ones which were made in India.
English
R.S.Agarwal, S.Chand and Wren&Martin’s english books
Mental Aptitude and Logic
R.S Agarwal’s books
Basic math
Well, you should know this well by now, but in case you don’t refer to the good old school math textbooks
Sketching
This is where most people need help. This also acts as the decider section most of the time. Despite its importance, it is pretty straightforward to figure out, since most of the journey about getting good at drawing is practicing more than you think.
Design aspirants nowadays are pretty skilled when it comes to drawing, so don’t believe anybody who says you don’t need to be good at drawing. It would have worked a few years back, but it doesn’t stand a chance now.
Learning drawing for design entrance exams boils down to a few basic things:
Believable perspective
Most students draw using a very skewed and extreme perspective because they’re taught to draw using the vanishing points in sight. The human eye does not see things in such a harsh perspective. Prepare yourself to ‘imagine’ your vanishing points far away, out of the paper, almost as if they are out of your sight.
Proportions
Objects and humans look alright around us because we see them in believable proportion. If you draw the arm as long as the height of the human body, it is going to be perceived as stylised and not realistic.
Human figures under 30 seconds
Most students spend so much time perfecting how their human looks, that they forget about the rest of the drawing. The aim is not being able to draw a human with perfect anatomy, but a believable human figure under 30 seconds.
Value studies
How light and dark the parts of your drawing are, communicates contrast, lighting conditions and even time of the day. Learn to shade a dark part exactly as dark as you see it, and vice versa.
Material rendering
In short, wood should look like wood and not stone, stone should look like stone and not wood.
Habituating to shit quality paper
Most students practice on the best cartridge paper they can get, which makes your sketches look better since it captures the graphite from the pencil well. I was shocked to find out that I was given the regular printing paper to sketch on during my exam. You’ve been warned.
Basic observation
Make a habit of observing your surroundings in detail. If you’re asked to sketch a bus stand, you should be able to add details like the rusted benches, school kids, advertisement on the billboard, trash on the side of roads to make it realistic. Practice sketching common environments like malls, bus stations, railway stations, schools, football fields etc.
Thumbnail sketches
Don’t sketch the first idea you have in your mind. Plan your sketch by making thumbnails, plan the composition, position of human beings and objects and finalize what exactly is it that you’re going to draw.
Second round
Ideally, you should worry about this ONLY after clearing your first round. Preparing for this before clearing the first round is unnecessary and a waste of time.
You thought the first round was vague? This gets even vaguer. You can be asked anything and everything that’s there to ask.
Since the ‘syllabus’ (there isn’t any, but let’s call it that) is more vague than the first round, this section will be shorter than the ones before.
Here’s what you need to know:
- Material handling: Understanding the properties of common materials like paper, cardboard, metal wire, plastic sheets, modeling clay and other common items you’d have used in your arts and crafts activities as a kid in school, and knowing how to handle them to achieve a certain result.
- Memory: Drawing can be a part of the second round as well, you should be able to recall what you learnt for the first round and apply it here.
- Sound recognition: You could be asked to identify certain sounds
- Handling constraints: Whatever you tried making while handling materials, now try to do it without the basic instruments that helped bring that result, like scissors, cutters, glue, ruler, tape etc.
- Time management: Learn to do all of the above faster, if you take 30 minutes to make a model, make it in 15. This includes the thinking stage of what to make.
- Sketching big: I was given an A2 sheet to draw on during my second round, when I had been practicing yet on A4 sheets only. Scale brings its own challenges
Portfolio
NID didn’t require a portfolio round when I gave the exam, however since rules are bound to change, you can find the exact information in the particular year’s exam website.
Here’s the basics: Design colleges want students who don’t fear to experiment, fuel their curiosity and know the reasons behind what they’re doing. Ideally, a portfolio should show a variety of ways your art manifests. If you’re a landscape painter in watercolor, try other mediums too. Try modeling the landscape in clay. Keep exploring and show your exploration and learning with good reason.
I did make a portfolio for MITID, where I had 2 files: One with 3 product design projects (which I hate now) showing proper reasoning and exploration for what I did, and the other for artwork and mindless exploration I had done for my own satisfaction. Being an artsy kid, I didn’t ‘make’ the portfolio after getting through the first round, I only collected items from the long time that I had been creative.
Interviews
Never had much experience interviewing for design college entrance, so I have only one thing: Macha ke aana!
👋 See you later!
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In case you want to check out my work in the meantime, please visit my portfolio website here. I’m always open to chat about any new adventures, crazy ideas or just all things design on LinkedIn and Twitter.
