Become an Automotive Designer.

Design how digital products work — not just how they look. UX Designers conduct user research, build information architecture, sketch user flows, prototype interactions, and run usability tests to turn messy human problems into intuitive, evidence-backed product experiences. They sit at the intersection of product, engineering, and research, owning the journey from first user interview to final dev handoff. Distinct from UI designers (visual surface), product designers (broader strategic remit), and graphic designers (brand and marketing assets).

UX Writers own the words inside software products — button labels, error messages, empty states, onboarding flows, tooltips, confirmation dialogs, and loading states. Unlike content writers who produce blog posts or marketing copy, UX writers work inside Figma files alongside designers and PMs, writing copy that is functional and must work at 2–10 word constraints. In India the role has moved from a rarity to a listed job at Razorpay, CRED, Swiggy, Zomato, PhonePe, Meesho, GoodGlamm, and the FAANG India offices — companies that discovered that poorly-worded error states double support ticket volume and that a single word change on a payment CTA can shift conversion by 8–15%. The discipline sits at the intersection of linguistics, cognitive psychology, and product design, and is increasingly called 'content design' at more mature orgs to signal the strategic, system-thinking scope of the work.

Storyboard artists translate written scripts into sequential visual shot plans — panel-by-panel drawings that specify camera angle, framing, character blocking, screen direction, and cut timing before a single frame of animation or live footage is captured. In India, the role sits at the intersection of India's large animation outsourcing industry (Toonz Animation Thiruvananthapuram, Reliance Animation Mumbai, Green Gold Animation Hyderabad, Cosmos-Maya Mumbai, DQ Entertainment Hyderabad) and a fast-growing demand from OTT original productions (Disney+ Hotstar, Netflix India, Amazon Prime Video India specials), advertising production houses, and independent ad-film directors in Mumbai and Bengaluru. A storyboard artist must speak both languages fluently — the director's cinematic intent and the animator's or DoP's production constraints — making this one of the most technically rigorous visual development roles in Indian media.

Writers in India work across an unusually wide span — journalism at legacy outlets (The Hindu, Times of India, Indian Express, Hindustan Times, The Print, Mint, Business Standard, Economic Times, Caravan, Outlook, India Today) and digital-native publishers (Newslaundry, Scroll, The Wire, Quint, Moneycontrol, ThePrint Strategic Affairs); novel and non-fiction publishing at HarperCollins India, Penguin Random House India, Westland (Amazon-owned), Juggernaut, Bloomsbury India, Aleph, Pan Macmillan India; scriptwriting for Bollywood (₹5L-2Cr per major script) and OTT (Netflix India, Amazon Prime Video India, Disney+ Hotstar — paying ₹3-30L per episode of premium streaming series); content writing for marketing teams (corporate brand voice, B2B SaaS content, EdTech curriculum, fintech narratives); copywriting at ad agencies (Wieden+Kennedy India, Ogilvy India, Lowe Lintas, BBDO, Leo Burnett); ghostwriting for celebrity / business / political memoirs; and increasingly Substack / Medium / personal-brand newsletter writing (Aakar Patel, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Andy Mukherjee, Madhavankutty Pillai have built independent media). The Indian path requires no specific degree — journalism programs at Asian College of Journalism Chennai, Indian Institute of Mass Communication Delhi, Symbiosis Institute of Media Pune, Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media Bangalore, Xavier Institute of Communications Mumbai are the formal training tracks, but most successful Indian writers built careers through self-taught practice and persistent publication. Pay varies wildly: journalism ₹4-15L mid-career; published novel advance ₹2-30L (Penguin / HarperCollins / Westland — rare ₹50L+ exceptions for established authors); Bollywood / OTT scriptwriter ₹5L-2Cr per script; content writing ₹3-15L corporate; copywriting ad-agency ₹4-25L; freelance content writers ₹40k-3L per month variable; top Substack writers / newsletter founders ₹30L-2Cr annually.

Graphic Designers shape how a brand looks, feels and communicates across every visual surface — packaging on a Reliance Smart shelf, an Instagram reel for a D2C launch, a billboard at the Mumbai airport, the title card of a Netflix India show, the typography on an Amul ad, or the icon set inside a Razorpay onboarding flow. They translate brand strategy and marketing briefs into visual systems: logos, color palettes, type pairings, illustration, layout, motion, and packaging. In India, graphic design careers split into three contexts. (1) Agencies — Wieden+Kennedy, Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, Lowe Lintas, Dentsu Webchutney, FCB, BBH; lower starting pay, broader portfolio, fast-paced, account-driven. (2) In-house at consumer brands — Nykaa, Mamaearth, Sugar, boAt, Lenskart, Asian Paints, ITC, HUL; deeper brand-system work, more stable schedule, higher pay at senior levels. (3) Freelance / studio — independent operators serving multiple D2C and startup clients. Distinct from UX/UI Designers (digital product flows), Industrial Designers (3D physical product), and Illustrators (one specific craft within graphic design).

Illustrators make pictures with intent — editorial spot illustrations for The Caravan or Mint, brand mascots and visual systems for D2C startups, children's book art, app onboarding illustrations, packaging, posters, fashion prints, and social-media motion-friendly art. Distinct from graphic designers (who arrange type and image inside a system) and from animators (who add the time dimension), illustrators own the still image — concept, drawing, colour, mood, and personality — usually in Procreate, Photoshop, or Adobe Illustrator on an iPad or Wacom tablet. India's illustrator economy is split across editorial (publications, op-eds, magazine spreads), publishing (Tara Books, Pratham, Tulika, Karadi Tales for children's books — Penguin India and HarperCollins India for adult fiction), brand work (D2C startups, ed-tech, fintech), and a fast-growing in-house illustration team trend at companies like Headspace-style apps, Zomato, Swiggy, and Cred. Most working illustrators in India are freelance, with 1-3 anchor retainer clients balancing per-project work.

Perfumers — called 'noses' in the trade — design fragrance formulas for fine fragrance, personal care, home care, and FMCG brands by compounding hundreds of raw materials (naturals like rose absolute, oud, and vetiver; synthetics like Iso E Super, Ambroxide, and Hedione) into structured olfactory compositions built across the top-heart-base pyramid. In India the role splits between the global fragrance-house model (Givaudan India, dsm-firmenich, Symrise, IFF — the Big Four operating creation labs in Mumbai and Bengaluru) and India's 5,000-year-old attar tradition centred in Kannauj, UP, where hydro-distillation and the deg-bhapka method still produce the world's finest natural-base attars for export, Indian weddings, and heritage luxury. Entry requires either an ISIPCA (Institut Supérieur International du Parfum, de la Cosmétique et de l'Aromatique Alimentaire, Versailles) diploma or a multi-year in-house training program at a Big Four house; the craft is not learnable from books alone. A junior perfumer graduating to a fully autonomous 'nose' takes 8-12 years of bench time.

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Character designers are the visual architects of personalities — they translate a director's or writer's character brief into a complete visual identity that works at every scale, from a 32px game icon to a 4K animatable asset. In India, the role sits across Toonz Animation (Thiruvananthapuram), Green Gold Animation (Hyderabad, home of Chhota Bheem), Reliance Animation, DQ Entertainment, and an accelerating freelance economy for global animation and game projects via ArtStation and LinkedIn. The craft demands simultaneous fluency in storytelling (can the personality read in 5 seconds?), technical constraint (does the design rig cleanly? does the silhouette read at 16:9 and 1:1?), and IP discipline (does every character look like it lives in the same world?). Unlike concept artists who range across environments and props, character designers go deep on the human or creature form — anatomy, costume language, facial expression architecture, and the iterative turnaround pipeline that bridges 2D design to 3D model or rigged animation.

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Cinematographers — also called Directors of Photography (DPs) — are the visual architects of a film or series, responsible for every frame the audience sees. In India the craft runs from Bollywood's big-budget studio productions (YRF, Dharma, T-Series) and pan-India films (RRR, Baahubali, Kalki 2898-AD) to Netflix and Prime Video OTT originals, regional cinema across Tollywood, Mollywood, and Kollywood, and high-end advertising and music videos. A DP collaborates directly with the director to develop the visual language — choosing camera platforms (ARRI Alexa 35, Red Monstro, Sony Venice 2), lenses (anamorphic vs spherical, T-stop ranges), lighting philosophy (hard key vs naturalistic diffusion), and colour palette — then executes it frame-by-frame on set, leading a crew of gaffers, key grips, focus pullers, camera operators, and a DIT. Entry is almost exclusively through assisting established DPs on set; the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII Pune) and Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI Kolkata) remain the two most respected formal training routes in India.

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Concept Artists define the visual world of games, films, and animated series before a single polygon is modelled or a set is built — characters, props, vehicles, environments, and creature designs exist first as hundreds of painted thumbnails, value studies, and colour passes on their screens. In India through 2026, the strongest demand comes from Lakshya Digital Pune (now Keywords Studios), DNEG Pre-Pro (Mumbai/Hyderabad), Sumo Group India, Dhruva Interactive Bengaluru, and an accelerating pipeline of US- and UK-paying remote contracts sourced through ArtStation and talent agencies. Film pre-production houses — Reliance Entertainment, Prime Focus World, and a growing slate of web series co-productions with Netflix India and Prime Video India — hire concept artists on project contracts that run 4–18 months. Entry-level concept artists typically enter through NID, IDC IIT Bombay, Srishti, or MAAC/Arena Animation programs, or from self-taught routes validated by an ArtStation portfolio that demonstrates value, anatomy, and perspective fluency. The career is technically and creatively demanding: a senior who paints convincingly across environment, character, and vehicle simultaneously and works efficiently inside AAA pipelines (Blender blockout → photobash → paintover) commands export-tier salaries from US studios.

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Brand Designers build and steward the visual identity systems that make companies recognisable — logo marks, wordmarks, color palettes, typographic hierarchies, iconography, packaging architecture, brand voice guidelines, and sub-brand frameworks. In India the role divides into three tracks: (1) specialist design agencies — Wolff Olins India, Landor & Fitch, Elephant Design (Pune), Lopez Design (Delhi), and boutique studios serve listed conglomerates, FMCG majors, and funded D2C brands on identity and rebrand projects; (2) in-house brand teams at unicorns and fast-growth consumer companies — Razorpay, CRED, Zomato, Urban Company, and Swiggy each maintain 3-10-person brand design functions that govern how the company looks across product, marketing, packaging, and merch; (3) D2C challenger brands — Sugar Cosmetics, Mamaearth, boAt, and Boat's peer cohort hire Brand Designers to build differentiated shelf identities and Instagram-native visual languages. Brand Designers are distinct from UI/UX Designers (screen flows and product interactions), Graphic Designers (broad visual execution), and Brand Managers (marketing strategy and P&L ownership) — a Brand Designer's deliverable is the system that governs how everything looks, not one campaign or one product screen.

Senior: ₹50.0L