Become a Design Researcher.

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.

Sociologists in India study how caste, religion, gender, class, and urbanisation shape social life — then turn that analysis into policy evidence, electoral insight, or academic knowledge. The workhorse institutions are Delhi School of Economics, JNU, TISS Mumbai, Jamia Millia Islamia, and IIPS Mumbai for academic tracks; CSDS-Lokniti and Pew Research India for public-opinion and election research; Sambodhi Research, IDinsight, and J-PAL South Asia for applied development work; and NSSO/MoSPI and NITI Aayog for government-commissioned social surveys. Day-to-day work oscillates between NSSO microdata cleaning in Stata, designing Focus Group Discussions in rural field sites, writing for EPW, and presenting regression tables to programme officers. Entry requires an M.A. Sociology; most academic and senior applied posts require a PhD or MPhil from a UGC-recognised department.

Senior: ₹45.0L

Service Designers redesign the end-to-end experience of a service — spanning every digital screen, physical touchpoint, and human interaction — so it works for customers and the employees delivering it. They map frontstage journeys (what customers see and feel) and backstage systems (processes, technology, staff roles, policies) using service blueprints, journey maps, and co-design workshops. In India the role is taking root at banking and fintech services teams (HDFC, ICICI, Axis, Razorpay), healthcare networks (Apollo, Narayana, government digital health), and govtech engagements (Code for India, Ministry of Electronics) alongside specialist studios like Idiom, Onio Design, Tessellate, ThinkDesign, and Lollypop. A Service Designer sits upstream of UX — they decide which journeys to fix and how to restructure the underlying service delivery model, not just which screen to redesign.

Senior: N/A

Political scientists in India study electoral behaviour, constitutional structures, international relations, comparative politics, and public policy through systematic empirical and normative methods. The field's institutional anchors are JNU's Centre for Political Studies (CPS), CSDS-Lokniti's National Election Study (NES) waves, Ashoka University's Trivedi Centre for Political Data (TCPD), and think tanks such as ORF, Carnegie India, and Brookings India. Day-to-day work spans survey-instrument design for Election Commission voter-behaviour studies, peer-reviewed publications in journals like Studies in Indian Politics (SAGE-CSDS), Economic and Political Weekly, India Review, and Asian Survey, policy briefs to MEA, MHA, and NITI Aayog, op-eds in The Hindu and Indian Express, and TV panels on NDTV and CNN News18 during election cycles. Entry is via M.A. Political Science (JNU, Hyderabad Central, Ashoka) leading to a Ph.D.; alternatively, a CSDS-Lokniti research fellowship bridges academic and applied polling work.

Senior: N/A

Product Designers own the end-to-end experience of a digital product — from generative user research and information architecture through Figma wireframes, high-fidelity UI, ProtoPie prototypes, design-system contributions, and post-launch metric reviews. Unlike a UX Designer who focuses on flow and interaction, or a UI designer who hands off screens, a Product Designer is accountable for the area they own: they negotiate scope with PMs, hold the design bar in engineering sprints, write the research brief, run the design crit, and track conversion or retention numbers after launch. In India through 2026, the role is in acute demand at Razorpay, CRED, PhonePe, Swiggy, Zomato, Cleartrip, Postman, and the FAANG-India design orgs (Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft) — companies that have learned that one strong Product Designer owning an area outperforms three specialists siloed across research, UX, and UI.

Senior: N/A

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.

Senior: ₹55.0L