Indian design market has huge potential: Experts

Even while there is a huge shortage of qualified designers in the country, the market for design has huge potential, said experts of creative industries at the Kochi Design Week (KDW) being held here.

The KDW is being organised by the state Electronics and IT Department in association with international bodies such as World Design Organisation (WDO) and Interaction Design Association (IxDA).

Paula Graham Gazzard, director of UK-based Contemporary Visual Arts Network said that by 2020, the potential market for design in India is expected to be Rs 188.32 billion.

"The number of designers required by 2020 in India's industrial, graphic, communication, packaging and other design domains is potentially 62,000. There are around 7,000 qualified designers in India with perhaps 5,000 studying design," said Gazzard while delivering the keynote address at the KDW.

She called upon Indian designers to constantly invest in skill upgradation and be at the top of the game so as to keep up to the competition arising from other cost-effective parts of Asia.

Jonathan Strebly, president elect of International Council of Design (ICOD), in his keynote address said, designers are the ambassadors of the end-users.

"Service design is by and for people. It represents design for those who need it the most, the community," said Strebly.IANS