B.Des at UPES: compare the problems each studio tackles
The UPES Bachelor of Design is a four-year, full-time undergraduate degree. Its published routes include Industrial and Product Design, Animation and VFX Design, Interaction Design, Graphic Design, Mobility and Vehicle Design, Game Design, and Interior and Retail Space Design. These choices sit within one design degree decision. The best starting point is the kind of object, communication, experience or environment you want to investigate and improve.
A student who enjoys drawing cars may be interested in mobility, but should also want to study how people use transport. A student who enjoys playing games may enjoy game design, but needs to investigate what it means to make and test an interactive experience. This guide compares the published subject directions and adds AptiGuide's practical fit questions. University information was checked on 15 October 2026.
Products, vehicles and spaces involve physical constraints
Industrial and Product Design is described around user research, materials, manufacturing processes, product development and environmental impact. The course discusses digital modelling and physical prototypes, alongside workshops and testing. It suits investigation through making. If a handle is uncomfortable or an object difficult to repair, the designer has to understand why before refining its appearance.
Try observing a familiar everyday object, such as a lunchbox or desk lamp. Sketch how it is used, identify one frustration and build a rough alternative from inexpensive material. Explain who would benefit and what trade-off your change introduces. This exercise is suggested preparation, rather than a published entrance assignment. The purpose is to test whether you enjoy researching and revising an idea after its first attractive sketch.
Mobility and Vehicle Design addresses exteriors, interiors, interfaces and transport contexts, including personal and public mobility. Published facilities include digital visualisation and model-making resources. Your comparison should therefore go beyond enthusiasm for particular vehicle brands. Ask whether you enjoy proportions, human use, materials and the relation between a transport solution and its environment.
Interior and Retail Space Design covers residential, commercial, hospitality and branded retail environments. Its description combines spatial planning with communication, visual merchandising and model-making. Consider whether you like studying how people move through a room or shop and how surfaces, light and information influence that movement. The B.Des title should not be assumed to confer a different regulated professional title.
Graphic and interaction design ask different questions
Graphic Design deals with visual communication. The useful fit question is whether you enjoy making information clearer through composition, type, image and hierarchy. A poster can look polished while leaving the reader uncertain about its purpose. When comparing this route, ask how students investigate an audience, develop alternatives and judge whether a communication works.
Interaction Design is described around user-centred design, UX, UI, service design, usability and user research. Its published information also mentions design systems, immersive or tangible interfaces, a capstone and a professional internship. This route suits students interested in how a person completes a task across screens or services, including the moments when the process becomes confusing.
To distinguish your preference, make a clear poster explaining a school event, then sketch a simple registration journey for the same event. The first task asks how information is presented. The second asks how a person moves through a sequence of actions. You may enjoy both, but noticing where you ask better questions can help you choose a direction without relying only on software familiarity.
Animation, VFX and games need interest in production
Animation and VFX Design and Game Design are listed B.Des routes. They should be compared as fields of making, rather than entertainment preferences. Watching an animated film does not reveal whether you enjoy planning a sequence, accepting feedback and revising it. Playing a game does not establish whether you like designing rules, documenting mechanics and testing how another person experiences them.
Ask for the current animation curriculum and examples of assessed work. You want to understand the balance between visual development, storytelling and production tools. For game design, request clarity about the balance between design, art, interactive systems and technical implementation. These questions are deliberately specific because a broad route title cannot tell you exactly how much time is spent on each activity.
A useful animation trial is a short sequence showing a clear change in action or emotion. A useful game trial can be a paper-based game with a simple goal and rules that another person can follow. Record the feedback and the revision you make. The point is to show reasoning and persistence, not to imitate the scale of a commercial production before university.
Eligibility is separate from the selection decision
The B.Des admissions page requires a minimum of 50% in both Class X and Class XII, in any stream. Admission routes include UPESDAT, national-level examinations such as NID, NIFT, UCEED, JEE Main and CUET-UG, and board merit. Shortlisted applicants are required to present a portfolio and attend a personal interview. Eligibility, entrance exemption and the final selection decision should be treated as different stages.
The page gives a board-merit exemption threshold of 60% in both Class X and Class XII. Several other entrance-score requirements for the stated upcoming academic year are marked as awaiting announcement. This guide therefore does not invent a score cutoff for those routes. Confirm which examination result is accepted for your intake and whether you meet the specific exemption conditions.
Published UPESDAT details describe an online test with visual analogy and design/general awareness. Use the current instructions when booking and preparing, particularly for timing, technical requirements and any updated pattern. Passing an entrance stage does not make the portfolio unimportant. Your interview needs to connect your work with your interest in the selected design direction.
A portfolio should show decisions, including revisions
UPES describes acceptable material such as hand-drawn work, photographs, digital drawings, models, prototypes and other original creative work. For an online presentation, it asks for a digital portfolio. Build your selection around work you can explain. Include the initial question, observations, alternatives and what you changed after trying the idea. Clearly identify your own contribution in any group project.
A small, understood project can communicate more than an impressive-looking image you cannot discuss. Avoid presenting AI-generated or borrowed work as personal observation or drawing ability. If you use a digital tool, be clear about what it helped you do and what decisions you made. The interview is an opportunity to demonstrate how you think, not merely how many applications you have installed.
Prepare for degree-specific discussion. Product applicants can explain a material or ergonomic choice. Interaction applicants can show why a navigation step changed. Spatial applicants can discuss movement through a plan. Animation applicants can explain a storytelling decision. These are counselling suggestions, not claims that the institution uses one fixed interview script.
Campus learning and conditional global options
This guide concerns the full-time Dehradun degree. Verify the teaching location, studio access and practical schedule for your selected route before arranging accommodation. Published course pages describe specialised facilities, but ask which resources students use in their current assignments and whether access requires training, booking or additional project planning.
Global Pathways information lists design directions in graphics, animation and VFX, and industrial/product design. These are conditional progression options within the degree choice, not a separate design qualification offered here. Overseas progression depends on academic, English-language, portfolio and receiving-institution conditions. Obtain the current course mapping and award details before treating a transfer as part of your plan.
Career preparation begins with a body of work
Design graduates can investigate junior roles in their chosen discipline, studios, in-house teams or further study. A portfolio, relevant practical skills and the ability to explain choices can influence recruitment. The degree does not guarantee a particular employer, salary or immediate creative leadership role. Ask how final projects and internship experience help students demonstrate their own capability.
Before applying, compare the work you already enjoy with the work you are willing to learn. Someone interested in graphics should still expect research and revision. Someone drawn to product styling should still engage with function and feasibility. AptiGuide can help you compare these directions, prepare your portfolio story and identify the admissions route that matches your current school record and creative work.