India's Highest Paying Design Professions (2022) (2024)

The design industry can be rather confusing and often daunting to navigate. Whether you’re just starting out in the field, looking to make a career switch or wish to enhance your existing skills, this handy list of the best paying design jobs in India should help you focus your efforts.

Curated with the help of PayScale, this list details the average salary in the country across the various specialisations. Do keep in mind, however, that salaries vary with the type of company, location, workforce demand, and your experience.

[Read: How To Become a Freelance Designer]

Interaction design is the highest paid design job in India, with a typical interaction designer earning an average base salary of INR 7.64L per year. A specialised component of UX design, this field involves professionals examining how a user and a product interact with each other. An entry-level designer may earn a salary of INR 4L annually, but keep in mind that jobs in the field may be limited due to its niche nature.

Cool fact: Interaction Design professionals in Chennai seem to earn an average of 28.5% more than the national average!

Automotive designers rake in an average annual base salary of INR 6.5L. This industry requires creative minds who aspire for constant innovation. If you are proficient in form, love to prototype, and have a deep passion for automobiles, then this field is made for you! It has the capacity to richly reward its best talent in the long run.

Art directors are among the highest paid design professionals in India with an average base salary of INR 6.46L, which may increase dramatically with the company. With growing digitization, there is a huge demand for art directors in almost every field as they act as mediators among writers, designers, and others.

With the responsibility of leading a team of many creative heads such as graphic or web designers, this role requires one to be a leader with vision, as well as an able team player.

With an average annual salary of INR 6-7L, which is 66% higher than the national average, product design is the fourth highest-paid design job in India. Bangalore and Hyderabad are preferred locations that provide higher salaries as compared to the rest of the country.

A lot of product designers have begun to explore parametricism in India, so being good at computational design tools wouldn’t go amiss!

UX design bags the fifth position among the highest paying design jobs in India. A UX designer’s average base salary lies in between INR 6-7L yearly, and you might be surprised to know that even a newbie in this field can earn up to an average of INR 4L per year. Cities such as Bangalore, Gurgaon, Pune, Mumbai, and Delhi are preferred destinations for a UX designer in India as they provide higher paychecks.

Fact time: UX Designers are paid 19.8% more in the Silicon Plateau – Bangalore!

UI/UX is also an excellent career alternative for those with an architecture background, owing to the focus on human-centred design in both fields.

Industrial designers are responsible for the mass production of goods and need to have solid analytical, interpersonal, mechanical, and problem-solving skills. A typical professional earns an average base salary of INR 6L per year in this field.

It has been found that industrial designers in Chennai earn an average of 29.9% more than the national average!

Game design is an exciting profession that ranks 7th among the highest paying design jobs. In India, game designers make an average base salary of about INR 6L annually, but it depends vastly on your capabilities, skills, and experience. Game design is still a niche field in India with limited job availability, but individuals with this skill may find some excellent opportunities abroad.

The fields that didn’t didn’t make the cut but are worth a mention are Graphic Design, UI, Animation, Jewellery, Exhibition, and Architectural Design.

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