The design field is primarily divided into two areas — industrial design and communication design.

Industrial design covers product design, furniture design and interior design. Engineers (mechanical) are suited for product design or transportation design. Architects are suited for furniture and interior design.

Communication design covers graphics, animation, film and video design covering print/TV media. It generally caters to the field of advertising and promotion. Fine arts graduates are suited for this field. Communication design is further expanded to cover user interface design and new media design. Communication design applied to fashion industry is known as fashion communication.

Product design applied to fashion industry is known as life style accessory design.