ATLAS SkillTech University: India's 1st Urban Multidisciplinary University ATLAS SkillTech University

Our Globally Benchmarked Curriculum

Semester 1

Laying the foundation for creative thinking and design. Students explore core principles, visual language, and problem-solving skills that prepare them for future learning.

Design Research 1

Use design thinking and visual methods to explore, research, observe patterns, reflect on insights, and craft compelling stories that communicate ideas, inspire action, and create meaningful impact.

Design Studio 1

Design Studio 1 introduces creative exploration through design thinking, observation, research, and storytelling. Students develop problem-solving, visual communication, and reflective practice skills to address real-world challenges.

Drawing Fundamentals 1

Drawing Fundamentals 1 builds core visual skills through observation, sketching, composition, form and technical drawing. Students explore line, shape, proportion, and perspective to strengthen creative expression and design communication.

Imaging 1

Imaging 1 introduces digital and analog imaging techniques, exploring composition, light, and narrative. Students learn visual storytelling, image editing, and creative expression for design and communication.

Space and Materiality

Space and Materiality explores relationships between form, material, and environment. Students experiment with textures, structures, and spatial design to understand sensory impact, function, and creative possibilities.

History in Context to Objects

History in Context to Objects examines cultural, social, and historical influences on objects. Students analyze artifacts to understand design evolution, material significance, and contextual storytelling.

Skill-Up Elective

Skill-Up Elective offers specialized learning opportunities beyond the core curriculum, enabling students to explore emerging tools, creative practices, and interdisciplinary skills that enhance professional growth.

Semester 2

Building confidence in experimentation and observation, students engage in hands-on projects that develop analytical thinking and creativity. The semester deepens design practice, emphasizing research, advanced techniques, sustainability, and user experience, fostering innovation, collaboration, and readiness for real-world challenges.

Design Research 2

Design Research 2 advances research skills, emphasizing observation, data analysis, and user insights. Students apply research backed by design thinking to identify problems, generate solutions, and inform creative strategies.

Design Studio 2

Design Studio 2 builds on creative practice, guiding students to apply research, experimentation, and design thinking in real-world projects, developing problem-solving, collaboration, and visual storytelling skills.

Drawing Fundamentals 2

Drawing Fundamentals 2 deepens observational and visual storytelling skills. Students refine visual communication and expressive techniques for creative design solutions.

Imaging 2

Imaging 2 advances digital and analog imaging techniques, focusing on composition, storytelling, and post-processing. Students create visually compelling narratives and enhance design communication through images.

Sustainable System

Sustainable System explores eco-friendly design principles, material choices, and systemic thinking. Students analyze environmental impact, interdependence of various systems using, and integrate responsible practices into design processes.

Time

Time examines its role as a design element, influencing memory, narrative, information flow, and user experience. Students explore temporal dynamics to create meaningful, engaging designs.

Skill-Up Elective

Why our Year 1 outpaces every
other design school?

ISDI School of Design

Multidisciplinary Exposure

Offers a Major–Minor Pathway where students combine core specialization with a secondary focus called a minor.

Integrated Design Thinking

Combines design thinking, observation, and research fostering strategic and creative problem-solving.

Holistic, Future-Ready Learning

Includes forward-looking courses like Sustainable System and Time, focusing on environmental impact.

Other Design Schools

Holistic, Future-Ready Learning

Other design schools follow single-track, restricting students to one specialisation throughout the program.

Theory–Practice Gap

Often separates theory and practice, introducing research much later as an
after-thought.

Aesthetic-Centric Focus

Primarily emphasizes form and aesthetics, with limited focus on sustainability or systems thinking.

Semester 3

Semester 3 develops strategic design skills through visual storytelling, marketing, trend forecasting, and innovation mapping, enabling students to create market-driven, user-centered, and forward-thinking design solutions.

Creative Visualisation

Translates business strategies into compelling visual narratives by applying design principles, typography, composition, and storytelling techniques to effectively communicate brand messages and creative concepts.

Marketing Strategies

Develops comprehensive marketing strategies using branding insights, consumer behavior analysis, and practical case studies, enabling students to create effective, market-driven communication and design solutions.

Trends and Forecasting

Applies user-centered design and prototyping methods to identify emerging trends, anticipate consumer needs, and drive innovation in products, services, and design experiences.

Innovation Roadmap

Builds strategic design capabilities by mapping trends, market dynamics, and creative opportunities, equipping students to drive innovation and make informed, forward-thinking design decisions.

Minor Track

The minor track you choose will continue across all the remaining years of your program.

Semester 4

Semester 4 strengthens strategic design through UX, emerging technologies, data-driven insights, folklore-inspired strategies, and ethical management, fostering innovative, culturally aware, and user-centered business and design solutions.

Fundamentals of Strategic Management

Teaches strategic thinking, business model analysis, and ethical decision-making, equipping students to lead responsibly, create competitive advantage, and drive sustainable organizational success.

UX Design

Builds user experience and human-computer interaction skills, emphasizing research-driven design, usability testing, and intuitive interfaces to create engaging, user-centered digital experiences.

Emerging Technology Tools

Applies emerging technologies such as AR/VR, IoT, and interactive platforms to foster innovation, enhance products, and develop cutting-edge design solutions for business and user experiences.

Folklores driven Strategies

Leverages cultural folklore and narratives to inform design and strategy, creating culturally resonant solutions that connect deeply with users and communities.

Data - Led Design

Uses data insights, analytics, and technological trends to inform design decisions, enabling evidence-based innovation and enhancing product, service, and experience outcomes.

Minor Track

The minor track you choose will continue across all the remaining years of your program.

Why our Year 2 outpaces every
other design
school?

ISDI School of Design

Integrated Strategy

Combines design thinking with business strategy.

Tech & Data-Driven

Labs blend making, testing, and real-world application.

Global + Cultural

Merges local insights with global trends.

Other Design Schools

Separated Focus

Design and business taught independently.

Traditional Methods

Limited exposure to new technologies.

Narrow Context

Minimal cultural or global perspective.

Semester 5

Semester 5 develops user-centered design skills through service and UI design, financial management, and consumer psychology, fostering impactful, intuitive, and strategically informed design solutions.

Service Design

Equips students to design impactful, user-centered service experiences through research, systems thinking, and practical tools that address real-world needs.

UI Strategy for Digital Products

Builds skills in user interface design, focusing on intuitive layouts, interaction principles, and visual hierarchy to create seamless, user-focused digital experiences across platforms.

Basics of Financial Management for Design

Equips students with essential financial management skills, including budgeting, cost analysis, and resource planning, enabling effective management of design projects and strategic decision-making.

Consumer Psychology

Analyzes consumer behavior, motivations, and decision-making processes to inform marketing strategies, design solutions, and user-centered experiences that resonate with target audiences.

Minor Track

The minor track you choose will continue across all the remaining years of your program.

Semester 6

Semester 6 develops design leadership through business blueprinting, digital transformation, innovation management, future-focused strategies, and dynamic portfolio creation, preparing students for impactful, industry-ready careers.

Business Design Blueprinting

Enables students to solve real-world business challenges through design thinking, client-based case studies, and strategic problem-solving, fostering practical, innovative, and user-centered solutions.

Change Management in Creative organizations

Explores how creative teams adapt to evolving market, technology, and cultural shifts through structured change strategies. Focuses on managing resistance, fostering innovation culture, and aligning creative vision with organizational transformation.

Managing Innovation teams

Builds leadership skills to manage and inspire creative teams, facilitating collaboration with industry partners to co-develop innovative, impactful, and market-relevant design solutions.

Design Futures

Explores future trends, emerging technologies, and societal shifts, equipping students to anticipate change and create forward-thinking, innovative design solutions that address evolving user needs.

Portfolio Design - SDM

Guides students in creating professional portfolios using dynamic media, typography, and data-driven storytelling to showcase creative skills, design thinking, and industry readiness.

Minor Track

The minor track you choose will continue across all the remaining years of your program.

Why our Year 3 outpaces every
other design
school?

ISDI School of Design

User-Centered Design

Focus on services, UX, and UI strategy.

Business & Leadership

Financial management, innovation, and team leadership.

Future & Professional Ready

Trends, emerging tech, portfolios, and minor specialization.

Other Design Schools

Basic Design Skills

Limited UX or service integration.

Minimal Business Focus

Few leadership or strategic skills.

Traditional Approach

Limited future trends or portfolio guidance.

Semester 7

This semester develops strategic and entrepreneurial skills through systems thinking, ESG frameworks, change management, and practical toolkits, preparing students to lead impactful, sustainable, and innovative organizational solutions.

Systems Thinking

Applies systems thinking principles to analyze complex challenges, understand interdependencies, and develop holistic, innovative solutions that address organizational, social, and design-related problems effectively.

The Startup Canvas: Designing Entrepreneurial Success

Develops entrepreneurial strategies and business models, enabling students to ideate, validate, and implement new ventures while balancing market opportunities, innovation, and sustainable growth.

ESG Impact and Redesign

Combines sustainability, digital transformation, and brand leadership to apply ESG frameworks that drive responsible innovation and create lasting social and environmental impact.

Workshops and Toolkits

Provides practical workshops and toolkits for applying strategic design methods in real-world contexts, equipping students with actionable skills, frameworks, and collaborative problem-solving techniques.

Minor Track

The minor track you choose will continue across all the remaining years of your program.

Semester 8

The capstone semester guides students through project exploration, execution, research, thesis writing, and public display, culminating in innovative, polished, and professionally presented design solutions.

Capstone Project Exploration

Guides students to identify, research, and define a meaningful design challenge, exploring opportunities, user needs, and conceptual directions while receiving mentorship for innovative project development.

Capstone Project Execution

Supports the development and realization of the capstone project through structured design processes, iterative prototyping, technical refinement, and mentor guidance to produce polished, functional outcomes.

Research Writing and Thesis book

Develops skills in critical research, reflective writing, and documentation, enabling students to articulate insights, methodology, and design decisions in a comprehensive, professional thesis.

Minor Track

The minor track you choose will continue across all the remaining years of your program.

Why our Year 4 outpaces every
other design
school?

ISDI School of Design

Strategic & Systems Thinking

Analyze complex challenges and create holistic, innovative solutions.

Entrepreneurship & ESG

Develop startups, sustainable strategies, and responsible innovation frameworks.

Capstone & Research Excellence

Mentored capstone projects, practical workshops, and professional research writing.

Other Design Schools

Narrow Problem Solving

Focuses on isolated design issues without systemic perspective.

Limited Real-World Impact

Few opportunities for entrepreneurial or ESG-focused projects.

Minimal Project Guidance

Less structured mentorship, workshops, or thesis support.

Download Curriculum

Design for Real Life,
Not Just Portfolios

Our classrooms are live labs. You’ll ideate, iterate, fail, restart, and refine in spaces designed for doing, not just thinking.

Design With A
Global Perspective

Curriculum shaped by Parsons,
New York — reimagined for today’s
Indian context.

Your Mentors Are
Also Makers

Learn from practicing designers, strategists, and studio founders —
the people who design the world
you interact with.

Everything is a
Studio Experience

Our classrooms are live labs. You’ll ideate, iterate, fail, restart, and refine in spaces designed for doing, not just thinking.

The Future is Cross-
Disciplinary

Work alongside fashion designers, product innovators, entrepreneurs, coders, and media artists — because good ideas don’t exist in silos.

Where concepts meet execution,
in and beyond the classroom.

At ISDI, every project becomes part of a career-ready portfolio. From hands-on labs and design sprints to brand collaborations, internships, hackathons, and industry showcases, you graduate with real-world experience and work that speaks for itself.

Google Office Hyderabad - 2024 - Full day workshop ith the design, strategy and UX team

Atlas Skilltech University students collaborated with IGNCA ABCD for a workshop with Sharanpur carving artisans at IGNCA L1 Barrack, Red Fort. The session showcased the intricate designs and hands-on processes used by the craftsmen.

IITIC hyderabad - Half a day visit to the incubation center

The session covered startup basics, incubation support, deeptech, and funding at ITIC. We explored 3D printing, drone tech, and innovative projects, emphasizing research, sustainability, and learning from failures.

Dr. Reddy's - Hyderabad

Students visited the Dr. Reddy's campus to understand how design thinking is applied to real world challenges.

Kyndryl - Banglore

Students visited Kyndryl and understood the ecosystem focusing on Fintech and UX, They were given a design brief which then continued for 3 months with online reviews, teaching with the Kyndryl team.

PARAM Innovation

We explored product innovation, co-creation, and science as a playful, experimental process. Creative installations showed nature-inspired mechanisms, the 9 rasas, and engaging models of planetary motion.

ConSERV’25

ConSERV’25, an exclusive service design conference by SDM exploring innovative solutions in healthcare and Climate change.

Colgate live project

Students worked with the colgate innovation department to do a research project understanding the definition of "BEAUTY" from the GenZ perspective - Colgate also conducted a Hackathon where the Winners of the Hackathon - 1 team SDM students given an internship

Icord

Students convert their class projects to research papers and apply to national conferences - Icord 25' had 2 research papaers from SDM students and a runner up entry for the Design competition on social Impact

Menstrubin - A servide design project for residential buildings

SmashSYnc - A athlete management system for Badminton players - UX/UI project

A badminton athlete management system that tracks and analyzes players’ health and performance through technical, tactical, physical, and physiological data over time.

Rescue OPS - An arcade game design changing the behaviour for fire safety demonstrations

A gamified fire safety model a 5-minute rescue game placed on each floor where students can play during breaks, earn points, and learn fire safety through engaging, hands-on experience.

Taruvar - Business growth for organic offline store n

A live project with Chennai-based organic store Taruvar, where students developed a unified branding and marketing strategy to boost awareness, engagement, and customer retention in a competitive e-commerce landscape.

Superkicks - An ESG strategy case study to build a greener brand

Students worked on a live project with superkicks to analyse the current operations of the brand using the GRI framework - They then did a risk analysis of the brand and build strategies for them to improve their ESG rating

Swirl - A healthy icecream alternative for Amul

Amul as a brand is struggling to make its mark in the healthy space - Swirl is the sreation of a new vertical with a strategic plan to launch a new vertical to compete with other healthy brands of ice-cream in the market.

Student Projects in Motion

Where creativity meets momentum