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Saili Sawant
13/10/2025
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Animation is everywhere! From the reels you scroll through to the ads that make you stop. In 2025, an animation degree will be one of the smartest career choices. With this degree, you can adapt skills to create work that brands like Dropbox and Spotify use to reach millions. If you are looking for an animation course after the 12th in India, this article is a must-read for you. Explore the top animation courses in India that teach design, storytelling, and the tech behind every frame to make the right and informed choice. These courses will equip you for exciting animation career opportunities ranging from media, gaming, to even advertising, where visual imagination meets professional craft.
Table of contents
If you’ve hit Netflix recently, Mahavatar Narsimha movie couldn’t have missed your top feed. The success of the animation movie is an epitome of how modern animation isn't just a niche; it’s a force that commands the box office and captures the global imagination. This cultural and commercial power reflects a broader, seismic shift in the market. PR Newswire recently published their study estimating a growth in the global animation sector by more than 640 billion dollars by the year 2030.
While the primary focus of animation is on visual storytelling, a degree equips students with a strong portfolio, enhanced software skills, and ability to decipher industry trends. Working in a design field like animation does not comply with a single skill. The industry has spread wide into various platforms and collaborations with constant needs of innovative and new perspectives. This can be carefully achieved in a suitable timeframe by opting for a degree in animation. This article discusses three brand case studies that show how animation can translate into business results when executed with professional skill and clear creative strategy.
Many top brands and multi nationals have realised the vast reach and impact of animation on the consumer mindset. This has opened arenas for animation in marketing programmes, largely by product teams to reach customers and reduce support load. According to Sproutsocial , a primary format that has emerged in this trend is video animation with the leading platforms being Facebook and Instagram with 51% consumers, followed by YouTube with 37%.
A set of courses within a degree are structured to match the current needs of the industry and employers. A programme is carefully put together with the need of the hour aligning with both, the technical and soft skills. Certain skillsets include composition and timing, character design, storyboarding, rigging and rendering pipelines, and practical experience with common animation software. A BDes in animation film design combines artistic training with technical modules so graduates can tackle 2D projects and 3D work with equal confidence.
Let us dive into three case studies that show how strong animation practice creates measurable business outcomes.
Watch the 'Don’t Surprise Bob' campaign video
Johnson Controls, with building managers as the target audience, came up with an animated campaign to showcase the need for advanced monitoring and maintenance in buildings. They worked with an inhouse creative team, Superside to develop short animated explainers that used a playful character to represent a facilities manager.
The narrative revolves around an animated character, Bob, within which he encounters a series of equipment failures. The creators have aimed to showcase how data driven management can prevent these situations.
The production used a puppetry style through which motion stage and character rigging were central. The screenplay is a combination of character animations along with graphical representations of technical details to make understanding easier for the laymen audience. The ad campaign is a hit on social media platforms and exceeded internal expectations for lead quality and audience engagement.
Spotify has developed its brand identity by employing a series of quirky animations custom tailored for different markets. They brought up various typology of animations from retrained motion to character plays in short forms for music and podcasts. They used these for promotions on social platforms as well as for enhancing interactive user experience in their app. Their style was flexible to accommodate many regional variants while preserving consistent visual language.
The team explored a blend of 2D animation tools across different formats, resulting in measurable lifts in engagement and footfall. Animated assets were sized and edited for platform specifications so that the same creative idea could be repurposed for a short advert in a social feed or a longer web sequence. Platform called ‘It’s nice that ’ elaborates the genZ target audience of this campaign and its success.
“Dropbox raised $48,000,000 with their explainer video” -Medium
Studios value graduates who can adapt to structured production systems. Formal training offers a foundation on how to respond to deadlines, manage revisions, and follow client briefs with precision. A degree also provides recognised credibility, while signals readiness to employers and opens access to mentors, internships, and studio connections.
Animation focuses on creating moving visuals and storytelling which allies with the principles of a motion graphic designer, whereas graphic design primarily deals with static visual communication.
Using a cut-out stop motion animation for a video campaign, Dropbox explained the concept of cloud file synchronisation to new users. However, the popularity of the video was not limited to new users. The designers focused on a linear demonstration of the working of the product and compatibility with various devices. The simple style reduced cognitive friction and made user accessibility easy.
The video worked smoothly to gain new users for the brand. The popularity of the campaign is used as an example in product marketing and use of storytelling to accelerate the sales. The work shows that technique mastery and careful story structure add direct commercial value.
All the case studies above provide marketing and product boost by employing animation in various formats. The outcome is what needs a second glance. All of the brands achieved their desired target and even more with the strategised marketing by means of easy animation. Animating intangible aspects and technical concepts for laymen also proved to be an additional way to target an audience that may require the product but are unaware of it.
Brand
Year
Style and studio approach
Key outcome
Johnson Controls
2024
Puppetry style motion graphics with efficient asset reuse
Strong engagement and improved lead quality with faster delivery
Spotify
Minimal 2D character design adapted across regions
Higher platform engagement and consistent brand recall
Dropbox
2009
Paper cutout explainer simplifying a technical product
Significant uplift in user registrations and conversions
These campaigns required much more than software tools for animation. Curating a strategised campaign personalised to individual brand needs. Character work, storyboarding, and timing were essential to the campaigns. Simultaneously, technical training brings to the table analytical and critical thinking. Skills required to conduct a market research, decipher the target audience, their needs and interests, and accurately develop them into a campaign benefitting the brand, can only be achieved by means of a formal degree in animation.
The above case studies establish a visual of needs in the industry for animation and its applications. Future animators, while selecting a course, should understand the need for technical and analytical skills. While creative skills are crucial, they are not enough to match industry expectations.
For students choosing an animation degree, one key lesson to be drawn from the case studies is the significance of balancing craft with clarity. While creativity is a standard, it is necessary to understand how to apply your skills to the real world needs of the clients. A clear communication in your animation is valued as much as visual flair. An animation degree will equip the students with both design and storytelling.
Adaptability to the requirements is what we can take from Spotify’s case study. While maintaining a visual identity, Spotify has diversified content across several platforms based on the user response and needs on each of the platforms. Degrees train students in multiple tools and styles ensuring graduates are flexible enough to meet varied demands.
When working in the industry, one has to deal with various aspects extending beyond animation such as deadlines, revisions, collaboration with other teams, and ability to pitch their visions. A degree will offer exposure to live projects, internships, or mentorships to provide an environment where students can practice hands-on realities before entering the workforce.
IIAD proudly showcases works of student animators such as ‘ The day my dad arrives’ and the folklogue shorts like Behulal Folklog or Division of Horses . These provide an insight to how animation can bridge cultural storytelling with contemporary issues. The award winning works of animators from IIAD explore the themes of folklore, gender, and social change, demonstrating how new tools in animation design equip the young designers to craft narratives with lasting impact.
A BDes in animation film design will deal with a broader aspect of training wherein it combines foundation art study with specialised modules over four years. It combines core art and design practice with advanced modules in storytelling, 2D, and 3D production, visual effects, and motion graphics.
Students can also opt for BDes in communication design which strengthens skills in visual language and narrative expression that complement animation work.
Students from any stream can pursue an animation degree, however, a specific design background provides additional advantage.
Most animation courses do not have compulsion in mathematics though basic analytical ability proves useful for technical modules.
When choosing a programme, here are certain key aspects to look out for that contribute to the professional life ahead in the career.
The degree animation courses in India are typically four years. They experience a saturation in cities that are creative hubs with more industry opportunities. An animation course in Delhi will provide early access to industry connections via studio visits and internships. Institutes in Delhi offering animation courses also offer a module that digitalise access to resources combined with in person learning providing more flexibility to students.
Animation courses online for free can be useful for building an early portfolio or testing your interest before committing to a longer degree, but they cannot replace the structured training of a four year programme.
While drawing skills are an added benefit in an animation degree, they are not absolutely must. Modern degree programmes combine conventional hand drawn practices with digital workflows, so students can adapt to the industry trends.
The current trends in the industry cope with professionals using a blend of 2D and 3D softwares. The basic set of tools include Maya for 3D modelling and animation, Blender as an accessible 3D suite, Cinema 4D for motion graphics, and Adobe After Effects for compositing and motion finishing. Certain studios employ real time render engines to speed preview cycles and to create interactive presentations.
In the report published by Grand View Research, the 3D animation domain had the largest contribution to the revenue in animation in 2023 at 45%. They have estimated the global animation sector to experience a rapid rise from 2024 to 2030. The software market for animation platforms is also growing in commercial value which creates more employment opportunities in software specific roles.
This period of rise will also have technological shifts and newer softwares and upgrades introduced which will define the employment opportunities. To make it in the industry in this period of rise, it is necessary to know the industry standard and current trends. These tools will shape pipeline tasks when contributing to a production team. A degree that includes strong emphasis on software skills along with project work will help graduates make a strong first impression on employers.
These skills will equip the graduates to align with the requirements during hiring for both creative and technical roles.
Here are a few major sectors that graduates can work in
The rise of explainer animation for product onboarding and B2B marketing has created roles inside corporate communications teams as well as in smaller specialised studios.
According to ‘ Animator Salary in India : A Comprehensive Guide’ posted by Shiksha, the average salary ranges from INR 2.5 to 7 Lakhs per annum for beginners in the industry. The range of animation course salary varies depending on the advancement of skills of the animator. Senior animators can expect higher packages leading up to INR 20 Lakhs per annum.
The organisations below represent some of the most active high-end employers for freshers in India
Animators can also explore connected fields and opportunities, such as production management, creative direction, or technical specialism. Many senior practitioners combine animation skills with project experience to lead teams or to deliver independent commissions. Employers prefer candidates who exhibit creative choices and can manage production timelines.
If you are considering an animation course after 12th in India, consider whether the programme will let you create finished work and connect you to real world briefs. The three brand case studies above show how professional animation creates measurable value for companies that need to explain services to build brand memory. A planned education path gives you time to practice craft, learn software and build a portfolio that speaks to employers.
About The Author
An Architect turned Writer, Saili has worked as an Architectural Writer, Marketer, & Curator. For the past three years, she has collaborated with multimedia publication houses, firms, studios, organisations, luxury brands and educational inst ... itutions; both national and international to communicate and market the AEC industry as an Architect in Marketing. She is a commentator on the design industry’s upkeep through her social handles while also being an avid reader and traveller.
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