The diverse socio-cultural, intellectual, and creative practises in India offer a fertile ground for semiotic study. Recognizing this, IDC organised seminars on Indian Symbology, Product Semantics, Design Education, and Calligraphy. At the same time, special programmes were designed and conducted for the industry. There were in house programmes as well as faculty lectures at various fora. The first batch of Visual Communication (Mdes) graduated in 1984. The focus was on communicating the country's unmet communication needs.