Interior Design

What Is Interior Design?

People in Interior Design work to make interior spaces beautiful as well as functional and safe for the people who will use them.  The process starts with designing the space so that it can be used in the way intended.  You can imagine how a movie theater would be different from a bedroom in a home or from an office housing a dozen employees.  Once the space is decided, lines, forms, themes, colors, and lights are chosen; an artistic sense is needed here, but most skills needed are learned while in training.  Interior Designers need to be able to read architectural drawings of spaces not yet built and be good at using the computer to develop graphic designs.  They may even need to design the furniture itself to fit the space and pick out the colors and textures that are right for the design. Many Interior Designers specialize in the certain kinds of spaces, with some choosing corporate environments, medical offices and hospitals, kitchens and baths, or energy-efficient spaces.  Some rework spaces that are especially good for elderly people with special needs. I bet this kind of work sounds like fun to some of you!

There are training programs at all different academic levels from Associate’s degree through the Master’s level.  Most designers are trained at the Bachelor’s level and have some kind of certification.  It’s a pretty good bet that the higher your education and certification, the more opportunities you’ll have.  Plus, your projects will be more challenging at higher degree levels.  Have you ever designed a space or helped a friend design one?  Are you pretty creative and detail-oriented?  Are you good listener and really care what people are saying?  Well, then, maybe you’re an Interior Designer in the making!  Some job titles that you’ll see are Interior Designer, In-home Designer, Designer Assistant, Bar/Restaurant Architect, Home Furnishings Retail Sales, Kitchen Architect, and Architectural Designer.