What Does it Take to Become an Interior Designer?

Interior designers need to have creativity and imagination. Each job varies widely. You must have a vision of what your client wants in order to be successful. Interior design as such can be called an art.

What do Interior Designers do?

Interior designers analyze the needs of clients and use creativity to form a vision of what they require. This can take in many factors such as lifestyle, purpose of the building, age of the building and many more. It involves designing interior spaces and can include colors, fabrics, furniture, plants and other aspects of interiors. Colors, lighting, materials, products, health, safety and building codes are all factors that interior designers must consider.

How Can I Get Qualified?

There are many colleges and schools that teach interior design courses. Generally it is not required that you go to a university as short courses can lead to a qualification and the knowledge required.

However, an interior design degree can lead to your certification as it can be illegal to undertake certain interior design work without certification. You will also learn to manage documents, communicate with clients, develop design plans, presentations and samples as well as gain an in depth knowledge of design practices and trends.

There are several fields that an interior designer can focus on once qualified. This can include designing specifically for residential homes, commercial properties, or corporate, health care, hospitality, retail and educational facilities. Once you have decided upon your area of expertise you can narrow down your skills very tightly, and as a result you will be seen as an expert in that particular interior design niche.

There are many different interior design styles and you may choose to focus on one or two as your area of expertise. These includes modern, traditional, eco-friendly, corporate, elegant, artistic and many more.

To retain your interior design skills you should stay on top of trends by regularly reading magazines, websites and other publications from the interior design industry. This highly rewarding career is a popular choice but there is still a shortage of expert interior designers in particular niches, so that can be an area of focus for you.

Interior Design Salaries

Interior designers have the potential to earn a lot of money but it takes some business sense and risk taking to get there. It is possible to become employed as an interior designer with a company, however this can limit your income. The best and most successful interior designers are freelancers or those who work in very small firms. The only limit to their income is the number and quality of clients that can be obtained.

Interior designers with more experience earn more on average than those with less experience. The average salary for interior designers with one year or less experience is just $32,000. Compare that figure with people who have been interior designers for 20 or more years with an average salary of nearly $50,000. With interior designing really taking off in the modern day, there is no doubt that those experienced designers will be able to command even higher salaries as time goes by.

A bachelor's degree is ideal if you wish to become an interior designer, although there are also certificates you can take to break into the industry. Ultimately you will want to be as highly qualified as possible in order to ensure that your salary is the best it can be.

Interior Designer vs Interior Decorator

An interior designer will almost always earn more than an interior decorator due to the in depth work and knowledge required by designers. Most interior decorators do not have a degree, but designers do. Interior designers must be able to envisage an entire area and know how to make the most of indoor spaces, sometimes from scratch which is like an artist starting out on a blank canvas. On the other hand, interior decorators mainly focus on improving existing spaces with mild adjustments to furniture and colors.

A starting interior design salary can be as low as $22,000 but it will increase quickly, especially if you are employed in a large organization. Another factor determining salary is whether you are employed in a company that works mainly on residential buildings or those who work in the corporate sector. In most cases corporate focused interior design companies will have larger takings and as such be able to pay their designers more. It is not uncommon for large interior design jobs to cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. For this reason you should research your prospective employers before applying for a job.