Interior Design Careers
If you are interested in making interior designing your career, you should either attend an arts college that offers a degree program in design or a design school. The duration of the course, teaching methodology and the style of interior design instructed varies across interior design colleges and universities. Some colleges include in their curriculum the usage of innovative tools, such as Computer Aided Design (CAD). A background research on the universities and colleges offering these courses would ascertain their credibility and the job opportunities available after completing the course. Accreditation of the university is not a major factor considered by interior design companies while recruiting interns. This is because though a college or school of design may not be accredited, it could still have talented students enrolled in it.
Forms of Interior Designing
 Interior design is bifurcated into the fields of commercial and residential design, and you can choose to specialize in one of the two after completing a basic course. In the case of commercial interior designing, soft skills such as networking, to establish contacts and references, are essential in addition to design skills. On the other hand, a residential interior designing career can be pursued on a more freelance basis, with a one on one relationship with each homeowner.
Some interior designers specialize in specific areas of design. For instance, there are commercial designers who specialize in health care or hotels and residential designers who are experts in designing drawing rooms.
Irrespective of the areas they specialize in, all interior designers should have a basic knowledge of fabrics and designs, and how to co-ordinate with architects and clients to determine finer details such as placement of furniture, source of natural light and style of living.
The Industry
A career in the field of interior design can be rewarding if a designer achieves customer satisfaction while not compromising certain interior designing rules. In a bid to get more work, there is a tendency to give into a client’s whims and fancies, which could only lead to their dissatisfaction in the long run. A student’s first brush with industry norms is during internship where one can work as a trainee. Nearly, 85% of interior designing professionals are women. A license from the NCIDQ (National Council for Interior Design Qualification) is required by all major interior design companies in the US. A novice interior designer is expected to take the license test after completion of his or her course. For this, you should have 2 years of schooling plus 4 years of formal work experience or two years of work experience followed by four years in a college or university that is accredited by The Foundation for Interior Design Education Research (FIDER).
Future of the Career
While pay scales in the industry are comparable to other creative endeavors, the perks tend to vary for each area of specialization. Some of the down sides to the profession include long working hours, tight time lines to complete assignments and limitations on creativity. The thrill of converting a place from a raw state to a refined one using your skills does compensate to a large extent. If you feel you have the creativity and the zeal to deliver quality work, you might want to enroll in an interior designing course and start off on a fulfilling career path.
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